I. Introduction
Designing products for usability is crucial for the success of Taiwanese manufacturers competing in overseas markets such as the U.S. The advantages are many, with improvements to product branding, sales, and ultimately profits, and for the development of the Taiwanese export sector as whole. On the other hand, ignoring usability could mean lost competiveness, with increasing losses to the Taiwanese economy as a result.
To compete in overseas markets, Taiwanese companies need to understand their customers, and they need to know how to make their products usable for these customers.
Companies therefore need the answers to the following questions.
Do overseas users understand usability the same way as Taiwanese customers?
Do overseas users experience the same usability problems to the same degree as Taiwanese users?
Are common usability measurement tools effective in supporting Taiwanese usability evaluators who test products designed for overseas markets?
If not, what solutions may support Taiwanese designers of products for overseas markets?
To answer these questions, we need to examine the interaction of culture and usability.
This field of study is also called “culturability”, a term first coined by Barber and Badre (1998). Since its inception, the study of culturability has studied the use of a variety of products such as web sites, software, and consumer electronics, by users from a number of countries, particularly the U.S. and the Asian region, to identify the effect on usability as indicated by attributes such as product performance and user attitudes.
In the study of culturability, definitions of usability vary, but the ISO9241 definition of usability is perhaps one of the most commonly used in the HCI field (Clemmensen and Roese, 2010). ISO9241 defines usability in terms of usability attributes: effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction (ISO, 1998). This definition was applied in this study to help understand culture’s effect on usability in more detail. Each ISO9241-defined usability attribute was examined to identify the effect culture has on usability attributes and usability as a whole.
In addition, understanding culture’s effect on usability is of little use without a means of solving the usability problems behind any differences that may exist. So, to solve usability problems for overseas users, this dissertation also examined the usefulness of usability
measurement tools in cross-cultural situations, focusing especially on heuristic evaluations and severity rating methods. These usability evaluation methods were selected for study as they are both based largely on evaluator opinion, and hence may be likely than other methods to be influenced by culture.
Based on this research, a model of culturability was developed, based on previous research and the results of this study. This model shows the relationship between culture, usability factors, usability attributes, and the measurement of usability. In so doing, this dissertation hopes to both add to the field of culturability, and provide practical support to Taiwanese manufacturers of products aimed at overseas markets such as the U.S.
1.1 Research Background
Taiwan is a major producer of consumer electronic products, most of which are sold overseas. However, to succeed in international markets, Taiwanese companies must realize the importance of good design. Designing for usability is clearly one way to sharpen Taiwan’s competitive edge. Mayhew and Mantei (1994) describe
improvements in usability resulting in increased sales, improved branding, decreased training costs, and less need for after-sales support. However, if the same product in different countries differs in its effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction, then product designers need to be aware of these differing customer requirements and focus more on improving usability in a way that more effectively focuses on the usability requirements of the target market.
1.2 Research Motivation
The study of culture and usability has generally taken three approaches (Fitzgerald, 2004). The first is the cultural dimension approach, where quantifiable differences in attitudes due to culture are examined for their effect on usability. The second approach studies the effect on usability of features of product design which represent cultural values, such as a marker of social status on a web site. The final approach studies how users with different cultural values use the same product for different tasks. In these approaches, culture is typically represented by cultural values or dimensions. On the other hand, none of these approaches have a standard approach to the representation of usability.
The accurate representation of usability is a problem shared by usability literature as a whole, not just culturability. Hornbaek (2006), in his literature survey of 180
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studies into usability, suggests that usability may not always have been accurately measured. Similarly, Frandsen-Thorlacius et al. (Frandsen-Thorlacius, et al., 2009) suggest that many studies only focus on single indicators such as user preference or efficiency as an indicator of usability as a whole. However, as shown by Frøkjær et al.
(Frøkjær, et al., 2000), it cannot be certain that any single aspect of usability is correlated with usability as a whole.
It is important, therefore, when studying the effect of culture on usability, to consider the effect of culture on all aspects of usability – effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction. As well as the impact of culture on absolute values of usability attributes, the impact of culture on the relative values of usability attributes needs to be identified. Studies such as that of Frandsen-Thorlacius et al. (2009) suggest that
culture has an impact on the relative importance of usability attributes. By combining an understanding of how cultures weight usability differently with knowledge of differences in measures of usability attributes between cultures, we can more accurately focus product design on areas valued by overseas customers and avoid usability problems shown to be serious for overseas customers.
If culture influences usability and usability attributes, it is likely that it also influences usability evaluation. There is evidence that supports the idea that culture affects not only test subjects’ perception of usability, but also that of usability
evaluators (Clemmensen, et al., 2009), as well as the usability evaluation process (Shi and Clemmensen, 2008, Vatrapu and Pérez-Quiñones, 2006). It is likely that other aspects of the usability evaluation process which involve a high degree of subjectivity on the part of evaluators, such as heuristic evaluations and severity ratings, may also be influenced by culture. Inaccuracies in usability measurement caused by culture therefore, must be identified, as well as possible solutions to this problem.
1.3 Research Objective
The purpose of this research was, therefore, to identify how the cultural background of a user affects the usability of a product, and the evaluation of its usability. The study aimed to examine the effect of a user’s culture on the relative importance of these factors when determining overall usability, and as well as on their absolute values, and to more effectively measure and understand the usability
problems of Taiwanese-made products in a cross-cultural environment.
1.4 Research Method
To attain these objectives, four studies are carried out.
1. Users from different cultures were surveyed to determine the effect of culture on the relative importance of effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction.
2. The effect of culture on these aspects of usability was investigated by usability testing users from different cultures as they used a Taiwanese-made consumer electronic device.
3. The effect of culture on usability evaluation was indicated by comparing severity ratings made by Taiwanese usability evaluators with those of U.S. users.
4. The usefulness of heuristic evaluations as a means of discovering usability problems in a cross-cultural context was assessed by using two heuristic evaluations to identify the usability problems of Taiwanese-made software documentation.
1.5 Organization of Dissertation
The dissertation is organized into nine main parts.
1. Literature relating to the topic of culture and usability is reviewed in order to identify relevant definitions and models.
2. A model of culturability is proposed.
3. An appropriate methodology is discussed.
4. The influence culture has on the user’s relative valuation of efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction is examined.
5. The influence culture has on the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of the product is examined.
6. The severity of usability problems of Taiwanese made software documentation is measured using Taiwanese evaluators in order to identify a severity rating method that is both more effective and consistent with definitions of usability.
7. The effectiveness of using heuristic evaluations to identify usability problems of Taiwanese-made software documentation is measured based on a framework of usability attributes.
8. Results from research into the effect of culture on usability are summarized and discussed with regard to their implications for the model of usability proposed in this dissertation.
9. A conclusion to the dissertation is given.
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