20100921 - Andre, Effectiveness of Usability Problem Inspector (UET)

Determining the effectiveness of the usability problem inspector: A theory-based model and tool for finding usability problems by Andre, Terence Scott, Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2000 , 275 pages; AAT 9974182 My interest: (1) UET = Usability Problem Inspector. (2) Model/Theoretical Framework =User Action Framework. (3) Comparison of effectiveness of Usability Problem Inspector against heuristic evaluation and cognitive walkthrough. Action: To read the Dissertation in detail in future. Extract of abstract: The need for cost-effective usability evaluation has led to the development of methodologies to support the usability practitioner in finding usability problems during formative evaluation. Practitioners often have to apply their own judgment and techniques, leading to inconsistencies in how the method is applied in the field. Three important research activities. First, the User Action Framework was developed to help organize usability concepts and issues into a knowledge base that supports usability methods and tools. From the User Action Framework, a mapping was made to the Usability Problem Inspector; a tool to help practitioners conduct a highly focused inspection of an interface design. Second, the reliability of the User Action Framework was evaluated to determine if usability practitioners could use the framework in a consistent manner when classifying a set of usability problems. Third, a comprehensive comparison study was conducted to determine if the Usability Problem Inspector, based on the User Action Framework, could produce results just as effective as two other inspection methods (i.e., the heuristic evaluation and the cognitive walkthrough). The comparison study used a new comparison approach with standards, measures, and criteria to prove the effectiveness of methods. Comments: Three research objectives, seemingly. From the inspection method comparison study, results showed the Usability Problem Inspector to be more effective than the heuristic evaluation and consistent with effectiveness scores from the cognitive walkthrough.