UX Exam - Glossary

Question 1

A/B testing

Answer 1

A technique used to compare two alternative designs of a live system with a large number of users.

Question 2

Accessibility

Answer 2

The extent to which products, systems, services, environments or facilities can be used by people from a population with the widest range of characteristics and capabilities to achieve a specified goal in a specified context of use (ISO 26800).

Question 3

Affordance

Answer 3

The properties of an object that suggest to people how the object can be interacted with

Question 4

Assumption Persona

Answer 4

Personas developed without user research.

Question 5

Boomerang technique

Answer 5

Answering a question with another question.

Question 6

Closed Card Sort

Answer 6

A card sort where the categories into which information can be sorted has been pre-defined. See also ‘Card Sort’.

Question 7

Closed question

Answer 7

A question where the participant has to choose his answer from among a proposed list of responses. No other answer than the ones proposed are allowed.

Question 8

Conceptual model

Answer 8

Conceptual model A high-level description of the way the designer of a system has planned the system to work.

Question 9

Context of use

Answer 9

Users, goals & tasks, resources/equipment (hardware, software and materials), and the technical, physical, social, cultural & organisational environments in which a product is used. (ISO 9241-11).

Question 10

Design/interface pattern

Answer 10

A reusable solution to a commonly occurring design problem

Question 11

Diary Study

Answer 11

A longitudinal research method where users keep track of the activities in which they engage.

Question 12

Discount usability

Answer 12

An approach to usability that seeks to optimise usability methods for cost effectiveness.

Question 13

Empathy Map

Answer 13

A visual summary of what the user hears, sees, thinks and feels within the context of use.

Question 14

Ethnography

Answer 14

The scientific description of people and cultures with their customs, habits and mutual differences.

Question 15

Fitts’ Law

Answer 15

The time taken to move to a target is a function of the target size and the distance to the target.

Question 16

Fixation

Answer 16

The pause of an eye movement on a specific area of the visual field

Question 17

Formative usability test

Answer 17

A form of iterative usability testing that aims to find problems with
a system so they can be fixed.

Question 18

Gaze plot

Answer 18

A moment-by-moment representation of a user’s eye movement across the screen.

Question 19

Heat map

Answer 19

A representation of the different areas of the screen where the user has spent the most time looking.

Question 20

Heuristic

Answer 20

A guideline for evaluating the usability of a user interface.

Question 21

Hick’s Law

Answer 21

The time taken to make a decision increases as the number of choices is expanded.

Question 22

Implementation model

Answer 22

The view of the system from the developers’ point of view, often
with system models, etc.

Question 23

Information architecture

Answer 23

The discipline that ensures users can find the functions, features or
content they need to achieve their tasks.

Question 24

Interaction Design

Answer 24

The process of identifying design solutions and creating prototype user interfaces.

Question 25

Leading question

Answer 25

An interview question phrased in such a way that it tends to suggest the desired answer.

Question 26

Mental model

Answer 26

The internal, mental, representation that a user has about how a system works.

Question 27

Moderator

Answer 27

The person who runs a usability test. The moderator is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the session and for ensuring that the test objectives are addressed.

Question 28

Microcopy

Answer 28

Text labels that appear on buttons, dialog names, form fields and tooltips

Question 29

Moderated usability test

Answer 29

A usability test where a test administrator is with a test participant in real time, for example to remind the participant to think aloud.

Question 30

Monothetic agglomerative cluster analysis

Answer 30

A statistical method of analysing results of a card sorting session.

Question 31

Multivariate testing

Answer 31

Generalised version of A/B testing, where there are more than 2 alternatives.

Question 32

Negative Persona

Answer 32

Users whom the service is specifically not designed to serve.

Question 33

Observation

Answer 33

In the context of a usability test, this is something the participant says or does (as distinguished from an ‘interpretation’ which is the observer’s belief about the cause).

Question 34

Open Card Sort

Answer 34

A card sort where where users can create their own grouping scheme. See also ‘Card Sort’.

Question 35

Persona

Answer 35

A fictional person created to model and describe the goals, needs, and characteristics of a specific type or group of users.

Question 36

Primary Persona

Answer 36

The main target for the design of the service.

Question 37

Progressive disclosure

Answer 37

An interaction design technique that helps maintain the focus of a user's attention by reducing clutter, confusion, and cognitive workload. This improves usability by presenting only the minimum information required for the task at hand.

Question 38

Proximity

Answer 38

A visual design technique used to organise and group the various parts of a user interface.

Question 39

Recall question

Answer 39

A question that requires the participant to remember an event that has happened in the past.

Question 40

Saccade

Answer 40

The movement of the eye from one part of the visual field to another.

Question 41

Sample Size

Answer 41

The number of participants interviewed / observed etc. in a given research study.

Question 42

Secondary Persona

Answer 42

A persona whose needs and goals can be accommodated without upsetting the design’s ability to serve the primary persona.

Question 43

SCRUM

Answer 43

A system design methodology, falling within the ‘Agile’ set of methodologies. Attributed to Ken Schriber.

Question 44

Signifier

Answer 44

An indicator of how something is designed to be interacted with to get an intended result (cf affordance).

Question 45

Sketch

Answer 45

A design concept or solution not intended for testing with users.

Question 46

Summative usability test

Answer 46

A form of usability testing that aims to measure usability metrics, such as effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.

Question 47

Thinking aloud

Answer 47

A technique from cognitive interviewing where a participant describes his or her thought processes when engaged in an activity.

Question 48

Usability

Answer 48

The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use (ISO 9241-11)

Question 49

Usability inspection

Answer 49

A usability evaluation process where an expert evaluates a design against a set of usability principles or standards.

Question 50

User acceptance test

Answer 50

A test conducted to determine if the functional requirements of a specification have been met.

Question 51

User centred design

Answer 51

A design process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of the end users of a product, service or process are considered at each stage of design.

Question 52

User experience

Answer 52

A person’s perceptions and responses resulting from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system or service (ISO 9241-210)

Question 53

User research

Answer 53

The process of uncovering user needs, goals and motivations.

Question 54

User Story

Answer 54

User stories are part of an agile approach that helps shift the focus from writing about requirements to talking about them. All agile user stories include a written sentence or two and, more importantly, a series of conversations about the desired functionality. The generalised format is "As a [role], I need to [carry out this task] so that I can [achieve this goal]".

Question 55

Validated learning

Answer 55

A form of iterative design where the design team test design hypotheses with users.

Question 56

Visual Design

Answer 56

The process of devising grids, laying out pages, choosing colour palettes and developing icons.