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Usability testing vs. heuristic evaluation: was there a contest?

Published: 01 October 1992 Publication History

Abstract

Recent research comparing usability assessment methods has been interpreted by some to imply that usability testing is no longer necessary, because other techniques, such as heuristic evaluation, can find some usability problems more cost-effectively. Such an interpretation grossly overstates the actual results of the studies. In this article, we, as authors of studies that compared inspection methods to usability testing, point out the rather severe limitations to using inspection methods as a substitute for usability testing and argue for a more balanced repertoire of usability assessment techniques.

References

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Desurvire, H., Kondziela, J., and Atwood, M. (1992a; short paper version). What is Gained and Lost When Using Evaluation Methods Other Than Empirical Testing. A short talk presented at CHI'92 (Monterey, California, May 3--7, 1992), ACM, collection of abstracts, pp. 125--126.
[2]
Desurvire, H., Kondziela, J., and Atwood, M. (1992b; full paper version). What is Gained and Lost When Using Evaluation Methods Other Than Empirical Testing. In the proceedings of HCI 1992, Cambridge University Press, edited by Monk, A., Diaper, D., and Harrison, M. D., (University of York, U. K., September 15--18, 1992).
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Desurvire, H., Lawrence D., and M. E. Atwood. Empiricism versus judgment: Comparing user interface evaluation methods on a new telephone-based interface. SIGCHI Bulletin, 23, 4, pp.58--59,1991.
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Jeffries, R., Miller, J. R., Wharton, C., and Uyeda, K. M. User interface evaluation in the real world: A comparison of four techniques. Proceedings of CHI, 1991 (New Orleans, Louisiana, April 28 - May 2, 1991) ACM, New York, 1991. pp. 119--124.
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Karat C., Campbell R., and T. Fiegel. Comparison of empirical testing and walkthrough methods in user interface evaluation. In Proceedings of CHI '92 (Monterey, California, May 3--7, 1992) ACM, New York, 1992. pp. 397--404.
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Lewis C., Polson P., Wharton C., and J. Rieman. Testing a walkthrough methodology for theory-based design of walk-up-and-use interfaces. In Proceedings of CHI'90 (Seattle), ACM, J. C. Chew & J. Whiteside (Eds.), Addison-Wesley, NY, pp.235--242, 1990.
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Molich R., and J. Nielsen. Improving a human-computer dialogue. Communications of the ACM, 33,3, pp. 338--342, March 1990.
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Nielsen J. Finding Usability Problems Through Heuristic Evaluation. In Proceedings of CHI '92 (Monterey), ACM, 1992, pp. 373--380.
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Nielsen J. Usability Engineering At a Discount. In Salvendy, G., and Smith, M. J., (Eds.), Designing and Using Human-Computer Interfaces and Knowledge-Based Systems. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, pp. 394--401, 1989.
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Nielsen J., and Molich, R. Heuristic Evaluations of User Interfaces. In Proceedings of CHI'90, (Seattle), ACM, J. C. Chew & J. Whiteside (Eds.), Addison-Wesley, NY, pp. 249--256, 1990.

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM SIGCHI Bulletin
ACM SIGCHI Bulletin  Volume 24, Issue 4
Oct. 1992
49 pages
ISSN:0736-6906
DOI:10.1145/142167
  • Editor:
  • Bill Hefley
Issue’s Table of Contents

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 October 1992
Published in SIGCHI Volume 24, Issue 4

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  • (2023)User experience with disinformation-countering tools: usability challenges and suggestions for improvementFrontiers in Computer Science10.3389/fcomp.2023.12531665Online publication date: 2-Oct-2023
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  • (2022)Usability inspection: Novice crowd inspectors versus expertJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2021.111122183(111122)Online publication date: Jan-2022
  • (2022)Usability research in educational technology: a state-of-the-art systematic reviewEducational technology research and development10.1007/s11423-022-10152-670:6(1951-1992)Online publication date: 22-Aug-2022
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  • (2019)(Un)Discounted UsabilityProceedings of the 8th International Conference on Software and Information Engineering10.1145/3328833.3328860(253-258)Online publication date: 9-Apr-2019
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