Heuristic Evaluation as A Usability Engineering Method
Date
2008-06-18T21:43:41Z
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Abstract
The term “heuristics” has been widely used in different aspects of computer science
to refer to a set of predefined and recognized principles upon which comparisons and
evaluation of systems can be held. These principles are usually obtained from historical
data of previously conducted projects or experiments and typically are agreed on by a
group of scientists or experts in the field. In human computer interaction, Jacob Nielsen
introduced the concept of heuristic evaluation as a discount usability method that best
suits those extremely time constrained and budget limited projects. According to [1],
heuristic evaluation is categorized under the informal methodologies of usability
evaluation. A number of evaluators are given the set of predefined principles “heuristics”
and asked to analyze a user interface using these heuristics as a standard. Although there
are no restrictions on the number of the evaluators, there are some heuristics that define
standards for how many evaluators are needed to increase the effectiveness and reliability
of this method. It is stated by [2] that heuristic evaluation better be a group effort, simply
because no one individual can inspect all the usability issues, but rather “different people
find different usability problems.”
Heuristic evaluation can be applied very early in the design cycle even before any
implementation starts, particularly if prototypes are used for evaluation. It can also be
applied during the actual implementation phase, especially in iterative development
models, where usability inspection can be applied to ready-to-use interfaces.
The following sections discuss this method in detail and give general guidelines on
how to apply it. Moreover, the benefits and shortcomings of heuristic evaluation are also
explained. At the end of this document, a fully detailed example is provided.
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Usability Engineering