The final presentation session I attended to day was a potpourri of topics, including tools and methods.
- Using a non-verbal questionnaire method to collect data about the emotional content of a design during a usability test. Animated emoticons are shown that represent 20+ emotions (both positive and negative), and the user picks one or more that apply to the previous tested task and rates the strenght of the emotions as well. The questionnaire is followed up by interactive questions about the meaning of the choices.
- Rich 3D product representations seem to lead to a increased probability of a buying decision, but it is preliminary research and may be restricted to certain product areas.
- Poker chips were used for individual products for cross product comparison. They were placed on the corresponding Likert scale value, one for each product, to get both rating and ranking at once. Another method used a constant sum of 100 points, 10 points per chip, allocated between the compared products. Results are similar to separately asking for rating and ranking, but accomplish both at once.
- One presentation discussed using Kano analysis and focus groups in addition to usability testing to help prioritize the pool of problems to solve.
- An ergonomic evaluation of writing instruments (pens and mechanical pencils) found barrel diameter at the point of grip to be the most important determinant for comfort in short term use. Initially, the presenter thought that this research was not relevant to the future because of increased use of digital writing forms, but the point was made that palette computers and styluses have ergonomic issues that make this very relevant.
