En studie i användbarhet
En kritisk analys av användbarhetsstudier i biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap
Usability studies are not a central field of research in library and information science. Although literature in library and information science treats the importance of usable user interfaces quite extensively, the literature does not significantly treat potential problems in measuring usability. The aim of this master thesis is to investigate, through a critical analysis, the methods used when conducting usability studies in library and information science. The critical analysis is based on potential problems in measuring usability identified through a literature review from the field of studies Human-Computer Interaction, the concept of usabilitys original domain. The material which is to be analysed, is chosen from one library and information science journal Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. The results of the analysis showed that almost all studies used several usability methods. The most frequently used methods were question-based methods through questionnaires and usability tests through tasks, data logging and measured time. All studies were based on sufficient number of users. Objections were raised against the methods used in some of the studies. The objections were based on, e.g. that the users were not representative for the end-users of the system, insufficient control of the quality of performed tasks, that the question-based method was used as an objective measure, that time was measured in minutes, not measuring all aspects of usability and the validity of the conclusions in several of the studies was questioned.