How Well Does the System Really Work?

Abstract

Whereas subjective methods focus primarily on users’ attitudes towards a system, objective measures, as the term suggests, provide an appraisal of the system based on measured data in a more controlled setting. Objective methodologies have the advantage of providing a systematic assessment of actual performance with the system, rather than relying on the more subjective views of the User or potential user population, hence providing a less biased assessment of the system. There are a number of difficulties associated with subjective methods, along with the advantages detailed in the previous chapter. They coilect data in the form of User opinions. and so only reflect the views of the sarnple taken (particularly critical when considering the small samples which are possible and acceptable in heuristic evaluations and focus groups). In order to attain a truer representation of the actual situation, the experimental setting (and related variables) has to be more tightly controlled, which is what objective methods attempt to do.