Usability Testing and Heuristic Evaluation - An Evaluation

Usability Testing and Heuristic Evaluation - Evaluation

Usability Testing and Heuristic Evaluation was discussed by the reporters namely: Mr. Manigo, Ms.Sostituido, and Mr. Henry Flores. They then discussed the topics from Usability Testing to Heuristic Evaluation and they also gave some point of learning about on how these two differentiate with each other.

Overall, they totally explained the pure context of the topic by simply explaining its definition of terms and on how and when to use them. They even gave some examples of software than uses these testing and evaluation upon implementation. Thanks to them we finally learned and absorbed the proper way of using and implementing these steps.

Usability Testing and Heuristic Evaluation - Exploration

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Usability Testing

The usability concept and its measurement are strictly connected to that of accessibility (“Web Accessibility”), and the space of the problem, shared by the users, in which the interaction takes places (user technology interaction). Accessibility refers to how a technological product can be used by people regardless of their disability (see here “Web Accessibility”; Web Accessibility Initiative (2010). Usability measures how use is perceived by the user.

2 Current Approaches to Usability Evaluation
The usability testing is of key importance in the human-computer interaction. It is one of the basic elements used to verify the user interface quality . There are many definitions of usability. The de facto definition of usability is based on the implicit assumption that users are rational agents, interacting with a system by using their knowledge and deriving information from the system’s reactions to achieve their specific goals . In usability testing, which is one of the mostly applied methods for identifying usability problems of a system, test incomplete or even erroneous concepts.

As indicated by Ivory and Hearst [45], usability evaluation can be expensive in terms of time and human resources.

Heuristic Evaluation

Heuristic evaluation is a usability engineering method for finding usability problems in a user interface design, thereby making them addressable and solvable as part of an iterative design process. It involves a small set of expert evaluators who examine the interface and assess its compliance with “heuristics,” or recognized usability principles. Such processes help prevent product failure post-release.

Thoughts

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The usability of a website or app is extremely important, especially now, when many first impressions of a company or product are made online. Everything is about the experience, and if a user has a subpar experience they’ll leave and quit using the product. Several techniques have arisen over the years on how to improve usability, with the most popular options being, usability testing and heuristic evaluations.

At first glance, you may be wondering: What’s the difference? Aren’t they basically the same thing? Well, there is actually a large distinction between the two. Each method has its own pros and cons when it comes to evaluating the prototype. At the root of each, there are two different techniques used for finding usability issues and serve as a basis for future improvement.

Let’s define the terms before we compare them.

According to Jakob Nielsen is his book, Usability Engineering, usability testing is defined as “a technique used in user-centered interaction design to evaluate a product by testing it on users. This can be seen as an irreplaceable usability practice since it gives direct input on how real users use the system.”

In the same book, Nielsen defines heuristic evaluation as “a usability inspection method for computer software that helps to identify usability problems in the user interface design. It specifically involves evaluators examining the interface and judging its compliance with recognized usability principles.”

What do they have in common?

Both of these methods are helpful when searching for usability issues that could spring up in an interface and occur early in the process in the design phase. They allow you to catch mistakes and resolve problems early on. This, in turn, saves money as most issues will be resolved before the design moves on to development, rather than after hours and hours of time are put into coding.

In addition to improving the usability, both techniques can give you additional helpful insights about your prototype, informing about the architecture, content prioritization, and overall satisfaction of the user experience. Even the smallest detail can highly increase the usability of a product.

References

1. Arh, Tanja & Jerman, Borka. (2008). A Case Study of Usability Testing - the SUMI Evaluation Approach of the EducaNext Portal. 
2. Bastien, J.. (2009). Usability testing: A review of some methodological and technical aspects of the method. International journal of medical informatics. 79. e18-23. 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2008.12.004.
3. D. Rees, “What is usability testing?,” Experience UX. [Online]. Available: https://www.experienceux.co.uk/faqs/what-is-usability-testing/. [Accessed: 30-Nov-2019].
4. K. Kwiatek, “Usability Testing vs. Heuristic Evaluations,” Zivtech, 14-Jan-2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.zivtech.com/blog/usability-testing-vs-heuristic-evaluations. [Accessed: 30-Nov-2019].
5. S. B. Brooks, “What is Heuristic Evaluation?,” The Interaction Design Foundation. [Online]. Available: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/heuristic-evaluation. [Accessed: 30-nOV-2019].