Extending Low-Cost Remote Evaluation with Synchronous Communication

Dunkley, Lynne; Rapanotti, Lucia and Hall, Jon G. (2002). Extending Low-Cost Remote Evaluation with Synchronous Communication. Technical Report 2002/02; Department of Computing, The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.00015ffe

Abstract

Write-along Low Cost Remote (LCR) evaluation has been proposed as a highly efficient method for remotely evaluating usability problems with prototype interfaces. In a previous study, it was noted that this efficiency was at the cost of a loss of the conversational nature of the evaluation present in think-aloud methods. In this paper, we assess this loss through a comparison with an extended LCR, which uses real-time conferencing tools to introduce synchronous communication. An experimental investigation was carried out on an interactive prototype interface with known usability problems. In this way the effectiveness of the new method using real-time conferencing tools could be assessed and recommendations for best practice set out.