1. IBIS-PH (Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health) Usability: Fall 2009 Sam Vanous Ph.D. HMO Health Program Manager Utah Department of Health Office of Health Care Statistics

2. Why? Supposing is good, but finding out is better. - Samuel Clemens Know thy user, and you are not thy user. - Arnie Lund The most common user action on a Web site is to flee. - Edward Tufte

3. Early Examples 1963: The first mouse was usability tested 1981: XEROX usability tested (PARC) 1984: It took clients over an hour to install and print a check with Quicken –Took it to the street 1987 a usability lab was created for Windows 2.0

4. Usability Testing What exactly is Usability Testing? –Representative users try to accomplish typical tasks with the product, while staff watch, listen, and take notes. Very important: the product is being tested and not the users Usability testing allows designers to create products that are functional and intuitive for the users.

5. Usability Testing Why Usability Test? –Identify any usability problems –Collect data on participant’s performance –Determine participant’s satisfaction When should it be done? –Early and often PrototypeTestAnalyze Repeat as often as needed

6. Methods 20 Participants –Users 11 light users 6 medium users 3 heavy users –Recruitment 16 users from UDOH 4 users with no experience

7. Methods Script –Welcome –Computer/IBIS experience questions –Scenarios –Follow-up questions

8. Results Completion time Help (scenario 1) Publications (scenario 2) Home Page (scenario 3 - not discussed) Indicators (scenarios 4, 5, and 6) Query (scenario 7)

9. Completion Time: UDOH

10. Completion Time: Non-UDOH

11. Scenario 1: Help Varied responsesand navigation –Contents and Usage, About IBIS, Links, Help, and Contact Text driven and overwhelming Suggestions: –First time user button with consolidated information (contents, usage, and tutorials)

12. Home Page

13. Scenario 2: Publications Many users clicked News and Updates tab Light users had most difficulty When Publications tab chosen, task still was difficult. Search function: not as expected. Suggestions: Organize Publications as well as News and Updates to consolidate the two areas, or make them completely separate. A dedicated search engine for IBIS would be appreciated.

14. Publications

15. Scenarios 4, 5 and 6: Indicators Most found the information, but the manner in which they did it varied greatly Categorical index – very confusing Alphabetical index – easier to understand –Alphabet bar doesn’t pop, users scroll to correct letter Indicators are not organized by key word: smoking, diabetes, etc… Suggestions: clean language, change alphabet bar

16. Indicators

17. Scenario 7: Queries Designed to be the most difficult, especially for light users Many searched all over looking for the information: indicators (both indices), publications, queries Instead of searching for a target, they are exhausting all other options Survey list for queries posed the greatest problem, many did not know what was in each category If dataset given, query did not pose a problem Suggestions: simplify language, or describe in more detail (rollovers, pop-ups, etc…)

18. Queries

19. Outsider Perspective Used to see effects of language Indices were most troubling for those not familiar with health care Time was increased to accomplish tasks Indicators were rarely used, individuals did not know what they were Confirmed language is a barrier to ease of use

20. Post Questions Individuals are very pleased with IBIS Having all the information in one location that can be queried is useful The worst feature is the organization and difficulty finding what they are looking for