Usability Evaluation

Question 1

Usability Evaluation

Answer 1

A process to gather information about a system’s usability to improve or assess it

Question 2

3 goals to evaluating

Answer 2

1. Functionality: Suited to user tasks?
2. User Experience: Learnability, satisfaction
3. Problem-Spotting: Pinpoint design flaws

Question 3

Heuristic evaluation (Nielsen)

Answer 3

Experts check against 10 usability heuristics and list the issues

Question 4

Cognitive Walkthrough

Answer 4

Simulates user actions for learnability

Question 5

User Testing (Empirical)

Answer 5

• Think-Aloud: Users verbalise thoughts (but may disrupt task flow)
• Observation/Logging: Watch real use (Hawthorne effect risk)
• A/B Testing: Compare alternative (e.g. button colours)

Question 6

Key Usability Heuristics (Nielsen)

Answer 6

1. Visibility of Status: Progress feedback (e.g., loading bars).
2. Match Real World: Familiar terms/icons (e.g., trash bin = delete).
3. User Control: Undo, cancel, quit options.
4. Consistency: Uniform buttons, labels.
5. Error Prevention: Confirmations (e.g., “Delete forever?”).
6. Recognition > Recall: Show options (no memorization).
7. Flexibility: Shortcuts for experts.
8. Minimalist Design: Avoid clutter.
9. Help Users Recover: Clear error messages.
10. Help/Docs: Accessible guidance.

Question 7

Severity Maxtix

Answer 7

Prioritise issues by frequency (how often users encounter it) and impact (how disruptive it is)

Question 8

Cognitive Walkthrough Steps

Answer 8

1. Goal: Will users know to do?
2. Action Visibility: Is the button obvious?
3. Mapping: Do buttons do what they mean?
4. Feedback: Does UI confirm success?

Question 9

Common Evaluation Pitfalls

Answer 9

• Testing on Yourself
• Wrong Users: Non-representative samples
• Too Late: Fixing post-launch is costly
• Ignoring Context: Lab ≠ real-world use