Avi Parush

Welcome to the third issue of volume 2 of JUS! Ginny Redish, one of the first in our discipline to co-author a classic book on “mainstream” usability testing, is now drawing our attention to other important areas of usability testing that are off the “mainstream”. In her essay, “Expanding Usability Testing to Evaluate Complex Systems”, […] [Read More]

Ginny Redish

Abstract This essay discusses ways that usability professionals can expand usability testing to evaluate complex systems, such as intelligence gathering and medical decision-making, that do not lend themselves to more traditional laboratory-based usability testing. In the essay, Redish explains what complex systems are, why they don’t lend themselves to traditional usability test methodologies, and what […] [Read More]

Desirée Sy

Abstract When our company chose to adopt an Agile development process for new products, our User Experience Team took the opportunity to adjust, and consequently improve, our user-centered design (UCD) practices. Our interface design work required data from contextual investigations to guide rapid iterations of prototypes, validated by formative usability testing. This meant that we […] [Read More]

Laura L. Downey

Abstract Usability testing has a long history. In its early form, it was conducted with many individual participants much like traditional research experiments. With the advent of discount usability engineering techniques, fewer participants were required (5-7 versus 30-50) and protocols were simplified. The evolution from “many to few” in usability testing has become the standard […] [Read More]

Ritch Macefield

Abstract This paper provides a brief review of the Hawthorne effect, a discussion of how this effect relates to usability studies and help for practitioners in defending their studies against criticisms made on the basis of this effect. Practitioner’s Take Away The Hawthorne effect can be (mis)used as a basis on which to criticize the […] [Read More]