Usability testing research framework: Case of Handicraft Web-Based System

In general, there are five common usability testing characteristics that may lead to the best practices in the usability testing. The five characteristics are (i) specific goals for each test, (ii) participants representing real users, (iii) participants doing real tasks, (iv) usability researcher observes and records what participants do and say and (v) usability researcher doing the data analysis, diagnoses the problems, and recommends changes. An innovative research methodology and experimental designs that accommodate to these characteristics may provide common understanding between academician and practitioner. The main objective of this study is to propose usability testing research framework that accommodates to these five common characteristics. The usability characteristics tested are based on (i) features, (ii) the user interface and also the (iii) performance and effectiveness. The case study involves using one-to-one usability testing of Handicraft Web-Based System with twenty potential users. By using this innovative usability testing research framework, the usability problems and solutions had been identified. This study may provide insights towards formalizing a rural transformation e-inclusion value chain framework in rural informatics field. Future work involves using different case study with different type of web applications to demonstrate the generalization and applicability of the proposed methodology.