Expert Evaluation

Expert Evaluation Approach

Tec-Ed’s methodology for performing expert evaluation is to create a team of usability specialists to evaluate the user experience. A domain specialist joins the team when evaluating products in specific technical domains. Working independently, these specialists follow published research data and industry-accepted usability principles, and use their experience from prior usability studies, to evaluate the product and record their findings.

Feedback from target users can add an important dimension to some expert evaluations—for example, of alternative navigation approaches for an existing product, or of a product recently targeted to a new user audience. In these cases, Tec-Ed often conducts a few usability walkthroughs with people whose characteristics are similar to the target user audience to supplement the evaluation.

The expert evaluation process usually takes two or three weeks, including independent evaluations, user interviews or walkthroughs as appropriate, and results reporting.

Usability Issue Categories

The findings from expert evaluation are problems or concerns about the product, as well as notes of successful features that should not be changed. Tec-Ed generally categorizes the findings into four usability issue areas.

Category	Related Questions
User Task Support	How simple to use is the interface? How easy is it to find functionality? Does the interface parallel the user’s work process and encourage an appropriate task sequence? For a more complex task, how well does the interface step the user through subtasks?
UI Behavior	Are keystrokes and mouse movements minimized? How effectively do navigational aids support the structure and organization? What feedback is provided to orient the user? How well does the interface assist users in recovering from problems?
Presentation	How well does the interface minimize clutter and provide a well-organized layout? Is the interface consistent and compatible with style standards and conventions? How readable is the text? How clear are the meanings of graphical elements such as icons and toolbar buttons? Are they overused or underused?
Terminology	Are instructions or explanations presented clearly, without unnecessary complication or ambiguity? Is the language direct, simple, and non-wordy, so that users can read/hear as few words as possible to accomplish a task? Are terms appearing in the interface familiar to the intended users?

Although findings tend to overlap among these categories, using the categories ensures that evaluators give full attention to each aspect of a usability problem. The evaluators then discuss their individual findings and agree upon common ground for communicating the findings to the product developers. Tec-Ed’s evaluation report includes recommendations for improving the user experience, but they are not a complete UI redesign.