Advances in usability are directing developers towards creating a better and all around friendlier environment for users. Unlike when buying a physical product where you purchase it first and then experience its usability, web site usability is immediately present. So, if a site doesn't meet our needs, we as users, are quick to look elsewhere. Some research has suggested that fidelity makes no significant impact on users' ability to locate errors or problems in a web site. This paper is intends to investigate the interaction between fidelity and task vs. non-task user testing with regards to the types of problems experienced by users. The goal is to identify the most efficient types of user testing. User testing is conventionally designed to emulate typical user situations and tasks. However the goal of testing is to find all possible problems with the interface's design and correct or improve them. Asking users to perform typical tasks may not uncover all of these problems. Asking users to perform a non-task or browse the interface may provide additional information. And the interaction between fidelity and task should suggest that both types of tasks are needed at varying degrees of fidelity to ensure a quality user interface.
","abstract_html":"<p>Advances in usability are directing developers towards creating a better and all around friendlier environment for users. Unlike when buying a physical product where you purchase it first and then experience its usability, web site usability is immediately present. So, if a site doesn't meet our needs, we as users, are quick to look elsewhere. Some research has suggested that fidelity makes no significant impact on users' ability to locate errors or problems in a web site. This paper is intends to investigate the interaction between fidelity and task vs. non-task user testing with regards to the types of problems experienced by users. The goal is to identify the most efficient types of user testing. User testing is conventionally designed to emulate typical user situations and tasks. However the goal of testing is to find all possible problems with the interface's design and correct or improve them. Asking users to perform typical tasks may not uncover all of these problems. Asking users to perform a non-task or browse the interface may provide additional information. And the interaction between fidelity and task should suggest that both types of tasks are needed at varying degrees of fidelity to ensure a quality user interface.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Dolecal, Joshua R."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Human Factors & Systems","degree_level":"Thesis - Open Access","degree_discipline":"Human Factors and Systems","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dahai Liu","Christina M. Frederick","Remzi Seker"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2004,"date_issued":"2004-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2004-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:25:29Z","subjects":["fidelity level","task","usability","testing","Ergonomics","Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/44","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dahai Liu","Christina M. Frederick","Remzi Seker"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Dolecal, Joshua R."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Human Factors and Systems"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - Open Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Human Factors & Systems"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["fidelity level","task","usability","testing","Ergonomics","Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/44"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Advances in usability are directing developers towards creating a better and all around friendlier environment for users. Unlike when buying a physical product where you purchase it first and then experience its usability, web site usability is immediately present. So, if a site doesn't meet our needs, we as users, are quick to look elsewhere. Some research has suggested that fidelity makes no significant impact on users' ability to locate errors or problems in a web site. This paper is intends to investigate the interaction between fidelity and task vs. non-task user testing with regards to the types of problems experienced by users. The goal is to identify the most efficient types of user testing. User testing is conventionally designed to emulate typical user situations and tasks. However the goal of testing is to find all possible problems with the interface's design and correct or improve them. Asking users to perform typical tasks may not uncover all of these problems. Asking users to perform a non-task or browse the interface may provide additional information. And the interaction between fidelity and task should suggest that both types of tasks are needed at varying degrees of fidelity to ensure a quality user interface.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Study of Fidelity Level and Task/Non-Task Based Testing Scenarios on the Effectiveness of Usability Testing"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dahai Liu","Christina M. Frederick","Remzi Seker"],"dc:creator":["Dolecal, Joshua R."],"dc:description.abstract":["Advances in usability are directing developers towards creating a better and all around friendlier environment for users. Unlike when buying a physical product where you purchase it first and then experience its usability, web site usability is immediately present. So, if a site doesn't meet our needs, we as users, are quick to look elsewhere. Some research has suggested that fidelity makes no significant impact on users' ability to locate errors or problems in a web site. This paper is intends to investigate the interaction between fidelity and task vs. non-task user testing with regards to the types of problems experienced by users. The goal is to identify the most efficient types of user testing. User testing is conventionally designed to emulate typical user situations and tasks. However the goal of testing is to find all possible problems with the interface's design and correct or improve them. Asking users to perform typical tasks may not uncover all of these problems. Asking users to perform a non-task or browse the interface may provide additional information. And the interaction between fidelity and task should suggest that both types of tasks are needed at varying degrees of fidelity to ensure a quality user interface.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.erau.edu/db-theses/44"],"dc:subject":["fidelity level","task","usability","testing","Ergonomics","Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering"],"dc:title":["A Study of Fidelity Level and Task/Non-Task Based Testing Scenarios on the Effectiveness of Usability Testing"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Human Factors and Systems"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - Open Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Human Factors & Systems"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:25:29Z"}