Human Computer Interaction (SE-431)

Lecture 11:
Usability inspection methods
Usability inspection
 Usability inspection is the generic name for a set of methods based on having
evaluators inspect a user interface. 
 Typically, usability inspection is aimed at finding:
 usability problems in the design,
 though some methods also address issues like
 the severity of the usability problems and the overall usability of an entire system. 
 Usability inspectors can be:
 usability specialists,
 software development consultants with special expertise (e.g. knowledge of a particular interface
style for graphical user interfaces),
 end users with content or task knowledge, or other types of professionals.
Usability inspection methods
Different inspection methods have slightly different goals, but normally usability
inspections is intended for evaluating user interface design.
Commonly used inspection methods are:
• Heuristic (Expert) Evaluation
• Cognitive Walkthroughs
• Formal Usability Inspections
• Pluralistic Walkthroughs
• Feature Inspection
• Consistency Inspection
• Standards Inspection
• Guideline Checklists
Heuristic (Expert) Evaluation
 Heuristic evaluation is where a group of usability experts analyze a web site and
evaluate each element of the site against a list of commonly accepted principles or
rules of thumb.
 They apply their training and experience to conduct independent evaluations.
 Research shows that such evaluations can identify a majority of the usability
problems.
Cognitive walkthrough
 A cognitive walkthrough starts with the sequence of steps or actions required by a
user to accomplish a task, and the system responses to those actions.
 The designers and developers of the software then walk through the steps as a group,
asking themselves a set of questions at each step.
 Data is gathered during the walkthrough, and afterwards a report of potential issues
is compiled. Finally the software is redesigned to address the issues identified.
Cognitive walkthrough
At each step, expert asks:
 Will the user try to take this action to achieve their goal?
 Is the correct action visible?
 Will the user recognize this action as the correct one?
 Will the user understand the feedback that is given? Will they recognize that
progress has been made?
Formal Usability Inspections
 In this method, the various participants have well-defined responsibilities: 
 A moderator is appointed to manage both individual and focused inspections, and the full
team inspection meeting
 A design owner is responsible for design an redesigns
 The inspectors have the job of finding problems; and records all defects and issues
identified during the meeting
 Inspections are performed through a six-step process;
 planning,
 a kick-off meeting,
 a preparation phase where inspectors review the interface individually,
 the main inspection review when the inspectors lists of usability problems are merged,
 and a follow-up phase where the effectiveness of the inspection process itself is evaluated.
Pluralistic Walkthroughs
 The main modification, was to include three types of participants: representative
users, product developers, and human factors (usability) professionals.
 Hard-copy screens (panels) are presented in the same order in which they would
appear online.
 A task scenario is defined, and participants confront the screens in a linear path,
through a series of user interface panels, just as they would during the successful
conduct of the specified task online, as the site/software is currently designed.
 Participants are all asked to assume the role of the user for whatever user population
is being tested. Thus, the developers and the usability professionals are supposed to
try to put themselves in the place of the users when making written responses.
Pluralistic Walkthroughs
 The participants write down the action they would take in pursuing the designated
task online, before any further discussion is made.
 It is only after all participants have written the actions they would take that
discussion would begin. The representative users offer their discussion first and
discuss each scenario step. Only after the users have exhausted their suggestions do
the usability experts and product developers offer their opinions.
Feature Inspection
 Feature inspections analyse only the feature set of a site
 Usually given end user scenarios for the end result to be obtained from the use of the
web site.
 For example,
 A scenario for the training site would be to register for a workshop.
 The features that would be used are navigating to the workshop site, selecting a
class, adding it to their shopping cart, filling out the registration form, and
pressing the submit button.
 Each set of features used to produce the required output (a registration) is
analysed for its availability, understandability, and general usefulness.
Consistency Inspection
 Consistency inspections ensure consistency across multiple products from the same
development effort.
 For example, in a suite of office productivity applications, common functions should
look and work the same whether the user is using the word processor, spreadsheet,
presentation, or database program.
 Consistency inspections begin with a usability professional analysing the interfaces
to all of the products and noting the various ways that each product implements a
particular user interaction or function.
 During the meeting, the team discusses the user interfaces to their products in terms
of the usability professional's document, and for each element, comes to an
agreement on what that element should look and work like in all of the products
Standards Inspection
 In Standards inspections, industry standards are observe.
 Have an expert on some interface standard inspect the interface for compliance
(observing a rule).
 Thus, standards are aimed at increasing the degree to which a given interface is in the
range of other systems on the market that follow the same standards.
Guideline Checklists
 Are inspections where an interface is checked with a list of usability guidelines.
 However, since guideline documents contain on the order of 1000 guidelines,
guideline reviews require a high degree of expertise and are fairly rare in practice.
 The method can be considered as somewhat of a cross between heuristic evaluation
and standard inspection.
Usability testing methods
Usability testing methods
 In a usability-testing session, a researcher (called a “facilitator” or a “moderator”)
asks a participant to perform tasks, usually using one or more specific user interfaces.
While the participant completes each task, the researcher observes the participant’s
behaviour and listens for feedback.
 The phrase “usability testing” is often used interchangeably with “user testing.”
 One objection sometimes raised against the phrase “user testing” is that it sounds like
researchers are testing the participant — we never test the user, only the interface.
However, the term is intended to mean testing with users, which is exactly the point
of empirical studies.
Why Usability Test?
The goals of usability testing vary by study, but they usually include:
• Identifying problems in the design of the product or service
• Uncovering opportunities to improve
• Learning about the target user’s behaviour and preferences

Why do we need to do usability testing? Won’t a good professional UX designer

know how to design a great user interface?
Even the best UX designers can’t design a perfect — or even good enough — user
experience without iterative design driven by observations of real users and of their
interactions with the design.
1.Unmoderated usability testing
 An unmoderated test is a session where a participant completes tasks alone, without
the presence of a moderator.
 This type of UX usability testing method is a quick and cheap way to collect data
about your target audience.
 You can view this session later through recording software. 
 Use an unmoderated test if you require more responses from multiple testers in a
shorter space of time.
  As an unmoderated test is remote, you will need to ensure that every test instruction
is clear.
2.Moderated usability testing 
 Moderated testing is a type of usability testing method which involves a moderator
observing and guiding participants as they complete tests in person or remotely
online.
 A moderated research session allows you to have a live session with your participants
to understand their behaviour better and to dig deeper into any pain points and
usability issues.
 Use moderated sessions to test a complicated product as a moderator can walk
participants through the context and its relevant controls.
 In previous test (unmoderated testing) environment, an average tester might not
understand the complexities of a product. They might not test the product in the way
you like without guidance which a moderated interview can offer. 
2.Moderated usability testing 
 A moderator can also record tasks or ask further questions to clarify a response. 
 A moderated session might also feel more natural than thinking aloud, which may
encourage more natural behaviour. 
 The entire team can also watch a live session at the same time it is conducted and can
feedback on the results immediately after. 
3.Guerilla testing
 This usability testing method involves choosing your test participants at random from
a public place such as a coffee shop or mall.
 Guerrilla testing involves asking them to complete a quick usability test in exchange
for a small incentive.
 It is a quick way to collect large amounts of results.
 Guerrilla testing can be used by your design team members to conduct ‘ad-hoc’
research.
 The term is generally applied to single surveys which are designed as a "'once-off" rather
than continuous on-going research
 There is no need to recruit participants and pay for any of those associated costs.
3.Guerilla testing
 It is also a cheaper way when compared with moderated and unmoderated testing to
test a user on your product immediately.
 However, bear in mind that guerrilla testing will return less accurate results, as you
will not necessarily be testing your target user base.
 In fact, you will likely receive a mixture of users who are new to your product or the
market as well as existing users.
 People are usually reluctant or unable to give up more than 5-10 minutes of their
time.
 In this way, guerrilla usability testing is best limited to testing that does not require
advanced knowledge of a specific device or feature.
4. Lab usability testing
 This usability testing method involves asking participants, while inside a usability
testing lab, to complete tasks on mobile devices/computers.
 While they are doing this, a moderator observes their behaviour and asks them
questions.
 Stakeholders and other members of the team can also take notes behind a one-way
mirror.
 All participants complete the test under the same conditions, which then makes it
easier to compare results.
 Like a moderated test, lab tests are also useful if your business wants to get feedback
on a product or service early in the process.
 You could also use a lab test to generate ideas to solve customer pain points as you
could observe what works and what doesn’t. 
5. Card sorting
 Card sorting is a testing process where participants can demonstrate how they expect
your website to look in terms of its layout and navigation.
 A business could go for an open card sort where they start by creating cards with
concepts. Users are then free to organise these cards in groups of their choosing and
name each group they created in a way that they feel accurately describes the
content. . 
 For instance, a participant might feel that cards with words like content and
infographics should be within the website blogs section and so might put it within
that group.
 Card sorting is a usability testing method for websites which will help you discover
whether your layout or navigational structure matches how your user thinks
5. Card sorting
 It helps you understand how your customers would organise certain types of products
or services into categories.
 Then would these categories help them find what they are looking for quickly?
6. Closed or tree sort 
 Main categories used in the study are pre-defined and cannot be changed.
 This method works best when you’re adding new content to the already existing
website.
 Participants are asked to sort topics from content within your website into pre-defined
categories.
 A closed card sort works best when you are working with a pre-defined set of
categories, and you want to learn how users sort content items into each category.
7. A/B Testing
 This UX usability testing method Involves comparing two versions of an app or
website against each other to assess which version performs better.
 Following this, you must use statistical analysis to determine which version works
better.
 Need to optimise your website to convert more visitors into customers?
 Use A/B testing to find out how you can get a better ROI (return on investment)
from your existing traffic reduces the bounce rate as well as making small
modifications on your website.
8. 5-second test
 This type of qualitative research session allows a business to collect a substantive
amount of qualitative data concerning a user’s first impressions and reactions to
design.
 Use five-second testing to assess whether a design on your website, app, prototype or
wireframe can convey a message quickly to a target audience.
 Run this test before a product is released to develop products with the target user in
mind.
 You could also test different variations of a design before you try, A/B test.
 The types of questions that you could ask participants include:
 Does this design/brand seem trustworthy?
 What main parts of the design can you recall?
9. Eye tracking
 An eye-tracking website usability testing method observes a user’s eye movement
through a pupil tracking device.
 By analysing where users direct their attention when asked to complete a task, the
machine can create heatmaps or movement pathway diagrams.
 In this way, a business can determine which part of a website is most effective in
capturing the attention of a user.
 They also help test layout and design elements and see what may be distracting or
taking someone's focus away from the main page elements.
 An eye-tracking study requires you to rent a lab with special equipment and
dedicated software (plus the trained technician who can help you calibrate the
device).
10. Screen recording
 This type of usability testing method utilises software to record the actions of
participants performing tasks remotely.
 Use a screen recorder for participants completing tasks remotely.
 It can capture a participant’s clicks and cursor movements as well as record their
thoughts as they speak out loud.
 It is fantastic way to spot major problems with a site's functionality, watch how
people interact with page elements such as menus and icons, and see places where
they stumble, U-turn (go back to a previous page quickly after landing on a new one),
or completely leave
11. First-click
 The goal of first-click testing is to evaluate whether users can easily identify where
they need to navigate to complete a given task.
 The participant is asked a question like “Where would you click to buy this product?”
and the software records where they direct their mouse. 
 First-click testing is useful for collecting data on user expectations and determining
the prime location for menus and buttons.
 By measuring how long it takes users to make a decision, you learn how intuitive
your site design and linking structure are.