Apples and Oranges: Lessons From a Usability Study of Two Library FAQ Web Sites

Susan [Gardner] ArchambaultKenneth Simon

Loyola Marymount University

• Private Catholic University in Los Angeles, California

• 5900+ undergraduates and 1900+ graduates

• William H. Hannon Library Information Desk open 24/5

Research Question• What is the most effective

way to provide access to our Library FAQs?

• A comparison of two products: How Do I? and LibAnswers. Which features do students prefer, and which features lead to better performance?

How Do I?

LibAnswers

Auto-Suggest Feature

Related Questions Feature

Methodology

• Conducted usability testing on 20 undergraduate students at LMU

• Population equally represented each class (freshmen through seniors) and had a ratio of 60:40 females to males

Methodology

• Used a combination of the Performance Test methodology and the Think-Aloud methodology

Methodology

• Students given 10 performance tasks to complete at a computer twice - once using LibAnswers as starting point, and once using How Do I?

• After each performance task, students given questionnaire measuring satisfaction with site

Performance Task QuestionsHow to print in the library from a laptop How to request a research consultation

How long can a graduate student check out a book

How to search for a book by the author’s name

Where are the library copy machines How to tell what books are on reserve for a class

How to request a book from basement storage

Where to access CRSPSift software in the library

Can a Loyola law school student reserve a group study room in advance

How much does it cost for an undergrad to request a magazine article from another library

Satisfaction Scale

Methodology

• Audio recorded and computer screen activity captured via “ScreenFlow”screencasting software

Additional Questions

• How likely would you be to use each page again?

• What was your favorite aspect of each site?

• What was your least favorite aspect?

• Overall, do you prefer LibAnswers or How Do I?

Performance Scoring: Speed

• Start the clock when the person begins searching for the answer to a new question on the home page of the site they are testing

• Stop the clock when they copy the URL with the answer

Performance Scoring: Accuracy

Was the Answer…

Completely Accurate: found the answer

On the correct path to the information, but did not go far enough or took wrong subsequent path On the correct page, but did not see the answer (supersedes everything else they tried on other attempts to answer)

Check off the one that applies:

Pointed to a related question under the correct category, but incorrect page

Incorrect and off topic

Gave up: never found an answer

Performance Scoring: Efficiency

• Count the number of times the person made a new attempt, or started down a new path, by returning to the home page *after* a previous attempt away from or on the homepage failed

Sample Scoring Videobit.ly/usabilityvideo

Site Speed Accuracy Efficiency

How Do I? 46 seconds Completely Accurate +1 (clicked 1 wrong path)

LibAnswers 36 seconds Completely Accurate +1 (clicked 1 wrong path)

Performance Results

Speed Average (seconds)

LibAnswers 40.55

How Do I? 33.90

Efficiency Total Wrong Paths

LibAnswers 30

How Do I? 40

Performance ResultsAccuracy LibAnswers How Do I?

Completely accurate 182 (91%) 175 (87.5%)

Correct path but did not go far enough or took a wrong subsequent path

5 (2.5%) 15 (7.5%)

Correct page, but did not see the answer

3 (1.5%) 3 (1.5%)

Pointed to a related question under the correct category, but incorrect page

6 (3%) 3 (1.5%)

Incorrect and off-topic 0 3 (1.5%)

Gave up: never found answer

4 (2%) 1 (.005%)

LibAnswers Features UsedFeature Number Who Used Percent

Search Box 16 80%

Auto-Suggest 12 60%

Popular Answers 9 45%

Cloud Tag 8 40%

Related Questions 4 20%

Change Topic Drop-down 2 10%

Recent Answers 2 10%

Satisfaction

Likely to use again

Very unlikely

Unlikely Undecided Likely Very Likely

LibAnswers 0 15% (3) 5 (25%) 5 (25%) 7 (35%)

How Do I? 0 15% (3) 3 (15%) 5 (25%) 9 (45%)

SatisfactionOverall preference Response

LibAnswers 40% (8)

How Do I? 60% (12)

Patterns

• Overall, 9 of 20 performed worse with the site they said they preferred.

• 4 of 5 freshmen performed worse with the site they said they preferred. Upperclassmen were more consistent.

• Females tended to perform better with their preferred site; males did not.

• 75% of the males preferred How Do I? over LibAnswers, while females were evenly divided.

LibAnswers

Likes• Keyword search “like a

search engine”• Autosuggest in search

bar• Popular topics list• Friendly / pleasant to use• Don’t have to read

through categories

Dislikes• Overwhelming interface /

cluttered• Long list of specific questions

but hard to find the info you want

• Less efficient than the “How Do I” page

• Once you do a search, you lose your original question

• Autosuggestions are ambiguous or too broad, and sometimes don’t function properly

How Do I?

Likes• Fast / efficient to use• Everything is right there

in front of you: “I don’t have to type, just click”

• Simple, clearly laid out categories

• Organized and clean looking

Dislikes• Less efficient than the

LibAnswers page: have to read a lot

• Too restricted: needs a search box

• Have to guess a category to decide where to look

• Limited number of too-broad questions

• Boring / basic appearance

Sharing results with Springshare

• Retain question asked in search results screen.• Add stopwords to search, so typing “How do I”

doesn’t drop down a long list of irrelevant stuff, and “Where is” and “where are” aren’t mutually exclusive.

• Remove “related LibGuides” content to reduce clutter.• Control the list of “related questions” below an

answer: they seem to be based only on the first topic assigned to a given question.

Take the best of… How Do I

Take the best of… LibAnswers

But wait…

There is another.

Take the best of… Get Help

The best of all worlds

Conclusions

• Ended up with a balance between two extremes rather than one or the other

• Think-aloud method: gave up control; no preconceived ideas could influence outcome

• Sitting in silence watching the participants made them nervous. Next time maybe leave the room and have a self-guided test

• Efficiency is difficult to measure: moved away from counting clicks

Acknowledgements

Thank you:• Shannon Billimore• Jennifer Masunaga• LMU Office of Assessment/Christine Chavez• Springshare

Bibliography• Ericsson, K.A. and Simon, H.A. (1980).

Verbal Reports as Data. Psychological Review, 87(3), 215-251.

• Smith, Ashleigh, Magner, Brian, and Phelan, Paraic. (2008, Nov. 20). Think Aloud Protocol Part 2. Retrieved May 3, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyQ_rtylJ3c&feature=related

• Norlin, Elaina. (2002). Usability Testing for Library Web Sites: A Hands-On Guide. Chicago: American Library Association.

• Porter, J. (2003). Testing the Three-Click Rule. Retrieved from http://www.uie.com/articles/three_click_rule/.

• Willis, G.B. (2005). Cognitive Interviewing: A Tool for Improving Questionnaire Design. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Additional Information

Presentation Slides

• bit.ly/gardnersimonContact UsKen Simon

Reference & Instruction Technologies LibrarianLoyola Marymount UniversityTwitter: @ksimon Email: ksimon@me.com

Susan [Gardner] ArchambaultHead of Reference & InstructionLoyola Marymount UniversityTwitter: @susanLMUEmail: susan.gardner@lmu.edu