The effects of prototype medium on the user's overall perception of usability and ability to detect usability flaws
Chase Boothe · ProQuest Demo Repository
Inconsistencies among testing methods and results in previous research prompted this study that builds upon a systematic usability testing research framework to better understand how interface medium influences users' abilities to detect usability flaws in applications. Medium was tested to identify its effects on users' perceptions of usability and abilities to detect usability problems and severe usability problems. Also explored was the relationship between users' perceptions of usability and abilities to detect usability problems. Results indicated that medium has no effect on users' abilities to detect usability problems or perceptions of usability. However, results did indicate an interaction between medium and the tested application in which users were able to identify significantly more usability problems on a higher fidelity medium using a particular application. Results also indicated that as users' perceptions of an application's usability increases, the users are less able to detect usability problems in that application.