Think-aloud protocols: a comparison of three think-aloud protocols for use in testing data-dissemination web sites for usability

Authors:
Erica L. Olmsted-Hawala;Elizabeth D. Murphy;Sam Hawala;Kathleen T. Ashenfelter
Affiliations:
U.S. Census Bureau, Wasthington DC, DC, USA;U.S. Census Bureau, Washington DC, DC, USA;U.S. Census Bureau, Washington DC, DC, USA;U.S. Census Bureau, Washington DC, DC, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Year:
2010

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Abstract

We describe an empirical, between-subjects study on the use of think-aloud protocols in usability testing of a federal data-dissemination Web site. This double-blind study used three different types of think-aloud protocols: a traditional protocol, a speech-communication protocol, and a coaching protocol. A silent condition served as the control. Eighty participants were recruited and randomly pre-assigned to one of four conditions. Accuracy and efficiency measures were collected, and participants rated their subjective satisfaction with the site. Results show that accuracy is significantly higher in the coaching condition than in the other conditions. The traditional protocol and the speech-communication protocol are not statistically different from each other with regard to accuracy. Participants in the coaching condition are more satisfied with the Web site than participants in the traditional or speech-communication condition. In addition, there are no significant differences with respect to efficiency (time-on-task). This paper concludes with recommendations for usability practitioners.