title: The use of think-aloud and instant data analysis in evaluation research: Exemplar and lessons learned.
abstract: While health information technologies have become increasingly popular, many have not been formally tested to ascertain their usability. Traditional rigorous methods take significant amounts of time and manpower to evaluate the usability of a system. In this paper, we evaluate the use of instant data analysis (IDA) as developed by Kjeldskov et al. to perform usability testing on a tool designed for older adults and caregivers. The IDA method is attractive because it takes significantly less time and manpower than the traditional usability testing methods. In this paper we demonstrate how IDA was used to evaluate usability of a multifunctional wellness tool, discuss study results and lessons learned while using this method. We also present findings from an extension of the method which allows the grouping of similar usability problems in an efficient manner. We found that the IDA method is a quick, relatively easy approach to identifying and ranking usability issues among health information technologies.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical and Health Informatics, University of Washington, Box SLU-BIME 358047, 850 Republican St, Building C, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. Electronic address: jjoe@washington.edu.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Joe
authors.affiliation: Biomedical and Health Informatics, University of Washington, Box SLU-BIME 358047, 850 Republican St, Building C, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
authors.forename: Shomir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri
authors.affiliation: Biomedical and Health Informatics, University of Washington, Box SLU-BIME 358047, 850 Republican St, Building C, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
authors.forename: Thai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Le
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Washington, Box 357266, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA 98195-7240, USA.
authors.forename: Hilaire
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Biomedical and Health Informatics, University of Washington, Box SLU-BIME 358047, 850 Republican St, Building C, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; School of Nursing, University of Washington, Box 357266, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA 98195-7240, USA.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Demiris
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D003201:Computers; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D057220:Health Literacy; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012984:Software; D014481:United States; D014584:User-Computer Interface
keywords: Instant data analysis; Older adults; Usability research; Usability testing; Wellness tools