Heuristic Evaluation
A heuristic evaluation is a quick, inexpensive way to collect information about usability problems with your product or application. No access to end users is required, and the evaluation can be conducted off-site. Our experts independently measure a system's compliance with a set of usability standards or best practices. This sort of evaluation will uncover approximately 80-85% of the existing usability problems within an application or product; the remaining issues typically are related to user task context. It is an extremely useful standalone tool, but it can be used to set the tone for a more robust, targeted usability program.
Contextual Inquiry
Contextual inquiry and Contextual assessment are processes by which end users are interviewed and observed in their natural environments interacting with a system. The primary advantage of this approach is that we can collect meaningful data about common tasks and task combinations users perform, the obstacles they face, and the problem-solving strategies they adopt. Data from a contextual inquiry are more qualitative in nature than those collected in a controlled usability test, and often provide insights that otherwise would go unnoticed. We typically conduct user interviews to complement and clarify the information collected during contextual inquiry.
Formal Usability Testing
A usability test or testing program is a lengthier and more expensive process, and can collect both qualitative and quantitative data. We will recruit a representative sample of end users to participate and will script test scenarios to minimize the impact of independent variables on data analysis. This method of testing provides first-hand feedback from your end users as well as quantifiable measures such as keystrokes, time-to-target data, error rates, and eye tracking data.
Userthink can create testing programs, collect observational and/or empirical data from users, provide detailed data analysis, and generate detailed recommendations based on the results. The breadth and depth of testing can vary based on the complexity of the application and your organization's needs.