Added Value of In-Situ Methods in Usability Evaluation of a Self-service Ticketing Machine with a View on Elderly Users: A Case Study

Self-service systems are very common in the public space and usability plays a crucial role for user acceptance. We describe the evaluation of a self-service ticketing machine installed in trams in the city of Graz. Two in-situ methods (behavior observation, contextual interview) and an online survey were used. We discuss advantages of the different methods experienced in the present study according to effort and output. Unsurprisingly online survey was advantageous in terms of time effort. Concerning output, behavior observation identified the most issues with specific interface objects of all methods. Furthermore we were able to identify usage information about the user group of elderlies. Online survey provided a higher number of general issues with the machine and recommendations for change than the two in-situ methods. Further results are discussed and limitations of the study are described in the paper.

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