Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Usability Is Ageless: Conducting Usability Tests with Older Adults

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Ageing and Digital Technology

Abstract

This chapter discusses the role of usability testing in evaluating technologies with older adults (aged 65+). We draw on our experience of designing and evaluating usability tests and on a critical engagement with the standard literature to present a set of strategies to design, implement, conduct, and analyze usability testing. Some strategies include choosing suitable locations to conduct the usability test, designing warm-up questions, selecting an appropriate usability testing technique (i.e., Co-Discovery), and using mixed-methods approaches. Additionally, we reflect on challenges encountered in the field from recruitment limitations to handling impression management efforts by participants. To understand and address these issues, we rely on cross-disciplinary insights and approaches from Human–Computer Interaction and sociology.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abras, C., Maloney-Krichmar, D., & Preece, J. (2004). User-centered design. In Bainbridge, W. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction (Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 445–456). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyer, H., & Holtzblatt, K. (1997). Contextual design: defining customer-centered systems. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolino, M. C., Kacmar, K. M., Turnley, W. H., & Gilstrap, J. B. (2008). A multi-level review of impression management motives and behaviors. Journal of Management, 34(6), 1080–1109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308324325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. (2014). The self. Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cappeliez, P. (1990). Social desirability response set and self-report depression inventories in the elderly. Clinical Gerontologist, 9(2), 45–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carstensen, L. L., & Cone, J. D. (1983). Social desirability and the measurement of psychological well-being in elderly persons. Journal of Gerontology, 38(6), 713–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick-Dias, A., McNulty, M., & Tullis, T. (2002). Web usability and age: how design changes can improve performance. SIGCAPH Computers and the Physically Handicapped, 73–74, 30–37. https://doi.org/10.1145/960201.957212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czaja, S. J., Charness, N., Fisk, A. D., Hertzog, C., Nair, S. N., Rogers, W. A., et al. (2006, June). Factors predicting the use of technology: Findings from the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE). Psychology and Aging. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.21.2.333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czaja, S. J., & Sharit, J. (1998). Age differences in attitudes toward computers. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 53B(5), P329–P340. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/53B.5.P329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, F. D., Jr. (1986). A technology acceptance model for empirically testing new end-user information systems: Theory and results. Massachusetts: Institute of Technology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dell, N., Vaidyanathan, V., Medhi, I., Cutrell, E., & Thies, W. (2012). “Yours is better!”: Participant response bias in HCI. In Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems—CHI’12, 1321–1330. https://doi.org/10.1145/2207676.2208589.

  • Dickinson, A., Arnott, J., & Prior, S. (2007). Methods for human-computer interaction research with older people. Behaviour & Information Technology, 26(4), 343–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dourish, P. (2003). The appropriation of interactive technologies: Some lessons from placeless documents. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 12(4), 465–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Draper, S. W., & Norman, D. A. (1986). User Centered System Design: New perspectives on human-computer interaction.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ericsson, K. A., & Simon, H. A. (1980). Verbal reports as data. Psychological Review, 87(3), 215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisk, A. D., Rogers, W. A., Charness, N., Czaja, S. J., & Sharit, J. (2009). Designing for older adults: Principles and creative human factors approaches. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Franz, R. L., Baecker, R., & Truong, K. N. (2018). “I knew that, I was just testing you”: Understanding older adults’ impression management tactics during usability studies. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS) (Under Review).

    Google Scholar 

  • Franz, R. L., Munteanu, C., Neves, B. B., & Baecker, R. (2015). Time to retire old methodologies? Reflecting on conducting usability evaluations with older adults. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services Adjunct (pp. 912–915). New York, NY, USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2786567.2794303.

  • Franz, R. L., Neves, B. B., Demmans Epp, C., Wobbrock, J. O., & Baecker, R. (2018). Accommodating participant needs: Technology evaluation with frail older adults (Pending Publication).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1975). The presentation of self in everyday life. In Life as theater, 173. https://doi.org/10.2307/258197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González, A., Ramirez, M. P., & Viadel, V. (2015). ICT learning by older adults and their attitudes toward computer use. Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenhalgh, T., & Stones, R. (2010). Theorising big IT programmes in healthcare: Strong structuration theory meets actor-network theory. Social Science and Medicine, 70(9), 1285–1294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson, V., Gibson, L., Coleman, G., Bobrowicz, A., & McKay, A. (2010). A engaging the disengaged: How do we design technology for digitally excluded older adults. In Proceedings of DIS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, J. R. (2014). Usability: Lessons learned… and yet to be learned. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 30(9), 663–684.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, K. A., Leary, M. R., & Rejeski, W. J. (2000). Self-presentational concerns in older adults: Implications for health and well-being. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 22(i), 169–179. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324834BASP2203_5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melenhorst, A.-S., Rogers, W. A., & Caylor, E. C. (2001). The use of communication technologies by older adults: Exploring the benefits from the user’s perspective. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 45, pp. 221–225).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neves, B. B., Franz, R. L., Judges, R., Beerman, C., & Baecker, R. (2017). Can digital technology enhance social connectedness amongst older adults? A feasibility study. Journal of Applied Gerontology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neves, B. B., Franz, R. L., Munteanu, C., Baecker, R., & Ngo, M. (2015). “My Hand Doesn’t Listen to Me!”: Adoption and evaluation of a communication technology for the “Oldest Old.” Proceedings of the ACM CHI’15 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (1593–1602). https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702430.

  • Nielsen, J. (1994). Usability engineering. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. (1988). The psychology of everyday things.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. A. (1983). Some observations on mental models. Mental Models, 7(112), 7–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prieto-Flores, M.-E., Forjaz, M. J., Fernandez-Mayoralas, G., Rojo-Perez, F., & Martinez-Martin, P. (2011). Factors associated with loneliness of noninstitutionalized and institutionalized older adults. Journal of Aging and Health, 23(1), 177–194. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264310382658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quesenbery, W. (2001). What does usability mean: Looking beyondease of use’. In Annual Conference-Society for Technical Communication (Vol. 48, pp. 432–436).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., & Preece, J. (2011). Interaction design: beyond human-computer interaction. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayago, S., Sloan, D., & Blat, J. (2011). Everyday use of computer-mediated communication tools and its evolution over time: An ethnographical study with older people. Interacting with Computers, 23(5), 543–554.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shackel, B. (1991). Usability-context, framework, definition, design and evaluation. Human Factors for Informatics Usability, 21–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soubelet, A., & Salthouse, T. A. (2011). Influence of social desirability on age differences in self-reports of mood and personality. Journal of Personality, 79(4), 741–762.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trewin, S., Marques, D., & Guerreiro, T. (2015). Usage of subjective scales in accessibility research. In ASSETS’15 The 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, (October), 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1145/2700648.2809867.

  • Van den Haak, M., De Jong, M., & Schellens, P. (2007). Evaluation of an informational web site: three variants of the think-aloud method compared. Technical Communication, 54(1), 58–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Den Haak, M., De Jong, M., & Schellens, P. (2003). Retrospective vs. concurrent think-aloud protocols: Testing the usability of an online library catalogue. Behaviour & Information Technology, 22(5), 339–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Den Haak, M., De Jong, M., & Schellens, P. (2004). Employing think-aloud protocols and constructive interaction to test the usability of online library catalogues: A methodological comparison. Interacting with Computers, 16(6), 1153–1170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intcom.2004.07.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waycott, J., Vetere, F., Pedell, S., Morgans, A., Ozanne, E., & Kulik, L. (2016). Not for me: Older adults choosing not to participate in a social isolation intervention. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 745–757). New York, NY, USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858458.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Washington, Seattle, USA

    Rachel Franz

  2. University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Barbara Barbosa Neves

Authors
  1. Rachel Franz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Barbara Barbosa Neves
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel Franz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Barbara Barbosa Neves

  2. School of Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Frank Vetere

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Franz, R., Neves, B.B. (2019). Usability Is Ageless: Conducting Usability Tests with Older Adults. In: Neves, B., Vetere, F. (eds) Ageing and Digital Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3693-5_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3693-5_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-3692-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-3693-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation