Evaluating the usability of UI design with multiple methods
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How do web-designers & User Interface (UI) developers represent digital information so that users can easily & enjoyably access information for which they are seeking? In a series of experiments, I have explored the impact of display features, user attention, eye-movements & user familiarity on users’ (perceived & actual) ability to search for & track online information.
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Together with my research teams, we use several methods to learn about the usability of different digital UIs, and how people interact with & access online information. Each study begins with a discovery phase seeking out challenges & pain-points that users face when using the UI. Designers, stakeholders & our team members initially speculate about potential problems which are then tested using mixed methods including behavioral assessments (described below) and survey or interview asking about user familiarity with the particular UIs and what issues users encountered while interacting with the UI. Reported challenges are prioritized (in terms of importance, difficulty, value & impact), and narrowed to guide the design of each study.
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Various behavioral metrics are used including: search times, (selection/mouse-click) accuracy, eye-fixations, and measures of attention (such as a probe-dot detection method embedded in a search task, that evaluates whether looking behavior aligns with search behavior & other metrics of engagement including pupil-size & recall).
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Attitudinal measures include brief surveys or interviews following different task conditions to learn about user impressions of the different tasks (e.g., How easy was the task? Did you find what you were looking for? What challenges did you encounter?).
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Sample research studies are reported below using above methodologies.
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Additional reported studies use UX methodologies that include Card Sorting, Tree-testing, Remote Usability assessments & brief surveys such as the System Usability Scale (SUS).
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My research teams consist of 2 to 5 Rutgers students noted in linked pdf files, a software developer, and for non-University studies my teams also include a UI designer, and a web developer.
This study teases apart cognitive factors & looking behaviors involved when people search for targeted online information. We also use a unique method to show when we inhibit non-target information....
This study evaluates usability of particular web features (e.g., menu-orientation) & the effect of irrelevant images using behavioral & attitudinal measures of engagement....
Here we study user expectations of an icon’s appearance vs. its position to learn which drives search, & whether attention, or where you look, accounts for user ability to find information on web pages....
Small-Business & Non-Profit UX Studies
The main goal of this study was to determine how to improve my dog-training site to: 1) Ease dog-owners ability to find training-tips by learning what information users search for 2) Simplify training tips so people can quickly start training their dogs & 3) Compare novice vs. experienced dog-trainers to learn whether their search behaviors differ...
This study evaluates various usability features of the PWP website with a focus on the findability of different photo themes & members' photos...
Evaluating the usability of Course Management System Interface.
This study assesses usability limitations in the Course Management System: Coursera and provides recommended improvements based on Nielson’s (1994) Usability
Heuristics for User Interface Design. While the Coursera interface has many worthwhile design features that make it a worthwhile & engaging online education platform, the focus of this report is on specific user features that violate Nielson’s heuristic principles and rates the severity of each problem on a scale ranging from 1 (Cosmetic Problem) to 4 (Usability Catastrophe). Recommendations are offered for resolving these challenges ...
Additional UX Studies
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Benchmark comparison of Course Management Systems: Coursera vs. Canvas.
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Evaluating the effectiveness of web-design on University sites: User goals determine which behaviors to study.
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Usability evaluation of archival music website: Composer William Thomas Mckinley Archive.
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Understanding Zoom user experience: User-needs assessment project. University Michigan User Experience capstone project.