MOBILE – USABILITY TESTING

Abstract

There are many methods which speak about mobile testing, but the usability of the mobile is an important aspect which has to be met before the product is in place. It becomes important to know how users use them effectively. Usability testing refers to a process that employs participants or users who are representative of the target population to evaluate the degree to which a product meets specific usability criteria. In this paper first we introduce a background for the usability testing, describe several evaluation methods and show how they fit with the product being designed, thus introducing a new mobile usability testing methodology.

 Introduction:

Mobile phones have become a key facet in every individual’s life. Mobile devices are not merely used as phones but they are useful as a personal directory, memo, an alarm clock, an appointment schedule, a camera, as a GPS and what not. Thus there is no boundary for the use of mobile phones. Thus, it has become increasingly important to learn how to evaluate their use and how to design mobile devices’ functionalities. Mobile apps are to be tested flawlessly to compete with the innumerous models that are inflowing daily. Thus Mobile usability testing plays a vital role.

Usability in relation to mobile devices are related with the interfaces that mobile services provide and are appreciated and anticipated by the user. Performing conventional testing on mobile devices may not consider the key aspects of mobile characteristics which eventually increase the risk of failure for the product. Thus, for making more effective end-user programming in mobile devices, it is necessary to come up with an effective usability testing method based on consideration of mobile devices’ characteristics.

In this paper, on mobile device usability testing, we will focus on the key characteristics of mobile devices and their daily usage. We here try to introduce a new methodology which along with the basic testing techniques will yield a better usability testing approach. We can approach the testing using available usability testing websites which can render accurate results. This proposed testing method measures how well mobile and its applications can operate in an office like environment, for example, a usability lab. Thus, this combined testing method will be a good solution for usability testing of mobile devices as well as mobile device applications.

Key Factors in Designing a Mobile Usability Testing Method:

The potential challenges in evaluating the usability of mobile systems is mainly due to tasks carried out are close to their physical surroundings and often requires a high level of domain-specific knowledge. Thus traditional testing methods may not yield the perfect results and there is a need to develop a new usability testing method for mobile devices; we should study many factors likely to affect mobile users' behavior, which is based on a user’s feedback. There are other factors which are related only to mobile devices and their use. These key factors include mobile interaction that is closely affiliated with the mobile community and human background. The minute things which are also to be considered are usually the system design and interaction techniques in which device shape, size and media type are correlated with each other. Let look at these contributing factors one by one.

Audience:

Defining an audience is always critical to any design or research project. However, the target audience of a mobile application is often different than an online application. We need to consider more than the traditional categories, such as early adapters, everyday consumers, and tech-savvy users. Instead, mobile applications may also be well suited for commuters, teenagers, or even the physically-challenged.

Studying the users:

Observing the participant’s actual interaction is one of the most difficult problems in a mobile usability study. By human tendency the interactions are very personal. However, in order to accommodate observers who want to see the user-device interaction, cameras are usually set up on the device. When setting up these cameras there needs to be a balance between helping observers watch the study and impeding the user’s interaction with the device.

How to test:

It’s usually difficult to decide whether if the mobile study has to be carried in a lab or in actual environment. When using mobile device outdoors, many factors come into play that wouldn’t prevail in a test (lab) environment. When not tested in lab, people’s interactions become affected by background noise, as well as their concerns over what other people may hear or see. In these cases, people are more likely to become interrupted or distracted by surrounding events. These interactions and the problems they can cause are difficult to replicate by doing a one-on-one lab study.

Mobile Prototyping is tough:

Building a working prototype for a mobile isn’t as easy as making a few mockups or HTML pages. Moreover, showing the interaction between these elements is always difficult. When testing a system that isn’t fully developed, a certain level of improvisation is always required.

Geography:

The mobile culture varies from one country to another. Given the radically different mobile penetration rates across countries and the different devices that are used, it is likely that users in one country will react to a mobile product differently than those in another.

Proposed Testing Method for Mobile Devices:

 From the study we have understood that there is no need to develop a whole new method for testing mobile applications; instead of using traditional testing methods, a modified or combined approach of different methods can be adopted to achieve usability testing for mobile applications. The goal of traditional usability tests is to decrease errors and to increase efficiency of the device and there by increase the satisfaction of the customers. Thus, there is a need to determine how to modify and combine methods to work on mobile devices and to create the possibility of gathering information or data that they need. The proposed testing method consists of three traditional usability methods: heuristic evaluation, questionnaires, and scenario-based tasks. A new combined method can solve the problem caused by mobile devices using specific properties of each method.

Heuristic-based Approach:

The main goal of heuristic evaluations is to identify any problems associated with the design of user interfaces. It specifically involves evaluators examining the interface and judging its compliance with recognized usability principles. The characteristics of heuristic evaluation are: low cost evaluation, small number of evaluators, high flexibility, individual inspection and free instruction and communication.

Heuristic evaluation is sort of informal approach in which methods are more flexibility than the formal usability approach. Thus this approach can be easily integrated with other approaches. The observers or the developers should help the people who are conducting the testing. There could be interactions with the different users who are testing the application so that more and more thoughts come up when testing using this approach.

Questionnaire-based Approach:

Questionnaires are produced and are presented interactively on a computer and the feedback can be obtained easily. The types of questions can be both quantitative and qualitative. These tasks can be carried parallel i.e., while users are working on tasks, they can answer the prepared questions. Also, users can be requested to fill out a questionnaire at the end of the usability. This helps in obtaining more realistic value of the product. The key aspect of mobile usability is mobility and privacy. User interview is the solution of this problem.

The user’s identity has to be kept secret so that they can deeply inspect the user's behavior. The interview method requires much more usability staff time and resources, but is worth investing when yielding better results. The tools like usabilla, Ethnio can be used for questionnaire testing, where preloaded screenshots or UI can help to understand the user’s thoughts. These tests can be carried across the globe in order to save time.

Traditional testing approach:

 The normal testing approach also helps in testing the usability. Here the test cases are derived from the requirement documents which cover few of the features like performance, traversing from screen to screen.

In this approach the requirement specifications are the basis for formulating the test cases. This method follows typical model where in test plan phase is followed by preparation of test cases followed by test execution. This approach can provide lot of satisfaction to the higher management as this approach has been proven one from many years. 

Conclusion:

In conducting traditional testing on mobiles there are chances of not considering the mobile characteristics. Thus, for building a new usability testing method for mobile devices, we should understand many factors which are likely to affect mobile user behavior, which are based on the user’s feedback. In this paper, we have categorized those impacting factors and have studied them closely to come up with the new model for mobile stability testing. The new testing method combined mainly three methods heuristic valuation, questionnaires and scenario-based tasks for which we introduced new rules for mobile devices. The heuristic evaluation is the recommended as general mobile usability testing method because it of its key features: flexibility and individuality which can bring out more information about the mobile devices’ special characteristics. However, the other two methods should also be considered for building usability testing procedures for mobile applications. This combined testing method will be a good solution for usability testing of mobile devices and its applications. Hence, the biggest contribution of the paper that it provides simple steps for how to combine testing methods in order to design and develop successful mobile device.