Comparing Low and High-Fidelity Prototypes in Mobile Phone Evaluation

Ting Zhang, Pei-Luen Patrick Rau, Gavriel Salvendy and Jia Zhou
Additional contact information
Ting Zhang: Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Pei-Luen Patrick Rau: Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Gavriel Salvendy: Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Jia Zhou: Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

International Journal of Technology Diffusion (IJTD), 2012, vol. 3, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: This study compared usability testing results found with low- and high-fidelity prototypes for mobile phones. The main objective is to obtain deep understanding of usability problems found with different prototyping methods. Three mobile phones from different manufactures were selected in the experiment. The usability level of the mobile phones was evaluated by participants who completed a questionnaire consisting of 13 usability factors. Incorporating the task-based complexity of the three mobile phones, significant differences in the usability evaluation for each individual factor were found. Suggestions on usability testing with prototyping technique for mobile phones were proposed. This study tries to provide new evidence to the field of mobile phone usability research and develop a feasible way to quantitatively evaluate the prototype usability with novices. The comparisons of paper-based and fully functional prototypes led us to realize how significantly the unique characteristics of different prototypes affect the usability evaluation. The experiment took product complexity into account and made suggestions on choosing proper prototyping technique for testing particular aspects of mobile phone usability.

Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://services.igi-global.com/resolvedoi/resolve. ... .4018/jtd.2012100101 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:igg:jtd000:v:3:y:2012:i:4:p:1-19

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Technology Diffusion (IJTD) is currently edited by Ali Hussein Saleh Zolait

More articles in International Journal of Technology Diffusion (IJTD) from IGI Global
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journal Editor ().