The effect of task description detail on evaluator performance with cognitive walkthroughs

Abstract

Inspection-based evaluation techniques are popular because they can be fast, require limited formal training, and can find numerous usability problems. To speed the evaluation process and reduce the need for formal training in cognitive psychology, the cognitive walkthrough process was revised to incorporate detailed step-by-step task descriptions. This paper reports on a study that investigated the influence of this change. The results indicate that providing detailed step-by-step task descriptions significantly changes the types of problems found. These results should influence both future research and how practitioners apply this technique.