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TABLEOFCONTENTSExecutiveSummary.........................2
Background........... .............................2
Purpose...............................................2
ResearchQuestions.......................2 ParticipantRecruitment..............3Method.................................................3
Technique..........................................3
RolesoftheResearchTeam.......3
ProjectTimeline..............................3
Pilot.......................................................4
TestProcedures..............................4DataCollection.................................4
Results.................................................5Recommendations...........................5
FindingsandDiscussion..............5DesignSuggestions........................6
LimitationsandStrengths...........7
Conclusion..........................................7
Appendix.............................................8
F1:WebsiteInterface....................8
F2:ParticipantDemographics..9
F3:ParticipantFeedback.............10
F4:Dendrogram..............................11
GOPURPLE.BEGOLD.
BryanDosono&EvanAbdalla
HCDE417:UsabilityResearch
RedesigningThe
UWHUBWebsite
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EXECUTIVESUMMARYCardsortingisamethodthatshedsinsighttohowusersthinktheinformationand
navigationshouldbepresentedwithintheproduct.Apilotuserrequirementsstudythattooktheformofanopengroupcardsortevaluatedthesitestructureand
navigationoftheUWHUBwebsite.Manystudentswhousethesiteregularlyhave
expressedtheirfrustrationinaccessingcriticalsiteinformationandfunctionality
(e.g.makingfacilityreservations).
Resultsshowthatamong24recruitedparticipants,16disagreedand4strongly
disagreedwiththecurrentorganizationofthesite.Adendrogramofalleight
testingsessionswasgeneratedinWebSorttopresentthehierarchicalsimilarities
betweenthevariouscardsused.Anaverageof15cardswereusedthroughoutthe
eightsessions,andthefourmostcommonclustersofpageswere:about,
services,entertainment,andcontact.
Theresearchteamrecommends(1)removingredundantmenuitemsandspecifythosepagesfurther,(2)includingnewpagesforcommonlyexpectedfeatures,and
(3)movingexistingmenuitemsintoadifferentclusterofpages.Thedevelopment
teamhopestoseeitsresearch-basedrecommendationsinfluencefutureiterative
designchangesthroughoutthelifecycleoftheUWHUBwebsite.
BACKGROUND
PurposeTheUniversityofWashingtonHuskyUnionBuildingisaquintessentialspaceon
campusthatbringstogetherstudentsfromvariousgroupstopartakeinactivitiesthatenhancestudentlifeoncampus.Utilizedbyapopulationofover40,000
students,staff,andfaculty,theUWHUBcompleteditsrenovationandreopenedto
thepublicin2012.However,arenovatedHUBdidnotcomewitharenovated
website.WeastheresearchteamvisittheUWHUBwebsitefrequentlyforavariety
ofreasons,butitscurrentnavigationlayoutmakesitdifficulttoaccessthe
informationweneed.Wecannotquicklyfindcommonlyusedfeatureslikemaking
roomreservations,andotherinformationpertainingtocriticalUWHUBservices
remainhiddeninmultilevelmenus.
ResearchQuestionsWeareinterestedininvestigatinghowcanthesitemapoftheUWHUBwebsitebe
redesignedtoallowforuserstoquicklyfindtheinformationtheyneed.Wewantto
knowwhatpagesareidentifiedasthehighestpriorityforregularusers,andwhich
pagesshouldbeorganizedandgroupedtogethertoprovideamorestreamlined
experienceforregularusers.WehopetoapplytheusabilitytechniqueswelearnedfromourHCDE417UsabilityResearchcoursetosolvethesequestionsandeven
addressotheruserrequirementsactivitiesinthefuture.
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ParticipantRecruitmentWerecruitedparticipantsthroughanonlinedirectoryofRegisteredStudent
Organization(RSO)studentleadersfromvariousacademicdepartments,multiculturalclubs,andotherspecialinterestgroups.Receivinginputfromactive
studentusersthatrepresentdiversecampuscommunitiesprovidedamoreholistic
perspectiveastohowthegeneralstudentbodyusedtheUWHUBwebsite.Theuser
profilethatwetargetedcomposedofregularuserswhohavevisitedthesiteatleast
onceperquarter.Feedbackfromactiveuserswasassumedtobemorerelevantand
richincontentthanstudentswhonevervisitedthesiteanddonotfullyunderstanditsfunctionality.
METHOD
TechniqueAcardsortactivitygaveinsightintohowusersthinktheinformationandnavigationshouldbewithinthesite.Bywayofanopengroupcardsort,participantswere
giveninstructionstofree-listallitemsrelevanttotheproductbynamingeverypage
itemtheycanthinkofthatshouldbeassociatedwiththeHUBwebsite.Userswere
thentaskedtosortcardsintogroupsthattheyfeltwereappropriateandaskedto
describeeachgroup.Unlikeothergenericusabilityteststhattypicallyinvolveoneuserevaluatingaproduct,groupsofthreestudentsinthisexerciseallowedfor
collaborationanddiscoursebetweenparticipants.Eightopencardsortactivities
wereconductedwithgroupsofthreestudentsthatfitthedesireduserprofileof
enrolledUWstudentsthathavevisitedtheHUBwebsiteatleasttwicewithinthe
pastmonth.Uponthecompletionofallcardsorts,wecollectedfeedbackfrom24participants.
RolesoftheResearchTeam
Themoderatorguidedtheexerciseanddiscussionofthecardsortingactivity,
addressedanydifficultiestheusershadwhilenotinfluencingtheirdecisions,and
kepttrackoftimetoensureeverythingwentaccordingtoplan.Therecordertook
notesonuserinputandfeedback,photographedparticipantscardsortingclusters,
andusedanaudiodevicetocaptureinterestingquotesthatparticipantsmayhave.
ProjectTimeline
Identifiedresearchquestion:October24,2012
Conductedpilottest:November1,2012
Createdtestplanandkit:November15,2012
Recruitedandconfirmedparticipants:November16,2012
Conducteduserrequirementsactivities:November21,2012Transcribedandanalyzeddata:November28,2012
Presentedfindingsandrecommendations:December6,2012
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Pilot
Priortoconductingourfirstcardsortactivity,weranapilottoensuretheviability
ofthetestdesign.WecontactedthreestudentslistedonthepublicRSOdirectoryfromvariouscampusorganizationsviaemailtoparticipateinourpilot.Although
twooftherecruitedparticipantshavecompletedonlinecardsortingactivitiesinthe
past,theybothexpressedthattheypreferredourpenandpapercardsortactivity
becauseofitshands-oninteractivity.Wediscoveredthatalthougheachparticipant
hadtheirownmentalmappingofhowtheUWHUBwebsiteshouldbestructured,
thefinalorganizationrepresentsacollaborativecompromiseofthebestdesign
elementsfromeachparticipantsideas.Theparticipantsunderstoodour
instructionsandtheirroleinourusabilitystudy,andasexpected,theirfinalgroup
cardsortdesigndidnotmatchthecurrentlayoutofthesite.
TestProcedures
Priortoeachcardsortactivity,wehadeachparticipantfilloutaconsentformandpre-testquestionnaire.Thestartingstateforeachcardsortingactivitybeganwith
anemptytableandunwrittenstickynotes.Aftertheorientationscriptwasreadaloudbythemoderator,participantspopulatedthestickynoteswithnamesof
relevantpagesoftheUWHUBwebsite.Theparticipantsthengroupedpages
togetherbyrelevance.Participantswereallowedtousealaptopweprovidedtoreferencethecurrentlayoutofthesite.Afterthecardsortwascompleted,the
recorderphotographedthefinalclusterofstickynotesthatrepresentedthe
participantssuggestedsitemapoftheUWHUBwebsite,notedthelengthofthe
activity,andtrackedtheamountofcardsusedasperformancemeasuresforsuccessfultaskcompletion.Weconcludedtheactivitybydistributingapost-test
questionnairetotheparticipantsandcompensatedthemaccordinglyfortheirtime.
DataCollectionandEvaluation
Oncealleighttestingsessionshavebeencompleted,wetranscribedaudiofromthe
cardsortingactivitiesandnotedinterestingfeedback.Wemanuallyenteredthecard
sortingclustersfromeachsessiononWebSort(http://websort.net),anonlinecard
sorttoolthatiswidelyusedbyinformationarchitects,webdesigners,andcontentstrategists.ThroughWebSort,wecreateddendrogramvisualizationsthatevaluated
howpagesweremostcommonlygroupedthroughoutallsessions.Thisdata,cross-referencedwithparticipantfeedback,wasusedtomakeinformeddesign
improvementstotheUWHUBwebsitesfinalinformationarchitecture.Thepost-
testquestionnairecollectedparticipantpreferencesbywayofLikertscales,whichindicatedtheirdegreeofagreementordisagreementwithvariousclaimsaboutthe
UWHUBwebsiteandthecardsortingexerciseitself.Therangeoftheratingscalein
thepost-testquestionnairewas1-5.Becausewefocusedoncollectingdatafromthe
cardsortingactivityandnotevaluatingthemannerismsofactualuserparticipants,
observationsofnon-performanceandnon-preferencedata(e.g.bodylanguage,eye
tracking,etc.)werenotrelevanttothecardsortingactivityandwerenotincludedin
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Results
Accordingtodatageneratedfrompre-testquestionnairesinFigures2,oureffortsin
recruitingstudentsfromvariousethnicity,gender,ability,andclassstandinghave
resultedinadiverseparticipantpool.Thepost-testquestionnairesrevealedthe
generaldissentofthenavigationarchitectureoftheUWHUBwebsite.Accordingto
Figure3,16disagreedand4stronglydisagreedwiththecurrentorganizationof
thesite.AdendrogramofalleighttestingsessionsgeneratedinFigure4viaWebSortpresentsthehierarchicalsimilaritiesbetweenthevariouscardsused.An
averageof15cardswereusedthroughouttheeightsessions,andthefourmostcommonclustersofpageswere:about,services,entertainment,andcontact.
RECOMMENDATIONS
FindingsandDiscussion
Thepagedefinitionsofthecurrentsiteorganizationcausedmuchconfusionamongourusers.Oneoftheparticipantsstated,Asainternationalstudent,oneofthemost
importantaspectsoftheHUBwebsiteformeisclarityinitslanguage.Itshardfor
studentswithmybackgroundofEnglishasasecondlanguagetofindtheinformationweneedwhenitsmislabeled.Sixoutofeightgroupsreported
inconsistencieswithhowmenuitemswerenamed.Anotheruserstated,Theseredundantmenuitemsareconfusing.Iwishthissitewasmoredescriptivewithits
pagetitles.PagessuchasEntertainmenthadredundantsubmenuitemsnamed
Entertainment,whichpromptedustochangethenamingconventionusedforthat
submenuitemfromEntertainmenttoafurtherspecifiedpage(e.g.GamesArea).
ThecurrentorganizationoftheUWHUBwebsitewasalsolackingcriticalfeatures
thatstudentsexpectedtoseeonitshomepage.Integrationwithsocialmediawas
alsoareoccurringcommentinfourdifferentcardsortsessions.Oneofthe
participantsasserted,IwouldliketoseesocialmediapagesincludedsothatIcan
connecttotheHUBbeyonditswebsite.Moreover,therewasatleastone
participantinalleightsessionsthatmentionedtheneedforaneasilyidentifiablefacilitiesreservationpage.ImakefacilityreservationsonbehalfofmyRSOevery
weekanditsfrustratingthatIcantdothatonthehomepage,boastedafrequent
studentuserofthesite.
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Severalpagesweremovedoutoftheircurrentclusterandplacedintoanewone
altogether.Forinstance,sevenoutoftheeighttestingsessionsdemandedthe
ContactpagetobeamainmenuinsteadofasubmenuunderDiscovertheHUB.
ParticipantstookthissuggestionfurtherandaddedaMappageunderthisnewContactpagebecausethecontentofdirectionsprovidedtogettotheHUBwas
perceivedasrelevantcontactinformation.SeeingavisualmapofwheretheHUBis
locatedoncampusiswaymorehelpfultomethanalongtextofdirections,saidauser.Infact,fivegroupspreferredtoseeanactualmapofwheretheHUBwas
locatedoncampusthanreadingturn-by-turntextdirections.AcouplegroupsremovedtheDirectorypageasamainmenuitemandplaceditunderthe
Contactpage,sayingthatadirectoryofHUBstaffedpersonnelwasnotas
importantofaprioritythantheactualcontactinformationoftheHUB.
DesignSuggestions1. (Boxed)Removeredundantmenuitemsandspecifythosepagesfurther.2. (Starred)Includenewpagesforcommonlyexpectedfeatures.3. (Arrowed)Moveexistingmenuitemsintoadifferentclusterofpages.
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LimitationsandStrengthsTheprimaryweaknessofthecardsortthatwediscovered,primarilyaftertheusability
testingandduringthetranscriptionphaseoftheproject,wasthenatureofthesubjectivedatawehadtointerpret.Thesubjectiveissueswehadwithunderstanding
definitionsofsynonymouspagescouldhavebeencombattedbyaskingthemtowritea
shortdescriptionofanycardsthatwerenotexplicit.Overall,thecardsorthelpedusto
moreeasilyidentifywhattypeofpagesusersthoughtwererelated,whichpageswere
prioritizedoverothers,andwhatcontentneededtobechangedaltogether.Additionally
cardsortscanbeoverlaidandcombinedintoonelargersitemap,whichhelpedto
combinethecollectiveopinionsofmanypeople.Usinganopencardsortwasuseful
becauseitprovidedourparticipantstheabilitytocreatetheirowncontentandsitearchitecture.Theresultofthisopencardsortmethodwasthecreationofnewcontent,
suchassocialmediabuttons,whichwehadneverevenconsideredtoadd.Considering
theoveralldiscontentofthecurrentsiteorganization,anopencardsortwasclearlythebestoptiontosolveourresearchproblem.
CONCLUSIONWeconductedeightroundsofcardsorting,whichtotal24participantswhofitthe
targeteduserprofileofactiveUWHUBwebsitevisitors.Theresearchteamperformeda
correlationanalysisbyinputtingpenandpapercardsortdataintocomputersoftware
(WebSort)togenerateadendrogramofcommonlyclusteredpagesacrosstheeight
sessionsofcardsorting.Theinterpretationofthepre-testandpost-testquestionnaires
distributedonthetestingsiteillustratedboththediversityoftheparticipantsample
andnoticeabletrendsintheirpreferences.Wecommunicatedhighlevelfindingsfrom
thecardsortingactivityandsummarizedkeyresultsbasedoffofinterestingfeedbackfromUWHUBwebsiteuserstorecommendanimprovednavigationlayoutintendedfortheactualdesigneroftheUWHUBwebsite.Thedevelopmentteamhopestoseeits
research-basedrecommendationsinfluencefutureiterativedesignchangesthroughout
thelifecycleoftheUWHUBwebsite.
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Appendix
Figure1:UWHUBWebsiteInterfaceScreencapturetakenonOctober24,2012.
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Figure2:ParticipantDemographics
ParticipantresponsestothePre-TestQuestionnaireinFigure5havebeen
distributedinapiecharttoillustratediversitywithintheparticipantpool.
Ethnicity Gender
Disability Class
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Figure3:ParticipantFeedback
ParticipantresponsestothePost-TestQuestionnaireinFigure7havebeen
visualizedinabargraphtoillustratetrendsinuserpreferences.
ThecontentofthecurrentUWHUBwebsiteiswellorganized.
IprefermyproposedsitestructuretothecurrentsitestructureoftheUWHUB
website.
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Figure4:Dendrogram
Generatedahierarchicaltreeofcommonlygroupedpages.
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