1. Analysis of Software Usability Evaluation Methods
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Analysis of Software Usability Evaluation Methods
By Siyao (Amy) Kong
University of Southern California

2. Overview Introduction Usability Evaluation Methods Pros & Cons
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Overview
Introduction
- What is Human Factor?
- What is usability?
Usability Evaluation Methods
Pros & Cons
Possible Improvement
Contribution to CSCI 577ab
Conclusion

3. Introduction What is Human Factor? What is usability?
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Introduction
What is Human Factor?
A study about interaction between people and system
A study about designing better user experience
To design effective user interface
What is usability?
The ease of use of the system
Influence users’ satisfaction of the system

4. Usability Evaluation Methods
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Usability Evaluation Methods
User-based
Evaluate the quality and quantitative result
Performance, non-verbal behavior, attitude, stress, motivation
Expert-based
Domain expert’s rating
Theory-based
learning curve, performance times, and ease of understanding

5. Evaluation technique Diagnostic Summative Certification
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Evaluation technique
Diagnostic
Highlight problem area, recommend redesign
Summative
Experimental task support, degree of user support
Common in expert-based and user-based approaches
Certification
Against certain criteria

6. Evaluation technique Expert-based evaluation User-based testing
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Evaluation technique
Expert-based evaluation
by a group of human-computer interaction researchers
User-based testing
regular PC users as subject
Theory-based evaluation
based on guidelines and principles
Cognitive walk-through method
Step through typical user tasks
Compare actions and feedbacks

7. Pros & Cons Expert-based User-based Theory-based
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Pros & Cons
Expert-based
Thorough than other techniques
Requires experts
User-based
Only highlight significant problems
Simple to make responsive change
Expensive cost: time, money, user
Theory-based
Identify recurring and general problems
No need for expert
Miss severe problems
Cognitive walk-through
Identify goals and assumptions
Fail to identify many problems

8. 11/30/2018
Possible Improvement
Introduce expert knowledge into theory, extends guidelines and problem identification, form more thorough principles
Add more quality and quantitative criteria for user-based evaluation
Interface responsiveness, effective hint, operation success rate
Add more non-typical tasks to cognitive walk-through methods

9. Contribution to CSCI 577ab
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Contribution to CSCI 577ab
Provide guideline for evaluate the ease of use of the system
Adopted several methods for project usability evaluation
Improves the usability of the system
Refined ambiguous interface elements
Display elements according to different scenarios
Redesign layouts to improve understandability
Improve user input efficiency

10. Conclusion Important factor to influence user experience
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Conclusion
Important factor to influence user experience
Indispensable factor of a successful software

11. References Wikipedia Human Factors in Software Engineering
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References
Wikipedia
Human Factors in Software Engineering
J.D. Gannon, University of Maryland
Usability Evaluation with the Cognitive Walkthrough
Criteria For Evaluating Usability Evaluation Methods

12. 11/30/2018
Thank you!