User testing when test tasks are not appropriate
Sirpa Riihiaho · European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics · 2009
This paper presents two usability evaluation methods called informal walkthrough and contextual walkthrough. Both the methods are intended for situations where specific prepared test tasks are not appropriate either for the use context or the goal of the evaluation. Informal walkthrough is intended for evaluating novel systems whose concept is familiar to the users and whose intuitiveness is of major concern, for example gaming slot machines. Contextual walkthrough, on the other hand, is intended for evaluating systems that cannot be separated from their real use environment and use context, for example call center applications. In addition to presenting the methods, this paper will give some examples of their use, and assessment of how effective they would be in testing ubiquitous systems.