scholarly journals Effect of User Sessions on the Heuristic Usability Method

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jehad Alqurni ◽  
Roobaea Alroobaea ◽  
Mohammed Alqahtani

Heuristic evaluation (HE) is a widely used method for assessing software systems. Several studies have sought to improve the effectiveness of HE by developing its heuristics and procedures. However, few studies have involved the end-user, and to the best of the authors' knowledge, no HE studies involving end-users with non-expert evaluators have been reported. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the impact of end-users on the results obtained by a non-expert evaluator within the HE process, and through that, to explore the number of usability problems and their severity. This article proposes introducing two sessions within the HE process: a user exploration session (UES-HE) and a user review session (URS-HE). The outcomes are compared with two solid benchmarks in the usability-engineering field: the traditional HE and the usability testing (UT) methods. The findings show that the end-user has a significant impact on non-expert evaluator results in both sessions. In the UES-HE method, the results outperformed all usability evaluation methods (UEMs) regarding the usability problems identified, and it tended to identify more major, minor, and cosmetic problems than other methods.

SEMINASTIKA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-106
Author(s):  
Gracella Tambunan ◽  
Lit Malem Ginting

Usability is a factor that indicates the success of an interactive product or system, such as a mobile application. The increasing use of smartphones demands a more accurate and effective usability evaluation method to find usability problems, so that they can be used for product improvement in the development process. This study compares the Cognitive Walkthrough method with Heuristic Evaluation in evaluating the usability of the SIRS Del eGov Center mobile application. Evaluation with these two methods will be carried out by three evaluators who act as experts. Finding problems and recommending improvements from each method will produce an improvement prototype made in the form of a high-fidelity prototype. Each prototype will be tested against ten participants using the Usability Testing method, which will generate scores through the SUS table. From the test scores, the percentage of Likert scale and the success rate of each prototype will be found. The results show that between the two usability evaluation methods, the Heuristic Evaluation method is the more effective method, finds more usability problems, and has a higher Likert scale percentage, which is 66.5%, while Cognitive Walkthrough is 64.75%.


Author(s):  
Shirish C. Srivastava ◽  
Shalini Chandra ◽  
Hwee Ming Lam

Usability evaluation which refers to a series of activities that are designed to measure the effectiveness of a system as a whole, is an important step for determining the acceptance of system by the users. Usability evaluation is becoming important since both user groups, as well as tasks, are increasing in size and diversity. Users are increasingly becoming more informed and, consequently, have higher expectations from the systems. Moreover “system interface” has become a commodity and, hence, user acceptance plays a major role in the success of the system. Currently, there are various usability evaluation methods in vogue, like cognitive walkthrough, think aloud, claims analysis, heuristic evaluation, and so forth. However, for this study we have chosen heuristic evaluation because it is relatively inexpensive, logistically uncomplicated, and is often used as a discount usability-engineering tool (Nielsen, 1994). Heuristic evaluation is a method for finding usability problems in a user interface design by having a small set of evaluators examine an interface and judge its compliance with recognized usability principles. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows: we first look at the definition of e-learning, followed by concepts of usability, LCD, and heuristics. Subsequently, we introduce a methodology for heuristic usability evaluation (Reeves, Benson, Elliot, Grant, Holschuh, Kim, Kim, Lauber, & Loh, 2002), and then use these heuristics for evaluating an existing e-learning system, GETn2. We offer our recommendations for the system and end with a discussion on the contributions of our chapter.


Author(s):  
Christofer Ramos ◽  
Flávio Anthero Nunes Vianna dos Santos ◽  
Monique Vandresen

Heuristic evaluation stands out among the usability evaluation methods regarding its benefits related to time and costs. Nevertheless, generic heuristic sets require improvements when it comes to specific interfaces as seen on m-learning applications that have acquired considerable evidence within the current technologic context. Regarding the lack of studies aimed at interfaces of this sort, the authors propose, through a systematic methodology, the comparative study between a heuristic set specific to the assessment on e-learning interfaces and other, on mobile. The identified usability problems were matched with the aspects of coverage, distribution, redundancy, context and severity, in a way that it was possible to understand the efficiency of each set in covering m-learning issues. Among the findings, e-learning's heuristic set could detect a larger number of usability problems not found by mobile's.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrdad Farzandipour ◽  
Ehsan Nabovati ◽  
Hamidreza Tadayon ◽  
Monireh Sadeqi Jabali

Abstract Background There are some inconsistencies regarding the selection of the most appropriate usability evaluation method. The present study aimed to compare two expert-based evaluation methods in a nursing module, as the most widely used module of a Hospital Information System (HIS). Methods The Heuristic Evaluation (HE) and Cognitive Walkthrough (CW) methods were used by five independent evaluators to evaluate the nursing module of Shafa HIS. In this regard, the number, severity and ratio of the recognized problems according to the usability attributes were compared using two evaluation methods. Results The use of the HE and CW evaluation methods resulted in the identification of 104 and 24 unique problems, respectively. The average severity of the recognized problems was 2.32 in the HE method and 2.77 in the CW evaluation method; however, there was a significant difference between the number and severity of recognized usability problems by these methods (P < 0.001). Some problems, which were associated with effectiveness, satisfaction and error, were better recognized by the HE method; however, CW evaluation method was more successful in recognizing problems of learnability, efficiency and memorability. Conclusion The HE method recognized more problems with a lower average severity. On the other hand, CW could recognize fewer problems with a higher average severity. Regarding the evaluation goal, HE method would be used to improve effectiveness, increase satisfaction and decrease the number of errors. Furthermore, CW evaluation method is recommended to be used to improve the learnability, efficiency and memorability of the system.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Houwaart

Abstract End-user (e.g. patients or the public) testing of information material is becoming more common in the German public health care system. However, including the end-user (in this case patients) in an optimisation process and thus enabling a close collaboration while developing PIMs is still rare. This is surprising, given the fact that patients provide the exact perspective one is trying to address. Within the isPO project, a patient organization is included as a legal project partner to act as the patient representative and provide the patient's perspective. As such, the patient organization was included in the PHR approach as part of the PIM-optimisation team. During the optimisation process, the patients gave practical insights into the procedures of diagnosing and treating different types of cancer as well as into the patient's changing priorities and challenges at different time points. This was crucial information for the envisioned application of the individual PIMs and their hierarchical overview. Moreover, the developed PIM-checklist enabled the patients to give detailed feedback to the PIMs. With their experience of being in the exact situation in which the PIMs will be applied, their recommendations, especially on the wording and layout of the materials, have been a valuable contribution to the PIM optimisation process. In this part of the seminar, we will take a closer look at the following skill building aspects: What is gained from including patients as end-users in the development and optimization of PIM?How can we reach patients to contribute to a PIM optimization process? Which requirements and prerequisites do patients have to provide to successfully work on an optimisation team?How to compromise and weigh opinions when different ideas occur? Altogether, this part will construct a structured path of productive patient involvement and help to overcome uncertainties regarding a collaboration with patient organizations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés Solano ◽  
César A. Collazos ◽  
Cristian Rusu ◽  
Habib M. Fardoun

Usability is a fundamental quality characteristic for the success of an interactive system. It is a concept that includes a set of metrics and methods in order to obtain easy-to-learn and easy-to-use systems. Usability Evaluation Methods, UEM, are quite diverse; their application depends on variables such as costs, time availability, and human resources. A large number of UEM can be employed to assess interactive software systems, but questions arise when deciding which method and/or combination of methods gives more (relevant) information. We proposeCollaborative Usability Evaluation Methods, CUEM, following the principles defined by the Collaboration Engineering. This paper analyzes a set of CUEM conducted on different interactive software systems. It proposes combinations of CUEM that provide more complete and comprehensive information about the usability of interactive software systems than those evaluation methods conducted independently.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Nazrul Islam ◽  
Franck Tétard

User interfaces of computer applications encompass a number of objects such as navigation links, buttons, icons, and thumbnails. In this chapter, these are called interface signs. The content and functions of a computer application are generally directed by interface signs to provide the system’s logic to the end users. The interface signs of a usable application need to be intuitive to end users and therefore a necessary part of usability evaluation. Assessing sign intuitiveness can be achieved through a semiotic analysis. This study demonstrates how a semiotic assessment of interface signs’ intuitiveness yielded a number of benefits. For instance, (i) it provides an overall idea of interface signs’ intuitiveness to the end users to interpret the meaning of interface signs, (ii) it assists in finding usability problems and also in (iii) recommending possible solutions, (iv) provides background for introducing guidelines to design user-intuitive interface signs, (v) helps in constructing heuristic checklist from semiotics perspective to evaluate an application, (vi) no additional resource and extra budget are needed. This study also presents a list of methodological guidelines to obtain the perceived benefits of integrating semiotic perception in usability testing for practitioners.


Author(s):  
Tiago Almeida ◽  
Leonor Teixeira ◽  
Carlos Ferreira

This chapter analyzes the impact of the implementation of SAP R/3 in a Multinational Portuguese Organization (MPO), defining some Critical Success Factors (CSFs). In order to understand the motivations of end-users prior to implementation and to analyze the behavior after a change (post-implementation), a study based on a questionnaire was carried out. The sample included 67 users of SAP R/3 that were present throughout the process. Considering the results, the authors conclude that the implementation of SAP R/3 in MPO was successful, and the respondents consider their work more productive and achieve easier access to information. The existence of a solid team to support the project was established as a major facilitator in the whole process, as opposed to the limited time and lack of training that emerged as barriers to the implementation. It was also found that the learning period assumes a high importance in the success of the implementation, since increasing the training time reduces the need for support to the end-users.


Author(s):  
Panagiotis Zaharias

The issue of e-learning quality remains prominent on end users’ (the learners’) agenda. It is no surprise that many non-motivated adult learners abandon prematurely their e-learning experiences. This is attributed in a great extent to the poor design and usability of e-learning applications. This paper proposes a usability framework that addresses the user as a learner and extends the current e-learning usability practice by focusing on the affective dimension of learning, a frequently neglected issue in e-learning developments. Motivation to learn, a dominant affective factor related with learning effectiveness, has been similarly neglected. Usability and instructional design constructs as well as Keller’s ARCS Model are being employed within the framework proposed in this work upon which new usability evaluation methods can be based. This framework integrates web usability and instructional design parameters and proposes motivation to learn as a new type of usability dimension in designing and evaluating e-learning applications.


2008 ◽  
pp. 1579-1594
Author(s):  
Eitel J.M. Lauría

This paper explores the impact of human factor and organizational behavior on the outcome of information technology implementation projects. Client/server technology implementation is used as the leading case, given the fact that it is a good example of a major paradigm shift. The results draw attention to the importance of end-user interaction and the maturity level of organizations as significant factors in the success and benefits of the project. Client/server projects seem to be more successful, are executed in a more timely manner, and yield greater benefits when end users take an active participation in some of the stages, particularly during the implementation phase.


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