A common logistical consideration when planning a task-based usability study is how much time you should plan for a task. Many usability studies (especially benchmark studies) suffer from trying to do too many things. That includes asking participants to attempt too many tasks. It’s understandable why tasks get packed in—even low-cost usability testing takes time
All of us at MeasuringU® wish you a Happy New Year! In 2023, we posted 49 articles and continued to add features to our MUiQ® UX testing platform to make it even easier to develop studies and analyze results. We hosted our eleventh UX Measurement Bootcamp, again as a blended virtual event with a combination
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
It was another busy year at MeasuringU. We posted 50 new articles, added new features to MUIQ—our UX testing platform, hosted our 6th UX Bootcamp, and released the book, Benchmarking the User Experience. We also moved into a bigger new space in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood. It’s three times the size of our old space
Businesses are full of metrics. Increasingly those metrics quantify the user experience (which is a good thing). Collecting consistent and standardized metrics allows organizations to better understand the current user experience of websites, software, and apps. It allows teams to track changes over time and compare to competitors and industry benchmarks. The idea of quantifying
The PURE (Practical Usability Rating by Experts) method is an analytic technique that identifies potential problems users may encounter with an interface. In a PURE evaluation, evaluators familiar with UX principles and heuristics break down tasks into small steps. They then rate each step, from 1 to 3, based on a pre-defined rubric. The higher the
Unmoderated testing platforms allow for quick data collection from large sample sizes. This has enabled researchers to answer questions that were previously difficult or cost prohibitive to answer with traditional lab-based testing. But is the data collected in unmoderated studies, both behavioral and attitudinal, comparable to what you get from a more traditional lab setup? Comparing
Evaluate product designs and concepts early and often. Don’t wait till you’ve built the entire app, website, or product before having people actually use it. Build a prototype and test it. These principles are fundamental to user-centered-design, as well as other popular concepts such as the lean startup and minimum viable products featured in the
Online panels are a major source of participants for both market research and UX research studies. In an earlier article I summarized some of the research on the accuracy and variability of estimates from online panels. The types of estimates from those studies tended to center around general demographic or psychographic questions (e.g., smoking, newspaper
There isn’t a usability thermometer to tell you how usable your software or website is. Instead we rely on the impact of good and bad usability to assess the quality of the user experience. Here are 10 metrics you should be familiar with and ready to use in any usability evaluation. 1. Completion Rates: Often
