The design, development, and deployment of a product are the first steps toward a finished product ready for distribution in the marketplace. The next step is the evaluation of the user experience in order to gather data on the usability of the product. Testing centers (also called living labs) have been provided with built-in cameras and sensors to record user experiences of the invited volunteer and paid testers.
A newer evaluation method or data-gathering method uses the Internet. There are Websites that will pay testers or give testers free products to test a Website in order to discover design flaws and assess usability of a Website. The following Website pays Internet users to become testers:
Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:
1. Assess the reliability of data gathered via paid Internet users.
2. Describe and assess the evaluation method being used by the testing company, i.e., nonvisual and verbal recording of browser activities and tester's vocal comments.
3. Evaluate the natural settings of the test environment for Web users. Note: Test environments are usually labs designed to conduct testing. Natural settings refer to the user's normal operating environment.
4. Speculate about the validity of the data gathered from various users, each with their specific demographics.
5. Imagine you want to evaluate the Strayer University's Website (www.strayer.edu) using a usability test like UserTesting.com. Include a usability evaluation that you would apply to the Strayer University's Website.
6. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
- Create a simple usability evaluation for an existing software application or product.
- Describe common usability guidelines and standards.
- Define the different types of interaction styles.
- Use technology and information resources to research issues in human-computer interaction.
Write clearly and concisely about human-computer interaction topics using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions.