1. "Think-Aloud" Usability Test NetSmartz.org Inquiry Topic: Child Online Safety & Parental Measures Presented by: Dixie Davis Laurie Miller Mark Pella Francis Tan EME 6635: Inquiry & Measurement Dr. Vanessa Dennen Spring 2008
2. Inquiry Background Increasing growth of children (ages 5-17) using the Internet for school and entertainment. Problem: Greater access to the Internet has exposed children to objectionable & dangerous content (pornography, predators, violence, identity theft). Question: What are parents doing to keep their children safe when they are using the Internet at home? How effective are these measures?
3.
4. Assess parental ability to locate materials concerning online safety for children using the Internet.
9. “Are you kidding me? HaHa. Where do I even begin?” “This looks like a crayon box threw-up.” – Test Subject A Test Findings
10. Test Subjects Three females, one male. Ages ranged from 34 (youngest) to 41 (oldest). Three with post graduate degrees, one a high school graduate. Two with IT backgrounds.
11. Success Rate: 100% All four subjects able to complete the three tasks. On average, testers spent nearly 6 minutes completing tasks. They spent the most time on Task 2: Finding Bulletin. All had initial difficulty finding either the bulletin or the safety pledges.
12. All initially had difficulty navigating the site. Quick Links – List of Popular Destinations only available from main page. Left-hand menu bar not intuitive. Ah found it! (Sigh) It is so well hidden!” – Test Subject B
13. Conclusions Test showed parents could use site to sign up for bulletin and download safety pledges. Website could include search box to allow items to be more easily found. “I don’t know if you’re looking for suggestions, but I wish they had a key word box.” – Subject C. Quick Links list could be included on all topic pages, not just main page.
14.
15. Maybe we should have done a hybrid of Retrospective and Concurrent Think Aloud Protocols instead of solely Concurrent Think Aloud Protocol.
