ABSTRACT
Electronic commerce (e-commerce) for transacting business has become increasingly important for small and large organizations alike. With this comes a rise in the complexity of e-commerce systems enabling everything from consumers buying goods or services online to the management of internal business transactions. The need to ensure such systems are usable is without question a priority. Those undertaking usability testing in industry and research contribute to our understanding of how to build effective, usable systems. The literature reports a wide variety of approaches to
CONTENTS
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 158 Usability and Complex E-Commerce Websites .............................................. 158
Website Usability Testing .......................................................................... 159 Reliability and Validity in Usability Testing Research ................................... 160 Research Approach ............................................................................................. 160 Designing a Reliable and Valid Usability Test ................................................ 162
Selecting Websites ...................................................................................... 162 Design of the Scenario and/or Task ........................................................ 164 Identifying and Recruiting Participants ................................................. 165
Number of Participants ................................................................. 165 Selecting Participants .................................................................... 166
Research Instrument .................................................................................. 171 Conducting the Usability Test and the Setting ...................................... 171
Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 172 Reader Take-Aways ............................................................................................ 174 References ............................................................................................................. 175
website usability testing and raises issues on designing reliable and valid usability tests. This chapter explores usability testing of complex e-commerce websites. A review of current research involving laboratory-based testing identified the key design considerations important for ensuring reliable and valid results. The chapter provides guidelines for researchers and technical communicators for the design and conduct of usability testing, particularly in the context of complex systems.
