Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
11.3 MEASUREMENT IS LESS EXPENSIVE
THAN YOU THINK
No one can use the excuse that metrics take too long to collect or are too expen-
sive. That might have been true 10 years ago, but no longer. There are many new
tools available to UX researchers that make data collection and analysis quick
and easy, and won't break your budget. In fact, in many cases, running a quanti-
tative-based UX study costs less than a traditional usability evaluation.
Online tools such as UserZoom ( www.userzoom.com ) and Loop11 ( www.
loop11.com ) are excellent ways to collect quantitative data about how users are
interacting with a website or prototype. Studies can be set up in a matter of min-
utes or hours, and the cost is fairly low, particularly when you compare it to the
time setting up a traditional usability evaluation. These tools also provide ways to
analyze click paths, abandonment rates, self-reported measures, and many other
metrics. In our topic “Beyond the Usability Lab” (2010) we highlight many of
these tools and provide a step-by-step guide to using online usability testing tools.
Sometimes you are less concerned about actual interaction and more about
reaction to different designs. In this situation we recommend taking advantage
of many of the online survey tools that now allow you to embed images into the
survey and asking questions about those images. Online tools such as Qualtrics
( www.qualtrics.com ), Survey Gizmo ( www.surveygizmo.com ), and Survey
Monkey ( www.surveymonkey.com ) all provide the ability to embed images. In
addition, some interactive capabilities allow the participant to click on various
elements within the image based on questions you provide. The cost of these
survey tools is very reasonable, particularly if you sign up for a yearly license.
Many other tools are also very reasonably priced and do an excellent job
of collecting data about the user experience. For example, Optimal Workshop
( www.optimalworkshop.com ) provides a robust suite of tools to build and test
any information architecture. If you can't afford your own eye-tracking hardware,
EyeTrackShop ( www.eyetrackshop.com ) allows you to conduct webcam-based
eye tracking. This technology has the potential to bring eye-tracking research
to a much larger group of researchers without access to hardware. In lieu of tra-
ditional usability testing we suggest looking at Usertesting.com ( www.usertest-
ing.com ) as a way to get very quick feedback about your product in a matter of
hours. This tool also has a way of embedding questions into the script, as well
as analyzing videos by demographics. While there is certainly some work on the
researcher's end, the price can't be beat.
11.4 PLAN EARLY
One of the key messages of this topic has been the importance of planning
ahead when collecting any metrics. The reason we stress this is because it is so
tempting to skip, and skipping it usually has a negative outcome. If you go into
a UX study not sure which metrics you want to collect and why, you're almost
certainly going to be less effective.
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