A Comparison of Usage Evaluation and Inspection Methods for Assessing Groupware Usability

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A Comparison of Usage Evaluation and Inspection Methods for Assessing Groupware Usability (2001)

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by Michelle Potts Steves , Emile Morse , Carl Gutwin , Saul Greenberg

Venue:	Proceedings of the 2001 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work
Citations:	20 - 4 self

BibTeX

@INPROCEEDINGS{Steves01acomparison,
    author = {Michelle Potts Steves and Emile Morse and Carl Gutwin and Saul Greenberg},
    title = {A Comparison of Usage Evaluation and Inspection Methods for Assessing Groupware Usability},
    booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2001 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work},
    year = {2001},
    pages = {125--134},
    publisher = {ACM Press}
}

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Abstract

Many researchers believe that groupware can only be evaluated by studying real collaborators in their real contexts, a process that tends to be expensive and timeconsuming. Others believe that it is more practical to evaluate groupware through usability inspection methods. Deciding between these two approaches is difficult, because it is unclear how they compare in a real evaluation situation. To address this problem, we carried out a dual evaluation of a groupware system, with one evaluation applying user-based techniques, and the other using inspection methods. We compared the results from the two evaluations and concluded that, while the two methods have their own strengths, weaknesses, and trade-offs, they are complementary. Because the two methods found overlapping problems, we expect that they can be used in tandem to good effect, e.g., applying the discount method prior to a field study, with the expectation that the system deployed in the more expensive field study has a better chance of doing well because some pertinent usability problems will have already been addressed.

Keyphrases

inspection method usage evaluation assessing groupware usability field study real context good effect real collaborator discount method groupware system usability inspection method dual evaluation expensive field study user-based technique many researcher pertinent usability problem real evaluation situation

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