Usability Evaluation
Organizations need to know the extent to which visitors find their web sites easy and efficient
to use. Westat researchers can describe the current user experience and explain the best methods for improving it.
Westat's usability evaluation services include:
- Heuristic reviews, using experts trained in evidence-based
usability design to review the structure and content of web sites and
software products;
- User modeling, employing analytic techniques such as card sorting and server log
analysis to build models of user behavior;
- Low-fidelity/high-fidelity prototyping, creating
testable versions of designs early in the design or redesign process;
- Cognitive interviewing techniques, conducting concurrent and retrospective
"think-aloud" procedures;
- Comparative user studies, statistically comparing performance and attitude measures
from two points in time or across products; and
- Focus groups, convening sessions onsite in the facility's focus group room, or online.
