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Back to User-Centered Usability Testing

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Human Factors in Computing and Informatics (SouthCHI 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 7946))

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Abstract

Usability testing is a widely used evaluation method for product design during and after the development. Conventional usability testing applies short and discrete test tasks and task scenarios that are based on the tasks the product is designed to support. Thus, conventional test task design relies heavily on the representations of the specified context of use and the specified user requirements of the proposed design solution. However, a premature commitment to the specified context, requirements and proposed solutions may limit the scope of usability testing in a manner that hinders its capability to elicit and validate new user requirements, which is one of the objectives of the evaluation phase in the iterative user-centered design process. In this paper, we introduce a user-centered task design approach, which allows test participants to follow their natural work flow and freely express their needs during a test session. The main idea of this open-ended task approach is to break the tight link between the produced design solutions and the tasks used in the usability test and in this way increase the probability that novel user needs can emerge during a test session. Empirical results from a case study are used to depict the approach and its prerequisites, strengths, and limitations are discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Systems Science, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Kimmo Tarkkanen, Pekka Reijonen & Ville Harkke

  2. Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Franck Tétard

Authors
  1. Kimmo Tarkkanen
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  2. Pekka Reijonen
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  3. Franck Tétard
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  4. Ville Harkke
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation (IMI), Medical University Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 2/V, 8036, Graz, Austria

    Andreas Holzinger

  2. Human-Computer Interaction Center, RWTH Aachen University, Theaterplatz 14, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    Martina Ziefle

  3. Institute of Informatics Systems, Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, Universitätsstrasse 65-67, 9020, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Martin Hitz

  4. Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Matjaž Debevc

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Tarkkanen, K., Reijonen, P., Tétard, F., Harkke, V. (2013). Back to User-Centered Usability Testing. In: Holzinger, A., Ziefle, M., Hitz, M., Debevc, M. (eds) Human Factors in Computing and Informatics. SouthCHI 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7946. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39062-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39062-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39061-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39062-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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