Abstract
Usability has become an imperative aspect of survival on the web, thus, it has always been considered as a crucial aspect of web design. This paper presents the results of a study that compared two think-aloud usability testing methods: the concurrent think-aloud and the retrospective think-aloud methods. Data from task performance, testing experience, and usability problems were collected from 40 participants equally distributed between the two think-aloud conditions. The results found that while the thinking aloud method had no impact on task performance and participants testing experience, participants using the concurrent think-aloud method detected a larger number of minor problems with the test interface than participants using the retrospective think-aloud method. These findings suggest a reason for preferring the concurrent think-aloud method to the retrospective one.
Highlights
When developing a software product, it is important to ensure that a high level of usability is attained
According to Ericsson and Simon (1993), there are traditionally two basic types of TA methods: the concurrent think-aloud (CTA) method, in which participants think aloud as they carry out experimental tasks; and the retrospective think-aloud (RTA) method, where participants verbalise their thoughts after they have completed experimental tasks
We present the results of the study in the following order: the participants’ task performance, the participants’ testing experience, and the usability problems detected
Summary
When developing a software product, it is important to ensure that a high level of usability is attained. If products are not sufficiently usable, users will abandon them and find alternatives that better cater to their needs. Effective usability evaluation methods are required to determine and improve the usability of software systems (Barnum, 2010). Over the last four decades, a number of different UEMs for determining the usability levels of software systems have been proposed. Among these methods, think-aloud (TA) methods, known as TA protocols, are widely used (Van den Haak et al, 2009). According to Ericsson and Simon (1993), there are traditionally two basic types of TA methods: the concurrent think-aloud (CTA) method, in which participants think aloud as they carry out experimental tasks; and the retrospective think-aloud (RTA) method, where participants verbalise their thoughts after they have completed experimental tasks
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