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10.4 Types of usability testing or usability inspections 267

Table 10.1 Differences Between Classical Research and Usability Testing
Classical Research Classical Research Usability Testing
Source Description Description
Experimental design Isolate and understand Find and fix flaws in a
specific phenomena, with the specific interface, no goal of
goal of generalization to other generalization
problems
Experimental design A larger number of participants A small number of participants
is required can be utilized
Ethnography Observe to understand the Observe to understand where
context of people, groups, and in the interface users are
organizations having problems
Ethnography Deep participatory Researcher participation is not
embedding of the researcher encouraged, except when an
in the community is often intervention is needed to help
encouraged the user get “unstuck” (with
strict protocols for doing so)
Ethnography Longer-term research method Short-term research method
Ethnography and Used to understand problems Used in systems and interface
experimental design or answer research questions development
Ethnography and Used in earlier stages, often Can take place as early as
experimental design separate from (or only partially paper prototypes, where there
related to) the interface is more potential impact on
development process the interface, but often takes
place in later stages, after
interfaces (or prototype versions
of interfaces) have been
developed, with less potential
impact on the interface
Ethnography and Used for understanding Used for evaluating solutions
experimental design problems

most effective. For instance, in the debate on how many participants you need (see
Section 10.5.3), the focus is not on improving specific interfaces, but on understand-
ing and improving the usability methods themselves. But that isn’t usability testing,
that’s research on how to do usability testing and that’s a whole different topic!

10.4 TYPES OF USABILITY TESTING OR USABILITY
INSPECTIONS
There are many different types of usability testing. A more general term, “usability
engineering,” has sometimes been used to describe any process or activity that aims
to improve the ease of use of an interface. Under this heading, and sometimes under
the heading of usability testing, there are three distinct categories: expert-based test-
ing, automated testing, and user-based testing.