Usability Case Study Tool
June 7, 2006In response to the following prompt in your online journal in about 750 words: "Have you ever used like a case study in your own education? What did you think of the tool presented? What would you do differently? What else should be incorporated into a case study?"
I have never used a case study before, much less one presented in a format like the Usability Case Study Tool available on the site (http://ucs.ist.psu.edu/default.asp). The tool provides a linear overview of the development process of different designs that were constructed to aid the study of usability. It starts from requirements analysis, works its way to design and finally usability testing (through common scenarios using each design).
I think it would be wise to indicate somehow the depth of each case study and how much documentation there is for it. One only discovers this by traversing a hierarchy that makes all of them appear small initially. I would place at least a number next to each case study title indicating how many artifacts each contains. Even better, I would add a heading section that indicates how many artifacts each case contains, the different types, and allows the user to browse the artifacts by type. I might also add a search section since a user might be interested in a specific data that may be in the case study.
That was great feedback about what could be done to improve the case study library. My feedback to you is that you should be considering what artifacts/items are in the case study and what artifacts/items you are going to include in your own case study. Dose the case study set up fit the case study you are going to be creating? Figuring out your end research contribution will help determine what artifacts/items you are going to be developing and enable you to have a deeper look at the case study library you looked at. I hope to see some of that highlighted in your soon to be posted timeline write up.