Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
approach towards the development of Web-mapping applications is presented.
Suitable methods for user and usability testing in different development stages
have been identified by a thorough literature review and refined by the meta-
analysis of 17 case studies in the domains of Web-mapping and mobile mapping.
Meta-Analysis of User Studies
A total of 26 user or usability studies were identified from reviewing academic
publications and from a thorough Internet search. User studies were selected for the
meta-analysis based on the following criteria:
1. The studies must have been conducted in the domain of Web-mapping.
It was assumed that the approach to studying users and usability of other
cartographic applications or printed maps are different to the approaches for
online applications. Exceptions to this were tolerable in the area of mobile
mapping applications. Web-based geovisualization tools were exempt from the
analysis, because of their completely different presentation approaches and
usage goals;
2. The user studies should either have been conducted as part of application
development (formative), or in case of summative or comparative evaluations,
they must inspect product usability, or compare methods of user and usability
research.
Studies that only compare applications in terms of performance or function-
ality of existing systems do not provide much input for enhancing the framework
for user and usability research. However, summative and/or comparative eval-
uations can provide input in respect to design guidelines and the application of
usability inspection techniques. Studies comparing different methods of data
collection were also consulted;
3. The material should include results and must discuss the methodology applied
(methods, of data collection, number of participants, data collected).
The methodology of the study must become evident in the materials. Otherwise
the study cannot contribute to the development of the theoretical framework;
4. Material about the studies should be accessible with justifiable effort.
Studies which have been disseminated more generously were preferable to
studies with less information; and
5. Formative studies should have been conducted with prospective users, not with
students or scholars as a substitute.
In academic studies, students or colleagues from the same discipline are often
used as a test group. This eliminates the need to recruit a group test subjects,
which is often a difficult and/or expensive process. However, subjects might be
biased through preoccupation with a subject or the student-teacher relation-
ships. Students as subjects for testing different data collection methodologies
were acceptable.
