IBIS-PH (Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health) Usability: Fall 2009

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 • Prototype Test Analyze • 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 responses and 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