Title: Development and Validation of a Multimedia User Interface Usability
Evaluation Tool in the Context of Educational Web Sites
Decmber 1999
Author: Hana Abdullah Al-Nuaim, Department of Computer Science, The George
Washington University
Dissertation directed by: Carol Dianne Martin, Professor of Engineering
and Applied Science
Abstract:
The overall purpose of this research was to develop and validate an evaluation
instrument and to test various hypotheses using the instrument to determine
its value in eliciting more information from users who participate in the
design and development of a multimedia Web-based interface. This evaluation
instrument or tool, the Multimedia User Interface Usability (MUIU), is
proposed to be used as an aid for designers or developers in conducting
formative evaluations to locate usability problems of the online user interface.
The focus of the MUIU evaluation tool is the quality of media elements
used and the efficacy of their integration. The MUIU evaluation tool provides
users with an opportunity to accurately convey their attitudes or perceptions
on certain design features. The results of the evaluation are quantitative
data that may be interpreted and applied to the redesign of the user interface.
The original and successive versions of the MUIU evaluation tool were
developed based on; 1) the review of the literature and other evaluation
instruments; 2) the review and recommendations of expert and novices; and
3) a formal importance rating by experts. Data analyses from expert and
novice evaluations of two educational Web sites using the MUIU evaluation
tool revealed that the MUIU evaluation tool was reliable and had content
validity. The usefulness of the MUIU evaluation tool was addressed by comparing
one novice group evaluations of an educational multimedia Web site, using
their own words and expressions, to another novice group that used the
MUIU evaluation tool. Content analysis of their comments and statements
revealed that novices who had previously used the MUIU evaluation tool
provided more meaningful and quantifiable results regarding improved usability
and design defects with the interface than the novices who evaluated the
same Web site but were not exposed to the MUIU evaluation tool.
Click HERE for the dissertation presentation
viewgraphs, in PDF format (1.8 mb).