Week 6

Question 1

Why evaluate user interfaces?

Answer 1

Interactive systems are difficult to create. Its profitable. Involves and engages users. Prevents poor solutions. Lack of evaluation reflects poorly.

Question 2

What are the goals of evaluating a user interface?

Answer 2

Catching as many errors and bad design decisions as early as possible to create a better product, that doesn’t waste as much of the users time and mental capacity, which usually also resolves in more money for the creator.

Question 3

What is the difference between formative and summative evaluation?

Answer 3

Formative is done before release to improve the software, find problems and choose the right design. Summative is done after release to measure performance, certify the tool and prove the right design.

Question 4

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods for evaluation? (Analytical vs. Empirical)

Answer 4

Qualitative is usually very inexpensive and can be done by the designer / creator of the interface or in some cases by computer programs. Quantitative for the most part means involving users / experiment participants and can vary in cost.

Question 5

What’s a heuristic evaluation and how is it done?

Answer 5

1. List the steps to conduct a typical operation.
2. Focus on the interactions with the system.
3. Apply rules of thumb and guidelines to assess.

Question 6

What’s a cognitive walkthrough and how is it done?

Answer 6

An analytical evaluation method bases on mental simulation of user thinking. Evaluator simulates user behavior in their mind for every step:
1. Will user try to achieve right effect?
2. Will user notice that correct action is available?
3. Will user associate correct action with intended effect?
4. If correct action, will user understand task is progressing?

Question 7

What’s key-stroke level analysis, and what can it be used for?

Answer 7

Simple mathematical model to assess task performance. Predicts task completion time for experience users. Deals with tasks having sequential sub-structures. Limited to tasks with (1) clear boundaries, (2) no parallelism, (3) little dependency between subtasks.

Question 8

What’s a think-aloud study, how is it done, and what can it be used for?

Answer 8

An empirical evaluation method to gain insight into users’ thought processes during interaction. Verbalization of thoughts while performing tasks.
1. Provide instructions to participants.
2. Participants verbalize thoughts during interaction.
3. Capture verbalization and notable events.
4. Analyze data for insights.