Understanding the Usability Construct: User-perceived Usbility

The usability profession has seen success in industry and academia, as well as recognition in the popular press. However, inconsistent measurement, unreliable problem identification, inappropriate high-level goals, and a lack of valid metrics highlight recent usability literature. Rather than support or refute these findings, we offer a research introspection that we hope contributes to all of these issues by improving our basic understanding of the construct of usability. A Usability Concept Survey (UCS) containing 64 potential usability characteristics was created and administered to 46 users who rated how integral each characteristic was to usability. Multivariate analyses of these user perceptions were used to construct: 1) a taxonomy of usability to classify usability characteristics, 2) data-driven general dimensions of usability, 3) a map of usability space showing specific usability characteristics within the general dimensions; and, 4) a definition of usability. We believe this better understanding of the construct of usability can contribute directly to improving usability objectives, measures, and practice.