Heuristic Evaluation / Cognitive Walkthrough
You must use the Cognitive Walkthrough methodology to go through the Office 365 interface and identify 15 usability issues (or good things) and write up a Usability Aspect Report (UAR) report for each identified issue. There are 10 common heuristics (also known as Neilson's 10), your reports should involve at least 5 of these heuristics. That is, all 15 reports should not be about a single heuristic, like "consistency and standards". I expect to see at least 5 heuristics mentioned in the reports.
Writeup
Writeups for this methodology will be shorter than for other methods since most of the writing is happening in the UAE reports. A skilled writer could cover the following in as little as 2 pages.
Your writeup must address the following points:
- Add the UAR writeups as an attachment (does not count towards page count).
- Describe the tasks you were attempting to undertake while doing the evaluation. Typically when doing a cognitive walkthrough the researcher will have a task in mind like posting a photo on a blog and then identify all the issues he/she spots while attempting to do the task. These tasks can be very simple. Describe the tasks you picked and why you picked them.
- Recommendations to the developer. For this section, imagine that you are writing a set of recommendations to the Office 365 calendar team based on your evaluation. What would you recommend they prioritize fixing first? What should they be aware of in the future?
- One paragraph reflection on the cognitive walkthrough you conducted. In your opinion what worked, what didn't, and how do you think you might make use of this in the future.
Resources
The following resources are good places to start looking for guidance on conducting a survey. There are many good resources on conducting interviews, find the ones that fit your needs to best.
