title: A method for automated detection of usability problems from client user interface events.
abstract: Think-aloud usability analysis provides extremely useful data but is very time-consuming and expensive to perform because of the extensive manual video analysis that is required. We describe a simple method for automated detection of usability problems from client user interface events for a developing medical intelligent tutoring system. The method incorporates (1) an agent-based method for communication that funnels all interface events and system responses to a centralized database, (2) a simple schema for representing interface events and higher order subgoals, and (3) an algorithm that reproduces the criteria used for manual coding of usability problems. A correction factor was empirically determining to account for the slower task performance of users when thinking aloud. We tested the validity of the method by simultaneously identifying usability problems using TAU and manually computing them from stored interface event data using the proposed algorithm. All usability problems that did not rely on verbal utterances were detectable with the proposed method.
authors.affiliation: Center for Biomedical Informatics, University of PIttsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Gilan M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Saadawi
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Legowski
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Medvedeva
authors.forename: Girish
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chavan
authors.forename: Rebecca S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Crowley
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D019992:Databases as Topic; D003880:Dermatology / Q000193:education; D001330:Electronic Data Processing; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D010336:Pathology / Q000193:education; D014584:User-Computer Interface