Business Evaluation Methods

Business Evaluation Methods
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Task 1

The first assessed piece of this assignment is for you to provide a justification for the need to undertake evaluation of interactive systems.  Your justification should also indicate what evaluation is about, describe the different types of evaluation that can be undertaken and a brief critique of each of the different evaluation methods.  (E.g. Heuristic evaluation).  This will be approximately 2 – 3 sides of A4 maximum.
2.     Task 2

Identify and select appropriate user task goals for the evaluation. Using an appropriate task analysis technique, identify a range of typical task goals that users would use the device for. (Again if you should think of appropriate Use cases to help you identify appropriate tasks.) This will form the basis for your evaluation.  Typically you should identify between 5 – 10 tasks. (Your task analysis should consider, task frequency, task sequence, task criticality etc..)

3.    Task 3

Conduct a user profiling to identify the key characteristics of the intended users of your chosen device. This analysis will form the basis for your evaluation on, for example, the appropriateness of the device for the intended user group against their typical characteristics.

4.    Task 4

Provide a usability specification to enable you to evaluate the device against the specification.  You should aim to have 6 – 10 usability/ user experience goals

5.    Task 5

Undertake an evaluation of the device using an appropriate evaluation technique(s) (eg Heuristic evaluation, observation of users etc. )   Part of this task will be designing forms etc  to capture your results.

6.    Task 6

Once you have undertaken your evaluation you are then required to begin the process of analysing your results and then preparing them for dissemination to a wide audience of people who may be interested in your findings. (Users, retailers, developers etc.). This is a key part of the assignment and again you have complete freedom and flexibility over how you might wish to communicate your results.  Examples that you might wish to consider include:-

•    Producing a short  ‘You Tube’ type video highlighting  issues with the device and summarising your results
•    Preparing a ‘TechRadar’ type web based report
•    Producing a ‘Powerpoint’ type presentation. (You may be required to present it.)
•    A short evaluation report with an executive summary of your key findings
As stated above, it is entirely your choice but the key point is that, whichever method you choose, you are able to clearly communicate the results of your findings in a way that those who would be interested in your study can readily understand.   The results and presentation of your evaluation will need to be concise but highly relevant, useful, informative, meaningful and relevant.  (You need to think about being able to convey your results to your audience within a maximum of 4 -10 minutes, whichever form of presentation you decide to use. (You have only a limited amount of time to impress!!)