Researchers love to argue about the “right” number of points to use in a rating scale response option. Is the right number five, seven, three, ten, or eleven? The opinions often exceed the data for helping drive the decisions. When there are data, they are often hard to generalize, or they don’t really support the
The UMUX-Lite is a popular two-item measure of perceived usability that combines perceived ratings of Ease and Usefulness, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Standard version of the UMUX-Lite (standard item wording with five-point scales). Since we began regularly using the UMUX-Lite in our practice, we’ve had numerous clients ask whether it
How much did you spend last month on clothing? What grocery stores have you visited in the last three months? How helpful are your Netflix recommendations? Surveys and other research methods (such as in-depth interviewing) often rely on participants recalling prior events or behaviors. For example, these could be about purchasing a product or service
A blank page can lead to writer’s block. Writing survey questions can also seem like trying to write the Great American Novel. It can be particularly daunting knowing that subtle word changes may lead to unanticipated responses. The good news is that you don’t have to start from scratch each time. Instead, you can follow
When Kraig Finstad (2010) developed the Usability Metric for User Experience (UMUX), his goal was to replace the ten-item System Usability Scale (SUS, a popular measure of perceived usability) with a shorter questionnaire that would (1) correlate highly with the SUS and (2) have item content related to the ISO 9241 Part 11 international standard,
Sample size estimation is a critical step in research planning, including when you’re trying to detect differences in measures like Net Promoter Scores. Too small of a sample and you risk not being able to differentiate real differences from sampling error. Too large of a sample and you risk wasting resources—researchers’ and respondents’ time and,
We’ve written extensively about question types, the elements of good and bad writing, why people forget, and common problems with survey questions. But how do you get started writing questions? Few professionals we know have taken a formal course in survey development and instead rely on their experiences or best practices. Despite being called questions,
The UMUX-Lite is a two-item standardized questionnaire that, since its publication in 2013, has been adopted more and more by researchers who need a concise UX metric. Figure 1 shows the standard version with its Perceived Ease-of-Use (“{Product} is easy to use”) and Perceived Usefulness (“{Product}’s capabilities meet my requirements”) items. Figure 1: Standard
Crafting survey questions involves thinking first about the content and then about the format (form follows function). Earlier, we categorized survey questions into four content types (attribute, behavior, ability, or sentiment) and four format classes (open-ended, closed-ended static, closed-ended dynamic, or task-based). As with any taxonomy, there are several ways to categorize response options (e.g.,
In architecture, form follows function. In survey design, question format follows content. Earlier we described four classes of survey questions. These four classes are about the form, or format, of the question (e.g., open- vs. closed-ended). But before you can decide effectively on the format, you need to choose the content of the question and
