Introduction
The usability test is going to be conducted on http://cov-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=COV_VU1 which is a Coventry university website that allows students to search and access relevant library materials. A number of subjects will be used to perform the usability test. The participants are going to be selected from the student fraternity who are likely to use the website. The selected participants must be a representative of the whole student population. The test is going to be carried out in form of a research. The researcher will set out tasks, which the participants will be required to perform in the website. The researcher will collect data by observation, recording the time it takes to perform individual tasks. The researcher will also gather data by asking the participants questions and administering questionnaires. The test will try to rate the effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction and learnability. The general rating will determine the usability of the whole website. Each of the tasks performed will be testing for one of these aspects of the website.
Executive summary
This test is aimed at testing the usability of http://cov-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=COV_VU1 . This website is a library resources website where students are supposed to get information and materials related to their area of study. As a library solution, it should make it easy for the students to locate and access materials that they need. Three participants took part in the test. Each of the participants took the usability test independently. All the participants found the website relatively easy to use. They were able to perform the tasks required of them easily. They confessed that they would use the website anytime they needed any library material. During the course of the test, a few minor issues were identified.
- It was difficult to track the location of the participant especially during archive searches
- Some of the resources that should be available were not available while some material had been improperly labeled
This document contains data gathered during the actual test and the analysis of the results obtained. It contains the data gathered including time taken to perform tasks, user ratings of features of the website and recommendations they made on the website.
Methodology
The methodology for conducting the usability test is going to include a number of steps. The website to be tested has already been identified. Since the test website has already been established, the researcher will conduct an analysis of the website first-hand. After analyzing the website, the researcher will come up with tasks to test the specific usability features of the website. After identifying the specific tasks the user is expected to perform, the researcher will have to identify the participants of the test. This selection can be carried out in many ways but the researcher has to ensure that the participants selected are a representative sample of the website users.
Session
Participants of the test were selected by sending emails to class mailing lists. The email contained the specifics of the study. Several respondents were then selected to participate in the research. Final selection of the final three participants was done by elimination based on gender, age, specific department in the school and similar conditions. The research area of the research was carried out in one of the school computer laboratories. The researcher arranged to have each participant come in at his or her own time. After completion of the test, the researcher arranged to have each participant rate the website on a five-point scale ranging from very unsatisfied to very satisfied. During the research, there are a number of factors to put in mind while observing. Among the key issues they will want to identify are
- How easy it was to find information needed using the interface.
- How long did each participant spend on each task.
- How many tasks did the participant complete successfully
- How satisfied was the participant with the interface
Participants
Three participants were used to test the website. They are all members of the institution’s fraternity. The test was carried out on 5 November at different times. The maximum time allocated for each participant was thirty minutes. The participants were:
The task list identified by the researcher includes the following tasks:
- Open the website and log in to the service (learnability)
- Search the book, “kill the messenger” by Nick Schou (learnability)
- Use your credentials to borrow a copy of the book online (efficiency).
- Use your credentials to borrow a physical copy of the book later (effectiveness).
- Navigate to the archives section of the website. Look for a newspaper article on the election of the first black president of the United States (effectiveness)
- Print a copy of the newspaper article (efficiency).
Results
All the participants were able to perform the tasks easily. The website was not new to the users and it has a user-centered interface. The tasks were designed to test the various aspects of the website and represented what a normal user of the website would do. The participants were all satisfied with the website but there were useful recommendations that they gave.
Recommendations
The website should have a navigation bar at the top that shows the location of the user relative to the homepage. This is very effective as students may require more than one resource at the same time while studying. The navigation bar would enable the website user to toggle between resources easily.
Reference
Chisnell, D., Rubin, J., & Spool, J. (2013). Handbook of usability testing: Howto plan, design, and conduct effective tests. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Appendix
Notes
The following features are the most important when testing the usability of any website.
Ease of use
This determines how easy the user found it to use the interface. It describes the ease with which a user can use the basic functions offered in the interface. Ease of use is enhanced by use of certain tools like navigation bars.
Ease of learning
This describes how easy the user found it to learn to use the website or interface. This is usually dependent on the knowledge of the user and the user interface in use. Graphical user interfaces are designed in a way that allows even the people with the least computing knowledge to use them. More advanced users find it easy to use most graphical user interfaces. It would be difficult for a novice to us a command line interface since there are specific commands necessary to perform each function.
Efficiency
Efficiency regards how the interface performs required functions. If an interface consistently gives the same feedback for actions, it is efficient. An efficient interface scores highly on user satisfaction.
Memorability
Different user interfaces perform different actions. In the course of a user’s interactions with computers, they come across different interfaces. A user may stay for a long time before revisiting a particular interface. A properly designed user interface is easy for the user to remember how it works. If it is easy to remember, then it scores highly in user satisfaction.
Error recovery
In the course of operations, any interface is bound to face errors. This is normal for any computer system. However, the ease with which the interface recovers from an error is used to measure user satisfaction. The easier it is to recover, the higher it scores.
User satisfaction
User satisfaction is the ability of the interface to satisfy the user’s needs. It measures whether the user was able to perform every task they wished to using the interface. If a user is able to do everything they wanted easily, they are more satisfied. If the user is not able to perform everything they would have wished to, they are less satisfied.
The measures mentioned above are what we are going to use to determine the user satisfaction with using a certain user interface. An individual interface may score highly on one or some of the above measures, but the overall score in each of these categories is what determines the overall user satisfaction.
