Impact of Usability Mechanisms: A Family of Experiments on Efficiency, Effectiveness and User Satisfaction

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Main Authors: Ferreira, Juan M., Rodríguez, Francy, Santos, Adrián, Acuña, Silvia T., Juristo, Natalia
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Ferreira, Juan M.
Rodríguez, Francy
Santos, Adrián
Acuña, Silvia T.
Juristo, Natalia
author_facet Ferreira, Juan M.
Rodríguez, Francy
Santos, Adrián
Acuña, Silvia T.
Juristo, Natalia
contents Context: The usability software quality attribute aims to improve system user performance. In a previous study, we found evidence of the impact of a set of usability characteristics from the viewpoint of users in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction. However, the impact level appears to depend on the usability feature and suggest priorities with respect to their implementation depending on how they promote user performance. Objectives: We use a family of three experiments to increase the precision and generalization of the results in the baseline experiment and provide findings on the impact on user performance of the Abort Operation, Progress Feedback and Preferences usability mechanisms. Method: We conduct two replications of the baseline experiment in academic settings. We analyse the data of 367 experimental subjects and apply aggregation (meta-analysis) procedures. Results: We find that the Abort Operation and Preferences usability mechanisms appear to improve system usability a great deal with respect to efficiency, effectiveness and user satisfaction. Conclusions: We find that the family of experiments further corroborates the results of the baseline experiment. Most of the results are statistically significant, and, because of the large number of experimental subjects, the evidence that we gathered in the replications is sufficient to outweigh other experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_12736
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Impact of Usability Mechanisms: A Family of Experiments on Efficiency, Effectiveness and User Satisfaction
Ferreira, Juan M.
Rodríguez, Francy
Santos, Adrián
Acuña, Silvia T.
Juristo, Natalia
Software Engineering
Human-Computer Interaction
Context: The usability software quality attribute aims to improve system user performance. In a previous study, we found evidence of the impact of a set of usability characteristics from the viewpoint of users in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction. However, the impact level appears to depend on the usability feature and suggest priorities with respect to their implementation depending on how they promote user performance. Objectives: We use a family of three experiments to increase the precision and generalization of the results in the baseline experiment and provide findings on the impact on user performance of the Abort Operation, Progress Feedback and Preferences usability mechanisms. Method: We conduct two replications of the baseline experiment in academic settings. We analyse the data of 367 experimental subjects and apply aggregation (meta-analysis) procedures. Results: We find that the Abort Operation and Preferences usability mechanisms appear to improve system usability a great deal with respect to efficiency, effectiveness and user satisfaction. Conclusions: We find that the family of experiments further corroborates the results of the baseline experiment. Most of the results are statistically significant, and, because of the large number of experimental subjects, the evidence that we gathered in the replications is sufficient to outweigh other experiments.
title Impact of Usability Mechanisms: A Family of Experiments on Efficiency, Effectiveness and User Satisfaction
topic Software Engineering
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.12736