Final Usability Test

The version we used for our usability tests included a number of important improvements:

• Live survey data pulled from the SQL Server database was used, and real data was also used in the charts, so true comparisons could be made and the application could for the first time be used in the manner in which it was intended.
• The selection mechanism changed dramatically, and now allows the user to click on a row or header component with the mouse to select, and then apply some action to it using a function in the menu bar. More features were moved into the menu, including the Clear functionality, and a placeholder for Export. This allowed us to remove the repetitive Clear buttons that were on each component, and also the Export buttons that were on each chart, resulting in a much less cluttered interface. The "breakout rows/columns" buttons were also relocated as items in the Options menu, and renamed, more intuitively, "show/hide row/column responses." The Options menu also contains the Group features, and because of this and the new click-to-select mechanism, the Group dialog (as planned for the first interactive prototype) is no longer needed.
• Helpful cues were added to assist the user in getting started, such as the text "To Begin, Please Add a Survey to the Column" which appears when the column header is empty.
• Better feedback now displays a wait cursor when charts are rendering.

The results of our usability test show that users were very satisfied with our design. The also had some great feedback for continued improvements, which we list here along with the final items we implemented for the third and final prototype:

• Easier question selection - In the previous version a question could be selected only by checking its box. In the final version, the user can click anywhere on the question to select it.
• Views - from the menu bar allow users to select different views: 'Chart', "Data', and 'Charts and Data'. 'Charts' view renders real data from the database. 'Data' views were not linked to the database in the previous version, but are displaying real data in the third interactive prototype.
• Group/Ungroup Selected Responses - is accessed from 'Options' in the menu bar. Users should be able to select individual responses and group them into a single response. For example, a question that asks about the respondent's workspace has two responses that are different types of cubicles. The user can now group the data for both of those responses into one chart using the 'Group selected responses' item in the Options menu. Likewise, they can also ungroup responses that have been grouped by using the 'Ungroup Selected Responses' command.
• Showing 'N' on the chart - The total number of respondents is now displayed on each chart.