User-centered design principles in the development of clinical research tools

Abstract

Background: Increasing and sustaining the engagement of participants in clinical research studies is a goal for clinical investigators, especially for studies that require long-term or frequent involvement of participants. Technology can be used to reduce barriers to participation by providing multiple options for clinical data entry and form submission. However, electronic systems used in clinical research studies should be user-friendly while also ensuring data quality. Directly involving study participants in evaluating the effectiveness and usability of electronic tools may promote wider adoption, maintain involvement, and increase user satisfaction of the technology. While developers of healthcare applications have incorporated user-centered designs, these methods remain uncommon in the design of clinical study tools such as patient-reported outcome surveys or electronic data capture digital health tools. Methods: Our study evaluated whether the clinical research setting may benefit from implementing user-centered design principles. Study participants were recruited to test the web-based form for the Measurement to Understand the Reclassification of Disease of Cabarrus/Kannapolis (MURDOCK) Study Community Translational Population Health Registry and Biorepository that would enable them to complete their study forms electronically. The study enrollment form collects disease history, conditions, smoking status, medications, and other information. The system was initially evaluated by the data management team through traditional user-acceptance testing methods. During the tool evaluation phase, a decision was made to incorporate a small-scale usability study to directly test the system. Results: Results showed that a majority of participants found the system easy to use. Of the eight required tasks, 75% were completed successfully. Of the 72 heuristics violated, language was the most frequent violation. Conclusion: Our study showed that user-centered usability methods can identify important issues and capture information that can enhance the participant’s experience and may improve the quality of study tools.

A usability test protocol for evaluating mixed reality environments

“…These problems can be grouped under certain headings such as functionality, effectiveness, understandability, and aesthetics of the system or the user interface (Kostaras and Xenos, 2009). Besides, these problems can be assigned priority levels such as 1cosmetic), 2-minor, 3-major, and 4-catastrophic (Walden et al, 2020). At the end of the cognitive walkthrough the detected errors are fixed in the prototype.…”

“…The advantage of the survey method is its ease of application and low cost-benefit ratio (Walden et al, 2020). However, the survey method alone is not sufficient for obtaining raw data and user interface analysis since it only contains the opinions of the users.…”

“…The data obtained in the laboratory evaluations are analyzed under various headings. For example (1) effectiveness (i.e., accuracy/user ability to complete assigned tasks/level of interaction in terms of speed and errors) (Nielsen, 1994;Zhou and Chan, 2017;Constantinescu et al, 2019;Walden et al, 2020); ( 2) efficiency (i.e., time to complete/resources required to complete assigned tasks such as time) (Constantinescu et al, 2019;Walden et al, 2020); ( 3) error (i.e., number of errors/ability to recover from errors, existence of serious errors) (Nielsen, 1994;Zhou and Chan, 2017); ( 4) flexibility (i.e., level of adaptation to various tasks) (Zhou & Chan, 2017); ( 5) learnability (i.e., ease/level of learning needed to accomplish a task) (Nielsen, 1994;Zhou and Chan, 2017;Dowding et al, 2019;Walden et al, 2020); (6) assessment of how pleasurable it is to use /attitude (Shackel, 2009;Zhou and Chan, 2017;Constantinescu et al, 2019); ( 7) usefullnes (i.e., ease/difficulty/failed) (Dowding et al, 2019).…”

User-Centric Process of Designing a Molecular & Cellular Query Interface for Biomedical Research

“…User-centered design (UCD) is an iterative design process that involves users to guide and inform the design and development process in order to gain an understanding of the requirements for a product or tool relevant to user needs (Ritter et al, 2014;Wallach and Scholz, 2012). Applying UCD for developing computational biology software, developers can improve user experience, and prevent the usability issues typically found in these types of interfaces (Macaulay et al, 2009;Pavelin et al, 2012;Walden et al, 2020). UCD can also significantly increase user adoption and satisfaction with the product, and reduce the cost and time of the software development (Bolchini et al, 2009;Mangul et al, 2019;Walden et al, 2020).…”

“…Applying UCD for developing computational biology software, developers can improve user experience, and prevent the usability issues typically found in these types of interfaces (Macaulay et al, 2009;Pavelin et al, 2012;Walden et al, 2020). UCD can also significantly increase user adoption and satisfaction with the product, and reduce the cost and time of the software development (Bolchini et al, 2009;Mangul et al, 2019;Walden et al, 2020).…”