Cultural differences and usability evaluation: Individualistic and collectivistic participants compared
Hall, M., Jong, M. de, & Steehouder, M (2004). Cultural differences and usability evaluation: Individualistic and collectivistic participants compared. Technical Communication 51 (4), 489-503.
This article reports a study comparing members of collectivistic/high-context and individualistic/low-context cultures as participants in a Web usability test. Participants’ experiences and their feedback are analyzed for two current evaluation methods: retrospective think-aloud protocols and the plus-minus method. The results show that the plus-minus method reveals considerably fewer user problems when used in a collectivistic instead of an individualistic culture. Retrospective think-aloud protocols seem to be less susceptible to cultural bias, but differ in two respects: collectivistic participants tend to refrain from comments beyond the user role assigned to them, and express their comments more indirectly than individualistic participants. Implications for the methodology of usability testing are discussed.
This article won the Frank R. Smith Outstanding Journal Article Award granted by the STCfor the best article in Technical Communication in 2004.
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