Evaluating the Usability/User Experience of the CSULB Faculty Research Experience and Expertise (FREE) Website
Background
The California State University of Long Beach offers a searchable electronic database, the Faculty Research Experience Expertise (FREE) website, for any person interested in contacting faculty based on factors such as research interests, college, and department. To ensure users are able to utilize the website to its full extent, I and a team of three colleagues conducted a usability test to identify issues and potential areas of improvement.
Pre-Usability Testing
Before developing the usability testing plan, my team and I conducted a heuristic evaluation to identify all violated heuristics using Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics. The most serious violations were also identified, and this was determined based on the identified user groups’ perspectives.
Usability Testing Plan
A series of tasks were designed for participants of the usability test to reflect typical user interactions with the website. Below is an example of a task/trial employed in this study:
“You are a representative of the government’s Department of Environmental Protection Agency and you’re tasked with identifying potential candidates for an imminent scientific advisory committee, pivotal in shaping environmental policies. Your goal is to locate a Biological Sciences professor named “Johnson” within the CSULB faculty directory, although you can’t recall the first name. Once you identify the teacher, say their first name aloud.”
Methods/Measures
To ensure the usability test evaluated both user experience and usability, we implemented two performance measures and two subjective questionnaires:
- Failure rate
- Time on task
- Questionnaire for User Interface Satisfaction (QUIS)
- System Usability Scale (SUS)
Results
The testing identified several areas for improvement, including navigation, search capabilities, and data accuracy. The findings guided recommendations to enhance the user experience of the FREE website. A technical report and presentation were created to share the findings and our design recommendations which can be viewed at the links below:
