Software Product Usability Testing in Singapore
With regard to usability testing and evaluation, a new speciality has now been developed abroad, called Usability Engineering. Since it is a major, there is a dedicated staff to do the job and develop a complete set of methods and techniques for testing and evaluating usability. Based on our definition of software usability, a software usability testing and evaluation should follow the following principles:
(1) The most authoritative usability testing and evaluation should not be professional technicians, but users of the product. Because no matter how high the level of this professional and technical personnel, regardless of how advanced the methods and techniques they use, the final decision or user satisfaction with the product. Therefore, the software usability testing and evaluation, mainly by the user to complete.
(2) Software usability testing and evaluation is a process that started as early as the beginning of the product. Therefore, the process of soliciting users’ opinions repeatedly during design of a software should be combined with the usability testing and evaluation process. Of course, the process of soliciting comments during the design phase is the basis for later usability testing and can not replace real usability testing. However, if there is no process of soliciting opinions repeatedly during the design phase, the user’s final evaluation of the product once or twice can not fully reflect the usability of the software.
(3) The software usability test must be carried out under the user’s actual work tasks and operating environment. Usability testing and evaluation can not rely on several questionnaires, allowing users to fill out after a simple statistical analysis to the conclusion. The usability test must be objectively analyzed and evaluated by the user after the actual operation according to the result of his task.
(4) Select a wide range of representative users. Because an important requirement for software usability is that the system should be suitable for the vast majority of people, and for the vast majority to be satisfied. Therefore, the test participants must be representative, should be able to represent the largest user.
Software is high-tech, people’s understanding of the software is usually technically considered, it seems that the more advanced technology, the higher the level, the better the system. The so-called people’s understanding, including not only designers and managers, but also ordinary users. Therefore, the usability of software is raised, not only a revolution in the thinking of designers, but also a revolution in common people’s understanding.
Testing software usability is an integral part of software product development. Usability is from the human point of view software system is easy to use, efficient and satisfying. As a special kind of IT product, its usability is especially important:
Examining the usability of a software system is generally the test of whether the usability of the software meets the user’s requirements. The current method can be roughly divided into four categories, user model method, user survey method, expert review method and user testing method.
User model method
User model method is to use mathematical models to simulate the process of human-computer interaction. This method regards the process of human-computer interaction as the process of solving the problem. It believes that people use the software system for a purpose. And a big purpose can be broken down into many non-goals. This is done for each small purpose, there are different actions and methods to choose from, each small process can calculate the completion time. This model can be used to predict the time it takes for the user to complete the task. This method is especially suitable for situations where user testing is not possible. The most famous model of GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, Selections) in the field of human-computer interaction.
User surveys
User surveys include questionnaires and interviews. Both of these approaches are well-established technologies in social sciences research, market research and human-computer interaction that apply to rapid assessment, usability testing and field research to understand facts, behaviors, beliefs and perceptions.
The similarities between interviews and ordinary conversations depend on the questions and interviews and types to be understood. There are four main types of interviewing: open (or unstructured), structured, semi-structured and collective interviewing. The specific interview technique used depends on the objective of the assessment, the issues to be resolved, type. For example, informal open-ended interviews are often the best choice if the goal is to get a general idea of what the user is saying about the new design concept, such as interactive design. However, if the goal is to gather feedback on a particular feature, such as the layout of a new web browser, a structured interview survey is usually more appropriate because of its more specific goals and problems.
The questionnaire is a commonly used method for collecting statistics and user opinions. It is somewhat similar to interviews and is also used to understand user satisfaction and problems encountered. The questionnaire needs careful design. It can be an open problem or a closed one, but it must be clearly worded, avoiding possible misleading issues and ensuring a high degree of confidence in the data collected. Usability questionnaires common in academic papers include: questionnaire for user interaction questionnaire (QUIS), software usability measurement inventory (SUMI) computer system usability questionnaire, CSUQ).
Expert review method
Expert review method is divided into Heuristic Evaluation and Walkthrough method. Heuristic evaluation is an informal usability checking technique developed by Jakob Nielsen and his colleagues that uses a relatively simple, common, and heuristic usability principle for usability assessments. Specifically, experts use a set of usability rules called “heuristics” as a guideline to assess whether user interface elements such as dialogs, menus, online help, etc. conform to these principles. When conducting heuristic evaluations, experts take a “role-playing” approach to simulating the situations typical of users using the product and identifying potential problems. The number of experts involved in the assessment can vary. Because heuristic evaluation does not require user involvement and does not require special equipment, it is relatively inexpensive and fast, and is therefore known as the Economic Assessment Act.
Walkthroughs include cognitive walkthroughs and collaborative walkthroughs to assess the usability of the system from the point of view of learning to use the system. This method is mainly used to discover new users may encounter problems when using the system, especially for users without any training and systems. Walk check is to gradually check the process of using the system to run, find out the usability problems. The focus of the check is very clear and suitable for evaluating a small part of the system.
User testing method
User Testing Method: Usability is the standard to evaluate the quality of software, and from the user’s point of view, of course, the evaluation of the user participation, of all the usability assessment method, the most effective is the user test method. The method is in the test, so that real users to use the software system, and testers next to observe, record, measure. Therefore, the user test method best reflects the user’s needs and needs. According to the test site, user testing can be divided into laboratory testing and field testing. Laboratory tests are conducted in the usability lab, while field tests are observed and tested by usability testers to the user’s actual use site. According to different methods of test design, user test can be divided into statistical test with control conditions and informal usability observation test. These two test methods can also be mixed in some cases, so often referred to as usability tests. The usability experiment is to test the environment, conditions and users in addition to the actual environment of the product so as to record the performance of the system and verify the specific causal relationship so as to obtain the quantified data.
Common user testing methods include Lab experiments, Focus Group Discussion and Thinking Aloud. Focus group discussion is a common approach to general marketing research. Invite a group of users, usually five to eight people together to discuss several key issues, by a host to control the direction of the discussion, around the scheduled topics, so that participants can freely and enthusiastically discussed. However, if the software for discussion, we must consider the size of the system and the use of the experience of the enterprise software, a discussion is definitely not enough, we must conduct a series of discussions and evaluation.
Thinking aloud is a research methodology used in psychology research abroad and is used by researchers who use human-computer interaction or usability to evaluate the use of the software. Voice thinking method requires subjects to use the specified system, talking with the edge, say everything you want at the time of use, including difficulties, problems, feelings and so on. This method can gather considerable information from the evaluation process of each subject, and there are not many candidates for the required invitations. Therefore, the relevant industries in foreign countries can be regarded as the standard software quality evaluation method.
Summary
The usability engineering methods described above are proven by many years of industrial practice. In the practical application of each method, some details of the method execution can be flexibly grasped according to the specific conditions. How to choose the usability engineering method used in a particular product development project is directly related to the effectiveness of usability engineering. Here we must take into account the stage of the development process at that time, the information provided by various methods and the resources they need in terms of skills, personnel, time, equipment, etc., on this basis, select a set of suitable for specific circumstances , To complement each other and the method of convergence, making the user-centered design concepts as fully as possible.
see more: https://medium.com/@ysfqwe1/user-experience-is-more-than-usability-in-singapore-7c220024fd7c