Sep 6 - Yeap, Advantages & Limitations of Heuristic Evaluation (part 6 of UIC for e-Learn)

Advantages & Limitations of Heuristic Evaluation

Usability Inspection Criteria for e-Learning Portals: Part 6.


A major advantage is the ease of finding usability problem with the aid of the heuristics principles. “Major usability problems have a higher probability than minor problems of being found in a heuristic evaluation, but about twice as many minor problems are found in absolute numbers.” (Nielsen, 1992a)

Another major advantage is no need for numerous users and usability lab. “Heuristic evaluation is easier to set up as there is no need to bring in users or to analyze interaction protocols, and exploits expert scientific and experiential knowledge of general problems and solutions.” (Nielsen & Landauer, 1993a)

Advantages of heuristic evaluation are
· “It is cheap.
· It is intuitive and it is easy to motivate people to do it.
· It does not require advance planning.
· It can be used early in the development process.” (Nielsen & Molich, 1990a)

Other advantages of heuristic evaluation include:
· Can start using simple usability inspection after a few hours of training.
· Usability inspection methods can be used in many different stages of the system development lifecycle.
· Usability inspection can be integrated easily into many established system development practices.
· Lists of usability problems are available immediately after the usability inspection. (Nielsen, 1995a)
· Lists of interface that need to be improved could be quickly distributed for immediate action.

Limitations of heuristic evaluation are:
· Identifies usability problems without providing direct suggestions of solutions.
· Influenced by the current mindset of the evaluators, so-called “evaluator effect.”
· Does not normally generate breakthroughs in the evaluated design. (Nielsen & Molich, 1990a)


source:
Usability Inspection Criteria for e-Learning Portals.
TeckChong Yeap.
MDP7515 PROJECT
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of
Master of Multimedia (E-Learning Technologies)
MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY
MALAYSIA
October 2008.