Qualitative v. Quantitative

Statistics or Insights

Before we go straight into these usability test called user acceptance test, there's a bit of information needed to be explained. These test fall into two categories, we at Web Sushi call them objective results (quantitative/statistics results) and subjective results (qualitative/insights results). The renowned author and usability tester Jakob Nielsen has defined these as mentioned in between the parenthesis just read. On his Web site useit.com, he explains this information in depth, but don't worry, we can decipher the information for you right here.

More is better

The user acceptance test needs to have more results when the questions are subjective questions. These need to be a larger number of questions, opposite of the objective questions, due to the nature of the questions. In this way, the results are better established and defined because of the greater number of personal internal feelings or psychographic variances derived from those types of questions. Quantitative or statistical type of questions, if compared to qualitative questions, are located at the other end of the spectrum, therefore they are based on a more scientific, numerical standpoint, but don't be fooled says Author Jakob Nielsen. He states on his Web site useit.com, "In fact, most statistical research is less credible than qualitative studies. Design research is not like medical science: ethnography is its closest analogy in traditional fields of science."

Now, that we established how these test divides, we can start to talk about the different types of test. Grab your favorite drink, favorite snack, and enjoy the next batch of information because that's what you'll need when you read through this stuff. It'll be well worth it because this is the area that most people don't spend enough time in. It's seriously overlooked, so when you get through it all, you'll be loaded with enough ammo to change the Web world for the good.