What is quantitative usabilty testing?

Usability testing is a method where researchers give participants tasks to perform on one or more user interfaces. While the participants are performing tasks, the researchers are observing them and listening to feedback.

Reasons for usability testing

There are two types of data that can be collected in a usability testing study:

  • Quantitative data

  • Qualitative data

Quantitative data allows us to determine the usability of our design indirectly. Values such as the number of tasks completed, number of errors, etc., can give an idea of the interface’s usability. However, quantitative data is not absolute. It needs a reference point. For example, say 40% of participants commit the same particular error. We cannot comment if this is good or bad in the absence of a reference point. Therefore, usability studies are more useful when comparing results to a previously known standard rather than directly describing the design’s usability.

Quantitative data can protect against randomness by providing statistically significant data. However, it does not inform of the exact cause of the issue and the probable solutions to it.

Quantitative research and data:

Participants are provided with a set of made-up data that they can use, e.g., form to enter name, age, and gender in the same format so that the way demographics are provided does not cause issues with data analysis.

Lastly, this method must follow the basic rules of good experimental design:

  • Internal validity - the setup of the experiment must not favor one condition over another.

  • External validity - the study group must represent the target audience, and study conditions must reflect how the study will be conducted in a real-life setting.

Both the above criteria are important to ensure unbiased results that are not unfairly skewed.

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