Evaluative Research

Testing of prototypes, products, or interfaces by users of a system in design development

• This gauges human expectations against a designed artifact, determining whether something is useful, usable, and desirable.
• Testing should collect performance measures such as task speed and accuracy and preference measures such as aesthetic and emotional response.
• Research of existing and competing products may be useful in early-stage design research, to inform new product development.
• Testing may be conducted in a lab setting or by people using products or prototypes in a real-world context.
• New crowdsourcing opportunities afford online testing by volunteers to assess how users are engaging with prototype interface designs and wireframes.
• Some forms of evaluation research such as cognitive walkthrough and heuristic evaluation use expert evaluators to assess products and interfaces.