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An Exploration of the Application of Usability Evaluation Methods by Disabled Users

Authors:
Khalid Al-Nafjan
Mona Al-Zuhair
Layla Al-Salhie

Keywords: UEM; Disabled users; Usability evaluation

Abstract:
The involvement of system users during the system usability evaluation with the full awareness of their specific nature and characteristics is a key factor for achieving effective usability evaluation results. However, conducting usability evaluations for systems designed for disabled users is a challenging process that requires further considerations as compared to other ordinary usability evaluation procedures. This is due to the special needs and conditions of disabled users that must be considered while performing the usability evaluation. Therefore, it is essential to assess the effectiveness of different usability evaluation methods to help the evaluator selecting the most suitable ones for a particular system and a particular user group. The main contribution of this paper is to conduct an analysis of the effectiveness of applying several usability evaluation methods by disabled users. This analysis is based on the special characteristics of users with disabilities and on what adjustments should take place before the evaluation process begins. After conducting this exploratory analysis, we found that usability evaluation methods including inspection and testing methods can be applied to special needs users but many considerations should take place before selecting which methods are most effective. We believe that this work is particularly useful for the novice designers and usability engineers who have never conducted usability evaluations by disabled users before.

Pages: 410 to 415

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2014

Publication date: October 12, 2014

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4235

ISBN: 978-1-61208-367-4

Location: Nice, France

Dates: from October 12, 2014 to October 16, 2014