Reference
Thurnher, B., Kment, T., & Kjeldskov, J. (2006). Long-Term, Large-Scale Usability Evaluation Methods - An Empirical Study. Paper presented at the M3 - Interdisciplinary Aspects on Digital Media & Education, Wien.
Publication type
Paper in Conference Proceedings
Abstract
In the planning phase of a usability evaluation researchers have to decide which method or set of methods they want to apply for testing a specific software or service. While there is a strong body of research within human-computer interaction regarding the appropriate method for testing the usability of a system with small numbers of test subjects over limited periods of time; little research is done in the field of long-term, large-scale field usability studies. This paper presents an preliminary large-scale study with 30 users and suggests methods for future long-term, large scale usability studies in the field. The use of the methods is exemplified through a usability evaluation of a mobile field technician support tool. Main results of the study are: (a) the combination of screen capturing and note taking revealed the most severe usability problems (b) log files in combination with semantic data (questionnaires, interviews, screen capturing and note taking) were methods which proved capable for long-term, large-scale field studies.
Persons
Organizational Units
- Institute of Information Systems
- Hilti Chair of Business Process Management