usabilityusability-testing

Nielson's usablity scale

Just wondering if anyone out there knows of a standard survey (preferably based off Jacob Nielson's work on usability) that web admin's can administer to test groups for usability?

I could just make up my own but I feel there as got to be some solid research out there on the sort of judgments on tasks I should be asking.

For example

Q:: Ask user to find profile page Do I ... A.) Present them with standard likert scale after each question B.) Present them the likert after all the questions

.. Then what should that likert be, I know Nielson's usability judgments scale is based on Learnability, Efficiency of Use, Memorability, Error Rate, Satisfaction but I can only imagine a likert I would design that would effectively measure satisfaction...how am I suppose to ask a user to rank the Memorability of a site after one use on a 1-5 scale? Surely someone has devised a good way to pose the question?

Solution

  • A few recommendations:

    1. Don't determine your standard exclusively by listening to the users and waiting for their feedback. Nielsen says that rule #1 in usability is "Don't listen to users"; it's more important to watch them work.

    2. Here is an FAQ regarding development of Likert questionnaires. I would err on the side of simplicity and brevity if you are going to ask users a list of questions after every task. There are advantages and disadvantages to both of the options you are considering. If you make a user wait until they have finished all of their tasks before they fill out a survey, they may not remember their initial difficulties with the interface as they adjust to its learning curve. On the other hand, if you ask them questions after each task, they may start rushing through the questionnaire as they get toward the end of the list of tasks. An extra option, depending on how many tasks you have, may be to have the user fill out a survey after every several tasks.

    3. The University of Maryland HCI Laboratory maintains a Questionnaire for User Interaction Satisfaction, which is available for download and now on version 7.0. You may be able to use their survey, or at least tailor it for your use.