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McDonald, Sharon, Zhao, Tingting and Edwards, Helen (2016) Look Who's Talking: Evaluating the Utility of Interventions During an Interactive Think-Aloud. Interacting with Computers, 28 (3). pp. 387-403. ISSN 0953-5438

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Abstract

Abstract

We report the results of a study comparing two concurrent think-aloud approaches for usability testing: the classic think-aloud (CTA) and an interactive think-aloud (ITA). The think-alouds were compared in respect of task performance and usability problem data. We also analyse the utility of the interventions used within the ITA in eliciting useful participant utterances. The most useful interventions were those focused on seeking explanations and opinions; these generated more utterances about user difficulties. Requests for clarifications, particularly about actions, resulted in fewer useful utterances: participants responded with simple procedural descriptions. In comparing the CTA and ITA, we found no differences in the number of successfully completed tasks, but the ITA did elongate the test session. The ITA led to the detection of more usability problems overall, and a greater number of causal explanations. However, the ITA produced more low-severity problems than the CTA.

Item Type: Article
Depositing User: Paula Normington
URI: https://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/5620

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Item ID
5620
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ISSN
0953-5438

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Date Deposited
22 Oct 2015 10:35
Last Modified
04 Jun 2025 15:25

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Author
Sharon McDonald
Author
Tingting Zhao
Author
Helen Edwards

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