How many participants are really enough for usability studies?

Alroobaea, Roobaea; Mayhew, Pam J.

doi:10.1109/sai.2014.6918171

Cited by 105 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…Moreover, Hwang and Salvendy [2010] conducted a meta-analysis by analysing many published research papers since 1990 and suggest that at least 10±2 users are required to discover 80% of usability problems. Furthermore, Alroobaea and Mayhew [2014] recommend to consider 20 users as a maximum number of users and 12 users as a minimum number of users for usability studies along with the complexity of the study and the criticality of its context.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specific numbers, ranging from five users to 20 users (See Section 2), have already been suggested despite the fact that more users are typically used for statistical analysis (such as Jerger et al [2014]). There is also a considerable number of views which argue against these suggested numbers [Bevan et al 2003;Alroobaea and Mayhew 2014;Schmettow 2012]. They assert that each study has its own characteristics, and therefore the number of users should not be the same for all usability studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They assert that each study has its own characteristics, and therefore the number of users should not be the same for all usability studies. In particular, it is typically suggested to include more users in more complicated studies [Alroobaea and Mayhew 2014;Schmettow 2012].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Eye tracking scanpath analysis on web pages

Eraslan

Yeşi̇lada

Harper

2016

Proceedings of the Ninth Biennial ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research &Amp; Applications

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The number of users required for usability studies has been a controversial issue over 30 years. Some researchers suggest a certain number of users to be included in these studies. However, they do not focus on eye tracking studies for analysing eye movement sequences of users (i.e., scanpaths) on web pages. We investigate the effects of the number of users on scanpath analysis with our algorithm that was designed for identifying the most commonly followed path by multiple users. Our experimental results suggest that it is possible to approximate the same results with a smaller number of users. The results also suggest that more users are required when they serendipitously browse on web pages in comparison with when they search for specific information or items. We observed that we could achieve 75% similarity to the results of 65 users with 27 users for searching tasks and 34 users for browsing tasks. This study guides researchers to determine the ideal number of users for analysing scanpaths on web pages based on their budget and time.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Eye tracking scanpath analysis on web pages

Eraslan

Yeşi̇lada

Harper

2016

Proceedings of the Ninth Biennial ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research &Amp; Applications

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“…(http://www.welcomecottages.com/#ukcot) [15] asserts that 10 to 12 participants is probably a good baseline range for UT. Also, [16] pointed out that 8 users are more appropriate for commercial studies and to find enough major and more minor problems. For the purpose of our study, 10 web users were recruited carefully to reflect the real users of the targeted website.…”

Section: B Test Objectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of usability on e-marketing strategy in international tourism industry

Alroobaea¹,

Mayhew²

2014

2014 Science and Information Conference

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The electronic information revolution and the use of computers as an essential part of everyday life are now more widespread than ever before, as the Internet is exploited for the speedy transfer of data and business. Hotel/hospitality websites are growing in use worldwide, and they present popular business channels on the Internet. However, they need to be continuously evaluated and monitored to measure their levels of efficiency, effectiveness and user satisfaction, ultimately to improve quality and profit. Also, users have become the most important factor impacting on the success of these websites; if they are produced and are then deemed not useful by the end-users; the result is a failed business. Thus, nobody can use them and the stakeholders cannot make money. To assess the success of hotel/hospitality sites; usability criteria should be considered to ensure that users can find their way quickly and easily to complete their tasks effectively. This paper aims to use user testing and the thinking aloud protocol to evaluate two interfaces of hotel/hospitality sites to examine how their usability problems significantly impede user performance. The results show that usability is the main factor affecting users' performance, and that it is the best attribute for measuring the extent to which hotel/hospitality sites meet the requirements of their users and marketing strategy. Also, this study emphasizes to the one important concept in marketing which is related to usability concept is to understand the online user behaviour to deliver effective online user experiences, consequently, to achieve good e-marketing strategy. Because in this study, a high percentage of users failed in completing their tasks to reserve rooms for their journey. Thus, stakeholders fail in achieving the most important goal of their e-marketing strategy

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“…Also, [16] pointed out that 8 users are more appropriate for commercial studies and to find enough major and more minor problems. For the purpose of our study, 10 web users were recruited carefully to reflect the real users of the targeted website.…”

Section: B Test Obj Ect Smentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of usability on e-marketing strategy in international tourism industry

Alroobaea¹,

Mayhew²

2014

2014 Science and Information Conference

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The electronic information revolution and the use of computers as an essential part of everyday life are now more widespread than ever before, as the Internet is exploited for the speedy transfer of data and business. Hotel/hospitality websites are growing in use worldwide, and they present popular business channels on the Internet. However, they need to be continuously evaluated and monitored to measure their levels of efficiency, effectiveness and user satisfaction, ultimately to improve quality and profit. Also, users have become the most important factor impacting on the success of these websites; if they are produced and are then deemed not useful by the end-users; the result is a failed business. Thus, nobody can use them and the stakeholders cannot make money. To assess the success of hotel/hospitality sites; usability criteria should be considered to ensure that users can find their way quickly and easily to complete their tasks effectively. This paper aims to use user testing and the thinking aloud protocol to evaluate two interfaces of hotel/hospitality sites to examine how their usability problems significantly impede user performance. The results show that usability is the main factor affecting users' performance, and that it is the best attribute for measuring the extent to which hotel/hospitality sites meet the requirements of their users and marketing strategy. Also, this study emphasizes to the one important concept in marketing which is related to usability concept is to understand the online user behaviour to deliver effective online user experiences, consequently, to achieve good e-marketing strategy.Because in this study, a high percentage of users failed in completing their tasks to reserve rooms for their journey. Thus, stakeholders fail in achieving the most important goal of their emarketing strategy.

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How many participants are really enough for usability studies?

Cited by 105 publications

References 17 publications

Eye tracking scanpath analysis on web pages

Eye tracking scanpath analysis on web pages

The impact of usability on e-marketing strategy in international tourism industry

The impact of usability on e-marketing strategy in international tourism industry

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