Beyond Usability: A Methodology to Evaluate the Affective Experience of Interaction with E-Commerce Websites

Given the popularity of usability testing, why do people still feel uncomfortable interacting with websites? Could it be because usability testing does not address the user experience but rather tends to deal with efficiency and navigation but seldom with experience? The current implementation of usability research heavily relies on quantitative analysis when the nature of the issue is qualitative. Few studies have adequate scope to include both quantitative and qualitative analysis, while virtually no current Usability Evaluation Method (UEM) incorporates a qualitative component. Activity theory describes several elements involved in human activity. By incorporating Activity Theory with quantitative and qualitative measures of user experience, the designer will be better able to assess the affective impact of a website design.