Usability and hardcopy manuals: evaluating research designs and methods
Barbara Mirel · 1990
For the past decade, testing the usability of print software manuals has become a mature area of study, characterized by a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods. Some of the most common methods include field observations, surveys, interviews, protocol analyses, focus groups, iterative testing, and quasi-experimental lab simulations [1]. Such diverse approaches to usability testing offer an opportunity for complementary inquiries and analyses. For example, findings from focus groups can provide key questions for experimental researchers to pursue in greater depth and with greater possibility for generalizability. Essentially, this complementary approach envisions an interaction between the academy, with its propensity toward pure, experimental research, and industry, with its more applied approaches for alpha and beta testing.