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When to Ask Participants to Think Aloud: A Comparative Study of Concurrent and Retrospective Think-Aloud Methods
Thamer Alshammari, Obead Alhadreti, Pam J. Mayhew
Pages - 48 - 64 | Revised - 30-06-2015 | Published - 31-07-2015
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KEYWORDS
Usability Testing, Think-aloud Studies, Verbal Protocols.
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the results of a study that compared two think-aloud usability testing methods: the concurrent think-aloud and the retrospective think-aloud methods. Data from task performance, testing experience, and usability problems were collected from 30 participants equally distributed between the two think-aloud conditions. The results suggest that while the thinking aloud method had no impact on task performance and testing experience, participants using the concurrent think-aloud method reported a larger number of problems with the test interface than participants using the retrospective think-aloud method. These findings suggest a reason for preferring the concurrent think-aloud method to the retrospective one.
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Mr. Thamer Alshammari
School of Computing Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK - United Kingdom
t.alshammari@uea.ac.uk
Mr. Obead Alhadreti
School of Computing Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK - United Kingdom
Dr. Pam J. Mayhew
School of Computing Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK - United Kingdom
