20100921 - Al-Nuaim, Multimedia User Interface Usability Evaluation Tool

This evening, I am reading the abstracts of relevant PhD dissertations. Development and validation of a multimedia user interface usability evaluation tool in the context of educational web sites by Al-Nuaim, Hana Abdullah, D.Sc., The George Washington University, 2000 , 216 pages; AAT 9961553 The overall purpose of this research was to develop and validate an evaluation instrument and to test various hypotheses using the instrument to determine its value in eliciting more information from users who participate in the design and development of a multimedia Web-based interface. This evaluation instrument or tool, the Multimedia User Interface Usability (MUIU), is proposed to be used as an aid for designers or developers in conducting formative evaluations to locate usability problems of the online user interface. The focus of the MUIU evaluation tool is the quality of media elements used and the efficacy of their integration. The MUIU evaluation tool provides users with an opportunity to accurately convey their attitudes or perceptions on certain design features. The results of the evaluation are quantitative data that may be interpreted and applied to the redesign of the user interface. The original and successive versions of the MUIU evaluation tool were developed based on; (1) the review of the literature and other evaluation instruments; (2) the review and recommendations of expert and novices; and (3) a formal importance rating by experts. The usefulness of the MUIU evaluation tool was addressed by comparing one novice group evaluations of an educational multimedia Web site, using their own words and expressions, to another novice group that used the MUIU evaluation tool. Content analysis of their comments and statements revealed that novices who had previously used the MUIU evaluation tool provided more meaningful and quantifiable results regarding improved usability and design defects with the interface than the novices who evaluated the same Web site but were not exposed to the MUIU evaluation tool. My interest: (1) UET. (2) what type of UET & UEM. (3) methodology - comparing novice and expert evaluators. (4) methodology - comparing novice using UET and novice without UET. Action: To read the Dissertation in detail in future.