Session Title
Emotional-’ability’: How do we being to measure the success of a system beyond standard usability testing?
Presenter
Troy Abel, Iowa State University
Session Type: Discussion
Emotions play a vital role in any interaction. Perceptive emotions have the potential to taint usability results, while past experiences evoke feelings that interfere with testing.
Unfortunately, up to this point, standard usability studies have concentrated purely on the quantitative data and analysis of this data to measure the success or failure of a system. The measurement of the user experience has been left to post-user likert type scaled responses, a methodology which research shows is flawed by subjects who reply with testers hopeful outcome.
This discussion proposes to spark lively debate, as well as an open forum, to brainstorm potential tools to help measure the experience of the user test subjects. Let us brainstorm and discuss new and novel approaches to measure the experience in user experience.
Biography
Troy Abel will receive his PhD in Human Computer Interaction from Iowa State University this Summer and currently holds a second terminal degree, an MFA in Graphic Design (2008) also from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. He received his undergraduate BSFA in Graphic Design as well as a BA in Communications both from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN. He has just completed a Predoctoral
Associate position at ISU and has taught abroad in their Rome, Italy design studio program for the past two fall terms. He has presented his research at design conferences both nationally and internationally. His current research is diverse, spanning the fields of Graphic Design as well as Human Computer Interaction. Currently he is interested in: innovative methodologies which include qualitative research in the usability testing realm, HCI pedagogy, experience design and e-commerce usability, perception as an indicator of usability, and the uses of eye-tracking, from a graphic designers standpoint, during usability
testing. He is currently a member of: DRS Design Research Society, ADAI Art Directions Association of Iowa, AIGA American Institute of Graphic Arts CAA, College Art Association, ACM-SIGGRAPH Special Interest Group of Association for Computing Machinery, ACM-CHI Special Interest Group of Association for Computing Machinery, IASDR International Association of Societies for Design Research, DRS Design Research Society, SEGD Society of Environmental Graphic Designers, SECAC Southeastern College Art Conference,iDSA Industrial Designers Society of America, and UPA Usability Professionals’ Association.
One Comment
If going beyond useful-and-usable to pleasurable/delightful/etc. is an important goal for interaction design (and I think it is), then there is value in figuring out how to measure those less easily quantifiable qualities. I’m very interested in this discussion.