Reliability and Validity of the Mobile Phone Usability Questionnaire (MPUQ)

This study was a follow-up to determine the psychometric quality of the usability questionnaire items derived from a previous study (Ryu and SmithJackson, 2005), and to find a subset of items that represents a higher measure of reliability and validity. To evaluate the items, the questionnaire was administered to a representative sample involving approximately 300 participants. The findings revealed a six-factor structure, including (1) Ease of learning and use, (2) Assistance with operation and problem solving, (3) Emotional aspect and multimedia capabilities, (4) Commands and minimal memory load, (5) Efficiency and control, and (6) Typical tasks for mobile phones. The appropriate 72 items constituted the Mobile Phone Usability Questionnaire (MPUQ), which evaluates the usability of mobile phones for the purpose of making decisions among competing variations in the end-user market, determining alternatives of prototypes during the development process, and evolving versions during an iterative design process.