Challenges, Methodologies and Management Issues in the Usability Testing of Mobile Applications
Shashiraj Teotia, Shashi Shashi, Raviraj Teotia · International Journals of Marketing and Technology · 2012
Usability testing of software applications developed for mobile devices is an emerging research area that faces a variety of challenges due to unique features of mobile devices, limited bandwidth, unreliability of wireless networks, as well as the changing context (environmental factors). Traditional guidelines and methods used in usability testing of desktop applications may not be directly applicable to a mobile environment. Therefore, it is essential to develop and adopt appropriate research methodologies that can evaluate the usability of mobile applications. The contribution of this paper is to propose a generic framework for conducting usability tests for mobile applications through discussing research questions, methodologies, and usability attributes. The paper provides an overview of existing usability studies and discusses major research questions that have been investigated. Then, it proposes a generic framework and provides detailed guidelines on how to conduct such usability studies.