Archive for the ‘Research’ Category

According to a study carried out by Southern Illinois University men consider download speed to be more important than women do. 301 undergraduate students were surveyed about the relative importance of a range of usability criteria. Both men and women considered ease of use to be the most important. However, men indicated that download speed was the next most important while women rated accessibility and navigation as more important.

The researchers have suggested that this difference may be a result of differences in the way men and women use the web, with men using it for information gathering and women using it for social relationships. However, it is unclear whether this expressed preference will actually have a bearing on behaviour. Just because women say it is less important does not mean they are necessarily more likely to remain on a site with large delays. Neither does it indicate what men and women consider a slow download speed.

Usability Study: Men Need Speed

Measuring apects of real world behaviour often reveals correlations between different variables.  Correlations indicate the strength and direction of the relationship.  For instance, there may be a correlation between the length of the page and time spent on a site. However, it is important to remember when looking at correlations that they do not prove one variable is responsible for another.  One may cause the other, the other way round or they may both be affected by a third factor.  In the case of page length and time on site, users may be spending longer on the site as there is more to read or because it is harder to find what they are looking for.  It may also be that sites with longer pages have something else in common that mean users spend more time, such as more related content to which users can be directed.

Today’s cartoon on dilbert highlights an issue with any user research, it all depends who you ask. When preparing to conduct any sort of user research you should spend time considering how you will recruit users, how your choice of selection methods may bias the sample and what criteria you should use. It is important that the sample should reflect your target audience since opinions and how users interact can differ greatly between groups. The location, time and method of sampling can greatly affect the type of users you end up with.

Some sampling bias is likely with any user research since they will only include people willing to take part in research (self selection). Incentives can be used to encourage participation, however it is important to select the correct incentive since it will make it more likely that you recruit those that find the incentive of value. A degree of sampling bias is not necessarily a problem as long steps are taken to ensure the sample is representative of the target audience and the sampling method is considered at the time of analysis.

Before implementing the findings of research it is important to evaluate them against the needs of the wider target audience and the business, whether changes will impact other parts of the site and whether the respondents are your key audience. No research should be taken at face value blindly implementing users opinions. User research is an important tool informing us of our audiences needs, opinions and behaviour but we need to look at it critically and in the context in which it was conducted.