introduction to usability

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Eric F. Shaver, Ph.D.

May 24, 2010

Introduction to Usability … and a whole lot more

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Overview

Introduction

Overview of Human Factors & Ergonomics

What is Usability?

UX, UE, & UCD - How Do They Fit Together?

Evaluation Methods

Additional Resources

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Who am I?

Education

• University of Idaho

B.S. – Psychology

M.S. – Human Factors Psychology

– Risk compensation and personality differences: Identifying differences

between risk compensators and non-risk compensators.

• North Carolina State University

Ph.D. – Ergonomics Psychology

– Evaluating the influence of presentation modality on the

communication of pharmaceutical risk information in direct-to-

consumer (DTC) television commercials

Professional Involvement

• Affiliate Assistant Professor of Psychology (U of I)

• HFES

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Who am I?, cont.

www.thehumanfactorblog.com

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Benchmark Research & Safety (BRS)

Founded in 2000

Locations: Moscow, Boise, Portland, & Grand Junction

Educational backgrounds

• Psychology

Human Factors & Ergonomics

Experimental

• Engineering

Mechanical

Electrical

• Computer Science

• Anthropology

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BRS – Work We Do

Human Factors & Ergonomics

Usability & User Experience

Web-Technology Development

Research

Product & Occupational Safety

Litigation Support & Expert Testimony

Training & Education

Program Administration

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Overview of Human Factors

& Ergonomics (HFE)

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What is HFE?

HFE is a unique scientific discipline that systematically

applies the knowledge of human abilities and limitations

to the design of systems with the goal of optimizing the

interaction between people and other system elements

to enhance safety, performance, and satisfaction.

In simpler terms, HFE focuses on designing the world to

better accommodate people.

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Origins of HFE

Human Factors &

Ergonomics

Psychology

Anthropology

Applied Physiology

Environmental Medicine

EngineeringComputer Science

Statistics

Operations Research

Industrial Design

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Industries Benefiting from HFE

Aerospace

Automotive

Chemical

Computer

Consumer products

Construction

Defense

Forestry

Health care

Manufacturing

Mining

Nuclear

Petroleum

Telecommunications

Textile

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What Value Does HFE Add?

Increased• User experience &

engagement

• Ease of learning & use

• Satisfaction, trust & loyalty

• Repeat purchases

• Sales & market share

• Stock value

• Productivity & quality

• Safety & health

Decreased• Development costs

• Need for redesign & recall

• Support & services costs

• Training time

• Maintenance costs

• Accidents, injuries &

illnesses

• Lost workdays

• Error rates

• Absenteeism & turnover

• Labor costs

• Equipment damages

• Insurance rates

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What is Usability?

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Usability Defined

“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.”

• “Guidance for Usability” - ISO 9241-11 (1998)

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Usability Defined, cont.

“Usability is an approach to product development that

incorporates direct user feedback throughout the

development cycle in order to reduce costs and create

products and tools that meet user needs.”

• Usability Professionals' Association

But … is a “usable” website sufficient???

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Not any more …

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User Experience (UX)

“UX is about technology that fulfills more than just

instrumental needs in a way that acknowledges its use

as a subjective, situation, complex and dynamic

encounter. UX is a consequence of a user’s internal

states (e.g., predispositions, expectations, needs,

motivation, mood, etc.), the characteristics of the design

system (e.g., complexity, purpose, usability,

functionality, etc.), and the context (or the environment)

within which interaction occurs (e.g., organizational /

social setting, meaningfulness of the activity,

voluntariness of use, etc.).” (Hassenzahl & Tractinsky, 2006, p.

95)

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User Experience (UX), cont.

User engagement is one aspect of UX

User Technology( Interaction)

Environment

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User Engagement (UE)

It’s a category of user experience characterized by

attributes of:

• challenge,

• positive affect,

• endurability,

• aesthetic and sensory appeal,

• attention,

• feedback,

• variety/novelty,

• interactivity, and

• perceived user control.

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So what’s a web designer

supposed to do?

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The Way …

Employ a user-centered design (UCD) approach,

which incorporates human factors and ergonomics

(HFE) principles, to facilitate the creation of an optimal

user experience (UX) to maximize user engagement

(UE) when interacting with a given technology.

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User-Centered Design Process

Phase 1 – Planning

Phase 2 – Analysis

Phase 3 – Design

Phase 4 – Implementation

Phase 5 – Evaluation

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Phase 1 – Planning

Identify key stakeholders

Assemble a multidisciplinary team

Identify the questions that need answering

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Phase 2 – Analysis

Users

• Identify target audience

• Create user profiles / personas

• User requirements analysis

Technology

Tasks

• Task analysis

• Develop user scenarios

Environment

• Where & how will the technology be implemented?

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Phase 2 – Analysis, cont.

Review / Incorporate

• Standards

• Technical literature

• Customer service complaints

• Evaluations of earlier generation technology

• Competitor evaluations

• Subject matter experts

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Phase 3 – Design

Review design specification for UX issues

Create prototypes

Perform heuristic evaluation

Conduct preliminary in-house usability testing

Develop documentation

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Phase 4 – Implementation

Work w/ implementation team to identify issues to

resolve

Perform ergonomic evaluations to verify optimal

implementation of technology

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Phase 5 – Evaluation

Web analytics

Expert evaluations

Survey users for feedback

Perform observational studies to see technology in use

Conduct usability testing w/ actual users

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Lets “drill down” on

evaluations methods

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At a high level you have …

Two types of data

• Quantitative

Defines

“Measurable”

• Qualitative

Describes

“Observable”

Two ways to collect it

• Passive

• Active

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Web Analytics

UX Engagement Metrics

• Hits

• Page views

• Visits

• Unique views

• Returning visitors

• Registered users

• Customers

• Frequencies

• Time on site

• Daily active users

http://52weeksofux.com/post/548149897/ux-

engagement-metrics

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Expert Evaluations

A HFE / usability expert reviews the technology to

identify issues

Other names: heuristic evaluation; usability inspection

Strengths

• Cost effective

• Identifies the “low-hanging fruit” to fix

Weaknesses

• Relies on the knowledge and expertise of the evaluator

• Often doesn’t identify missing functionality

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Expert Evaluations – Examples

Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics

• Visibility of system status

• Match between system and the real world

• User control and freedom

• Consistency and standards

• Error prevention

• Recognition rather than recall

• Flexibility and efficiency of use

• Aesthetic and minimalist design

• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

• Help and documentation

http://www.useit.com/

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Expert Evaluations – Examples, cont.

Shneiderman’s 8 Golden Rules of Interface Design

• Strive for consistency

• Enable frequent users to use shortcuts

• Offer informative feedback

• Design dialog to yield closure

• Offer simple error handling

• Permit easy reversal of actions

• Support internal locus of control

• Reduce short-term memory load

http://www.cs.umd.edu/~ben/

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Usability Testing

A method to evaluate a product by having individuals

use it.

Questions to ask:

• What do you want to know?

• What do you want the users to do?

• How many users will be needed? Recruitment? Payment?

• Where will the testing be performed? Lab, field, or remote?

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Usability Testing, cont.

Performance metrics

• Task success

• Time-on-task

• Errors

• Efficiency

• Learnability

Issues-based metrics

• Focuses on identifying problems

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Usability Testing, cont.

Self-reported metrics

• Ease of use

• Satisfaction

• Likelihood of use; purchase

Example: Subjective Usability Scale (SUS)

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Subjective

Usability

Scale

(SUS)

http://hell.meiert.org/core/pdf/sus.pdf

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Usability Testing, cont.

Behavioral and Physiological Metrics

• Facial expressions

• Eye tracking

• Pupillary response

• Skin conductance

• Heart rate

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Usability Testing, cont.

Remote / Online

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Ten Steps to Usability Test (Hansen)

Do your homework

Write the test plan

Design the test

Arrange a test location and equipment

Conduct a dry run

Recruit users

Set up the test room

Conduct the test

Compile and analyze the results

Take action

Hansen, M. (1991). Ten steps to usability testing. Proceedings of the 9th

Annual International Conference on Systems Documentation, p. 135-139.

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Top Ten Myths About Usability (Tullis)

Usability is just common sense.

Usability is just about making things look nice.

Usability can’t be measured.

Usability means usability for the “average” person.

Usability doesn’t have any real impact on our world.

Usability costs too much.

This must be usable because we built it in Flash, Ajax, etc.

Usability is a fad. This too shall pass.

Usability doesn’t impact the bottom line.

Usability is only applies to computers and web sites.

http://www.measuringux.com/UsabilityMyths/UsabilityMyths.pdf

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And now for some real

life examples…

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Examples

Heuristic Evaluation

• Purpose

Assessed OoBE

Evaluated critical tasks

Appraised strengths &

weaknesses

• 3 usability heuristics

Nielsen’s 10 principles

Cognitive workload

Mobile phone-specific

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Examples, cont.

Website Usability Study• Purpose

User performance (time on

task, completion rate, etc.)

User satisfaction

Differences between user

types (HHO, SMB & LEB)

• Evaluated

Three homepage designs

• Six shareholders

w/competing needs

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Examples, cont.

User Experience Study• Purpose

Ease of use

Strengths & weaknesses of

similar devices

• Deliverables

Overall comparison

User-Based Guidelines for a

Usable UMD

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Examples, cont.

3D Exploration Study

• Purpose

3 types of glasses technology

(anaglyph, polarized, & active)

Computer & TV

• Evaluated

Preference of glasses

Perceived comfort, quality,

willingness to purchase, etc.

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Questions???

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Additional Resources

Measuring the User Experience

• http://www.measuringux.com/

Journal of Usability Studies

• http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/index.html

Handbook of Usability Principles

• http://www.luckydogarts.com/dm158/docs/posit.pdf

Want Magazine

• http://wantmag.com/

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Contact Information

Eric F. Shaver, Ph.D.

Benchmark Research & Safety, Inc.

3355 N. Five Mile Road, #277

Boise, ID 83713

208-407-2908

eshaver@benchmarkrs.com

www.thehumanfactorblog.com

@ericshaver