Expert Evaluation
summary | detail | methodology
- Why expert evaluation?
- Research shows that expert evaluation can identify a majority of usability problems, with the problem-identification percentage increasing as evaluators are added. It is a good fit for product development schedules and budgets that will not accommodate research with actual users. It is also useful for identifying and eliminating major problems before conducting user research.
- What is expert evaluation?
- Expert evaluation is a review of your product’s user interface by two or more usability specialists. Working independently, these experts compare the product to a set of heuristics, or general principles of usability, to identify usability problems. (Expert evaluation is also called a heuristic evaluation.)
- Evaluators also “wear the user’s hat,” walking through the user interface based on task scenarios, to assess work flow issues.
- What does it take?
- Usability experts—with knowledge built from years of observing usability tests and familiarity with software and web user interface standards.
- Time—The evaluation usually requires 1 to 3 weeks, depending on the number of screens comprising the product or website to evaluate.