Undertaking Evaluation Of Interactive Systems: An Essay Approach.

Heuristic Evaluation

You are keen to develop a start up Human Factors company that specialises in undertaking evaluations of interactive devices and systems that are in everyday use. You intend to provide evaluations and recommendations on whether the device is appropriate or not for the intended user group, in terms of, for example, task functionality, usability, safety, security and design aesthetics..  A key to the potential success of your business will be to show to potential clients, that you have specialist skills and understanding of Human Factors tools and techniques. To help you in your quest to show that you do indeed possess these much sought after skills and qualities, you decide to undertake an evaluation of a device in order for you to have an example portfolio of your work that you can use to show potential clients.

Initially, identify and select an appropriate device that you can use to undertake the evaluation. You have complete freedom of choice here but the type of devices you might like to consider include, digital cameras, smartphones, interactive ‘smart’ televisions, tablet devices, remote control units for Hi Fi, TVs etc , or control system displays for home heating systems, in car communication navigation and entertainment systems etc..

The first assessed piece of this assignment is for you to provide a justification for the need to undertake evaluation of interactive systems.  Your justification should also indicate what evaluation is about, describe the different types of evaluation that can be undertaken and a brief critique of each of the different evaluation methods.  (E.g. Heuristic evaluation).  This will be approximately 2 - 3 sides of A4 maximum.

Identify and select appropriate user task goals for the evaluation. Using an appropriate task analysis technique, identify a range of typical task goals that users would use the device for. (Again if you should think of appropriate Use cases to help you identify appropriate tasks.) This will form the basis for your evaluation.  Typically you should identify between 5 – 10 tasks. (Your task analysis should consider, task frequency, task sequence, task criticality etc..)

Conduct a user profiling to identify the key characteristics of the intended users of your chosen device. This analysis will form the basis for your evaluation on, for example, the appropriateness of the device for the intended user group against their typical characteristics.

Provide a usability specification to enable you to evaluate the device against the specification.  You should aim to have 6 – 10 usability/ user experience goals.

Undertake an evaluation of the device using an appropriate evaluation technique(s) (eg Heuristic evaluation, observation of users etc. )   Part of this task will be designing forms etc  to capture your results.

Once you have undertaken your evaluation you are then required to begin the process of analysing your results and then preparing them for dissemination to a wide audience of people who may be interested in your findings. (Users, retailers, developers etc.). This is a key part of the assignment and again you have complete freedom and flexibility over how you might wish to communicate your results.  Examples that you might wish to consider include:-

• Producing a short  ‘You Tube’ type video highlighting  issues with the device and summarising your results
• Preparing a ‘TechRadar’ type web based report
• Producing a ‘Powerpoint’ type presentation. (You may be required to present it.)
• A short evaluation report with an executive summary of your key findings

As stated above, it is entirely your choice but the key point is that, whichever method you choose, you are able to clearly communicate the results of your findings in a way that those who would be interested in your study can readily understand.   The results and presentation of your evaluation will need to be concise but highly relevant, useful, informative, meaningful and relevant.  (You need to think about being able to convey your results to your audience within a maximum of 4 -10 minutes, whichever form of presentation you decide to use. (You have only a limited amount of time to impress!!)

To provide a relevant documentation approach for undertaking the evaluation approach.

A Smartphone device is taken into consideration for the evaluation. Heuristic evaluation technique has been has been chosen and it is going to be discussed thoroughly.

Usability is a practice of interface quality. It is defined as the measure of effectiveness and satisfaction that the users can perform tasks with tools such as Smartphone. Evaluation usability is considered as the crucial part of any user interface tasks. It is an essential task of any system related user interface experience. Through this way a number interface system related issues are resolved (Ivory and Hearst, 2001). Usability is often regardless the process through which the system usability and the user experience can be enhanced.

It is a type of inspection method used for the computer software. It is basically a usability inspection method. It is helpful in the identification of the usability problems that arises in the user interface (UI) design. This kind of evaluation procedures are widely used in media department. This is used where the user interfaces are designed in a critical manner.

To provide the summary analysis of your evaluation and the results

A key to the potential success of your business will be to show to potential clients, that you have specialist skills and understanding of Human Factors tools and techniques. It is required to undertake an evaluation of a device in order to show potential clients.

To identify and select an appropriate device that you can use to undertake the evaluation.

Heuristic Evaluation:

It is a type of inspection method used for the computer software. It is basically a usability inspection method. It is helpful in the identification of the usability problems that arises in the user interface (UI) design. This kind of evaluation procedures are widely used in media department. This is used where the user interfaces are designed in a critical manner. This is used where the designs are taking place in a short span of time and within a limited budget leads to certain issues.

The main aim of Heuristic evaluation is the identification and determination of problems connected with user interfaces. This evaluation technique is considered as one of the most informal way of evaluation process (Paz, Paz, Villanueva and Pow-Sang , 2015). The usefulness of the heuristic evaluation is benefitted at the initial stage of design. These usability inspection methods do not require any form of formal testing. Since these testing includes heavy load of tasks followed by the need of users, a location of their testing and payment to test. Heuristic evaluation method is very simple as it does not require any complex evaluation process reducing the amount of time and effort. To Plan of Evaluation

• To develop set of tasks
• Evaluators must carry out these tasks
• The goal of the system must be known to the evaluators
• The evaluators must be able to develop their own set of tasks
• The evaluators must be asked to access the dialogue elements
• Choice of Evaluators
• Heuristic review technique

Task 1: Heuristic Evaluation

The expert review heuristic evaluation method is   very simple as it does not require any complex evaluation process reducing the amount of time and is very similarly concerned with the Heuristic evaluation. The expert review, also known as website audit is a type of inspection method to find out the usability. The method is designed to determine the usability issues in an online product or the online services. The audit or the review is being carried out by the analyst who has been allocated for testing and identifying the usability problems in the potential market (Nielsen, 2000).

Heuristic evaluation method reduces the amount of time and the effort that is required to search and minimise a particular user fault in the online products and the online services. On a particular site the way in which this evaluation technique can be used are in the following way:

Figure 1: Evaluation Technique

Appropriate task analysis technique. Identify and select appropriate user task goals for the evaluation. It includes task analysis should consider, task frequency, task sequence and task criticality.

The motto of Human factors start up company is to become one of the best companies in terms of user experience design.  The company is going o focus on building a strong user experience practices. This is made possible with the help of a mature development of effective user experience practices. These practices include training and certification methods. The standards and applications of tools are takes into serious considerations. These are evolved with the focus mainly with the customer experience and their feedback for further improvement. They are absolutely customer centric.

In order to develop the best form of the user experiences devices there are many important key factors that are important (Davis and Jiang, 2015).

Some of the basic key points are the customer-cantered business strategy. In these cases the business strategy are developed based on the customer experiences usability benchmark. New products are innovated and that is based on the customer demand and their core issues.

 The user experience is enhanced with the help of user interface structures and persuasion strategies. The user experience plays a crucial role in the detailed form of design and visual communication.

The start up company for enhancement of user experiences is concerned with the creation of standard UX operation. It is mainly focused o the strategy and realistic planning for effective experience feedback. The training motives include providing optimal UX in the form of range f public and on-site training. It consists of user-centred design.

Task 2: Select User Task Goals

To identify the key characteristics of the intended users of the chosen device like smart phones.

This analysis will form the basis for the appropriateness of the device for the intended user group against their typical characteristics. In order to perform user profiling to understand the key characteristics of intended users, it is required to know their potential users those who are going to use the device and their typical characteristics. Databases are created with the intention of providing support to the intended users. They are meant to provide help to their users when the users are searching for any information and knowledge within a particular area.

Since the databases are meant to be developed in order to solve the issues of users problem and knowledge based queries. Hence the users must equally take part in the analyzation process to improve the user experience design process. The users must take part in the design of databases that are meant to produce the best results in terms of user experiences. In this case the traditional database design process is used. The design of software interactive tools and devices like smart phones need extensive step y step process in their design approach (Callahan and Koenemann, 2000). They include the sequence of addressing the goal along with the need and expectations of large group of users having different views and opinions in their mind. The sequence of steps is described in the following:

Figure 2: design of software interactive tools

To enable the usability specification in order to evaluate the device against the specification

Figure 3: Usability life cycle

Evaluation Usability

There are various methods of evaluation techniques. It depends on the evaluation usability depending upon the availability of the resources. The evaluation tasks include the number of factors in the form of experience, database, evaluator, preference and ability. Then there is sequential stage of development process including various used tools under review. The various evaluation methods can be categorised in the following:

• User-based
• Expert-based
• Model-based

In case of user based, it is preceded with the sample of the users meant to use the application. It is a type of user based development technique. This type of evaluation method tales place with the testing of application where sample of the user performance can help to develop the set of tasks which is pre determined in order to yield a reliable and valid estimation. In case of exert based evaluation method the usability can be enhanced with the help of exerts in the particular field to make assessment in the app making procedure. The model based technique is associated with the adoption of HCI expert to employ the formal methods of predicting criteria in the performance of users.

Task 3: Conduct User Profiling

An evaluation of the Smartphone device using with an appropriate evaluation technique(s) in order to capture your results

In Heuristic Evaluation usability experts initially review the performance of the site before taking steps in the planning procedure. After that these are being compared with the accepted usability principles. The analysis and the result comprise of potential usability issues. Along with the high merits of Heuristic evaluation method, there are however many demerits, as discussed below. Since a Heuristic evaluation should not replace usability testing (Nielsen, 2000).

His evaluation method can provide a fast and relative feedback to the designers in an inexpensive manner. Early during the design process initialisation the feedback can be carried out to take the necessary steps. By assigning the correct approach of Heuristic evaluation, it can help to give suggestion in the best and correct way to measure the designers. This evaluation technique can get along with the other standard usability testing approaches.

To apply Heuristics in an effective manner, it requires appropriate knowledge and experience to use in the app properly. It is hard to find the trained and skilled usability experts and if they are found they are too expensive to approach. This method is too expensive to afford since any time they are required in bulk to manage the entire process in a common platform by aggregating their results. A group of minor issue can be determined through this approaches, however the major issue are left behind the scene.

Figure 4: Relation between Knowledge, observation and reality

To understand the usability of a product in a better and efficient manner, observing the user interacting with products is a great way to enrich the overall user experience. To conduct observations on the user interacting product is not a very difficult task. It can proceed with a very less amount of skill and training and it can be fat and effective too. But of course it depends on the size of the sample of the users those who are intended to be in observation.

• Development of Checklist
• Qualitative Vs quantitative data need
• Research participants approval
• Desired Sample size

There are enormous advantages of this type of method. It is easy to reproduce and easy to analyse. It takes less effort in the entire method and quiet fast in approach. This is a quick and to understand. It is a timeless in consumption process. It is easy and quick at the same time.

Evaluation you are then required to begin the process of analysing your results and then preparing them for dissemination to a wide audience of people who may be interested in your findings.

Task 4: Provide Usability Specification

System development process is now growing at an alarming rate. The more the demand of the system development, then there is the need of the human machine user interface. The user interface has become an important part of the entire system evaluation. All type so deigns and the development procedures are not possible without the consideration of user experience and user requirement. Hence there are various evaluation techniques that have evolved from the traditional user system that can be utilised in the enhancement of the user’s experience for better efficiency and satisfaction.

Design Process

Evaluation technique in the database design process has its own important role. The initial process is started with the help of requirement analysis and that is followed by conceptual modelling approach. Conceptual modelling is the basics in the modelling approach considering the basic concepts of approach. The conceptual modelling is followed by the logical approach of modelling. The outer world is where the physical modelling taking place.

The various Heuristic methods include: Visibility in status of system, system Vs real world

Freedom and user control and freedom, standard of consistency, prevention to error, flexibility of Use, efficiency of Use, recognise and diagnose the error, removal of Error, documentation

Conclusion

The core component of user focused system approach is the Usability evaluation. Usability evaluation is the key component of the usability method. It is the key component of the user centred designs of system process. It is the essential competency of professional human factors in the domain of software. The various test methods that can be adopted are vary from laboratory approach of user performance to the model based predictions on the interface prediction examination. In the development cycle the choice of right evaluation approach is an important factor. From the expert domain model it is often difficult to predict the satisfaction level of the users. The users specifications are utmost important to be considered. Under the normal working conditions the ultimate technique that is the core concerned is the efficiency of user experience from the interface specification. The behaviours of users are although change and vary from one domain to another, hence observation of the user circumstance and user preference is the easiest and quick method to predict and design for the app user interface development process.

References

Callahan, E and Koenemann, J., 2000, "A comparative usability evaluation of user interfaces for online product catalog," in Proceedings of the 2nd ACM conference on Electronic commerce, pp. 197-206.

Davis, D. and Jiang, S., 2015, "Usability evaluation of web-based interfaces for Type2 Diabetes Mellitus," in Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM ), pp. 1-6.

Ivory, Y. and Hearst, A., 2001, "The state of the art in automating usability evaluation of user interfaces," ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), vol. 33, pp. 470-516, 2001.

Mosqueira-Rey, E., Alonso-Ríos, D., Vázquez-García, A., del Río, A. and Moret-Bonillo, V., 2009, "A multi-agent system based on evolutionary learning for the usability analysis of websites," in Intelligent Agents in the Evolution of Web and Applications, ed: Springer, 2009, pp. 11-34.

Nielsen, J., 2000, "10 usability heuristics for user interface design," Fremont: Nielsen Norman Group.[Consult. 20 maio 2014].

Paz, F. and Pow-Sang, A., 2016, "Evaluation of Usability Heuristics for Transactional Web Sites: A Comparative Study," in Information Technolog: New Generations, ed: Springer, 2016, pp. 1063-1073.

Paz, F., Paz, F., Villanueva, D. And Pow-Sang, A.,2015, "Heuristic Evaluation as a Complement to Usability Testing: A Case Study in Web Domain," in Information Technology New Generations (ITNG), 2015 12th International Conference on, 2015, pp. 546-551.

Schmetzke, A., Greifeneder, E., Yushiana, M. and Rani, W, 2007, "Heuristic evaluation of interface usability for a web-based OPAC," Library Hi Tech, vol. 25, pp. 538-549, 2007.

 Zarqa, Ahmet, Tarik Ozkul, and  Al-Ali, A., 2014, "A Study toward Development of an Assessment Method for Measuring Computational Intelligence of Smart Device Interfaces." International journal of mathematics and computers in simulation.