What is tech savviness? While it might be hard to define, you probably know someone whom you consider tech savvy—they might even be your go-to person for solving tech issues. Or maybe you know people who aren’t tech savvy and struggle with all technology. But why should UX researchers care? The concept of tech savviness
Happy New Year from all of us at MeasuringU®! In 2021 we posted 49 articles and welcomed several new clients to our UX testing platform MUIQ®, where we continue to add new features to reduce the friction in developing studies. We hosted our eighth UX Measurement Bootcamp, again as a virtual event. Going virtual still
Happy new year from all of us at MeasuringU! In 2019 we posted 46 new articles and added significant new features to MUIQ—our UX testing platform—including think-aloud videos with picture in picture and an advanced UX metrics dashboard. We hosted our seventh UX Measurement Bootcamp, and MeasuringU Press published Jim Lewis’s book, Using the PSSUQ
In an earlier article, we examined the folk wisdom that three-point scales were superior to those with more, such as five, seven, ten, or eleven response options. Across twelve published studies we found little to suggest that three-point scales were better than scales with more points and, in fact, found evidence to show that they
Five-point scales are the best. No, seven points. Never use a ten-point scale. Eleven points “pretend noise is science.” You never need more than three points. Few things seem to elicit more opinions (and misinformation) in measurement than the “right” number of scale points to use in a rating scale response option. For example, here
UX professionals use many methods to help understand and improve the user experience. Among the most popular are usability testing, expert reviews, surveys, and card sorting. But where did these methods come from? The field of UX research is relatively new, but its methods are not. And while UX methods may have new names, many
UX research pulls many terms, methods, and conventions from other fields. Selecting a method is an important first choice in measuring the user experience. But an important next step is understanding the variables you’ll have to deal with when designing a study or drawing conclusions. Variables are things that change. Variables can be controlled and measured.
Methods evolve and adapt. The same is true of UX methods that have evolved from other methods, often from disparate fields and dating back decades. The usability profession itself can trace its roots to the industrial revolution. The think aloud protocol, one of the signature methods of usability testing, can trace its roots to psychoanalysis,
You’ve probably heard of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment by Philip Zimbardo (especially if you took an intro psych class). The shocking results had similar implications to the notorious Milgram experiment and suggested our roles may be a major cause for past atrocities and injustices. You might have also heard about research from Cornell University that found,
The hold music. The wait time. The menu that always seems to have just changed. Calling customer service is not usually what people want to do in their spare time. But it’s often necessary and represents an important touchpoint for companies that interact with their customers. Understanding why people call customer support is also a
