The heuristic evaluation process consists of 4 phases:

• The preparation phase
• The evaluation phase
• The discussion phase
• The documentation phase

At the very beginning of the heuristic evaluation process the preparation phase takes place where a meeting is conducted to plan the process ahead. This meeting does not have to take place with all participants but the evaluation has to be prepared so that the most important heuristics that are going to be used are decided on. It is also important to know which application scenarios there are and which tasks there are to be carried out within these scenarios. The individual tasks must be formulated and defined.

After the preparation phase comes the evaluation phase. The evaluation is carried out by individual experts using the documents made available. The evaluators can be groups of the design or development team but also individuals.

If there is more than one evaluator, all the evaluators meet for the discussion phase after of the evaluation phase. The aim here is to compare the findings and problems that have been found, and to merge these into a list. The severity of the problems are then assessed and, in some cases, even initial solutions can be proposed in this phase.

At the very end, the documentation phase takes place in which the results are summarised in a corresponding results document.

Source: “09-1 HCI Evaluation Inspections and Quantifications” 33:39 – 35:48, Vbrick Rev, uploaded by Claudia Müller-Birn, 16 June 2020, https://fu-berlin.eu.vbrickrev.com/#/videos/db88c409-3b9b-46a0-a0d2-2c514542afda.

Die Evaluation Settings können in zwei Bereiche aufgeteilt werde. Die Settings ohne Nutzerbeteiligung und die Setting mit Nutzerbeteiligung.

Die Settings ohne Nutzerbeteiligung besteht aus zwei Unterbereichen. Den Inspection methods und der Quantifications.

Inspection Methods: Bei dieser Variante muss das Verhalten des Nutzers prognostiziert werden um Usability-Probleme zu erkennen. Hier wird auf das Wissen über das Nutzerverhalten und über gute Nutzbarkeit gesetzt. Zu diesen Methoden zählen die Heuristic Evaluation und das Walkthrough.

Quantifications: Diese Variante ist eine Quantitative Analyse der Benutzeroberfläche mittels vordefinierter Modelle. Hierzu zählt das GOMS Keystroke Level Model.

Die Settings mit Nutzerbeteiligung können ebenfalls in zwei Unterbereiche eingeteilt werden. Hierbei handelt es sich um die Controlled Settings und die Natural Settings.

Controlled Settings: Diese Einstellung erlaubt es alle Faktoren vollständig zu kontrollieren. Die Umgebung kann manipuliert werden, um das Experiment so präzise wie möglich zu gestalten. Zu dieser Variante gehört das Usability Testing und Experiments.

Natural Settings: Bei dieser Variante gilt es nur zu beobachten wie die Probanden handeln. Es sollte nicht in das Handeln eingegriffen werden. Hierzu gehören Classical field testing, Synchronous remote usability testing und Asynchronous remote usability testing

Sources:

HCI 09-1 Evaluation: Inspections and Quantifications, Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller-Birn (https://git.imp.fu-berlin.de/hcc/hci1-sose-2020/-/wikis/lecture/09-1_HCI_Evaluation_Inspections_and_Quantifications.pdf)

HCI 09-2 Inspections: Cognitive Walkthrough, Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller-Birn (https://git.imp.fu-berlin.de/hcc/hci1-sose-2020/-/wikis/lecture/09-2_HCI_Cognitive_Walkthrough.pdf)

Cognitive Walkthrough is an evaluation method, more precisely a Usability Inspection, in which no user participates.
This method focuses on the learnability of an application and what actions a new user would take for a given task and document it.
Therefore a usability expert emphasizes with a potential user and carry-out the given tasks.
For the procedure you need:

• a description of the prototype of the interface
• a task description
• a list of the actions a user need to complete the task
• an idea of who the users will be and what experience they have

Also an Evaluator should have these 4 questions in mind:

• Will user know what sub-goal they want to achieve?
• Will user find the action in the interface?
• Will user recognize that it accomplishes the sub-goal?
• Will user understand the feedback of the action?

Quellen :
Video: Müller-Birn, C., Lecture 9-2, LU #8 – Evaluating Techniques I – Human-Computer Interaction I (fu-berlin.de), Start: 1:40 End: 8:26, retrieved 10.06.2021, 13:00
Slides: 09-2_HCI_Cognitive_Walkthrough (fu-berlin.de), p.3-5