UX Usability Testing for Emotional Engagement

This week marks the end of the usability testing. After the methodology document was written, it was necessary to test to see if the theory stood up to practice.

The testing was broken down into two phases. Phase One was an emotional engagement test. Research has shown that it is common in the advertising world to measure participant's emotional engagement level so they may be grouped into sets of high, medium and low emotional engagement. Doing so allows a greater understanding of the results gathered.

To measure baseline emotional engagement, users were shown adverts for three brands, whilst being video recorded. The video recording was then run through FaceReader 6 software which gave a readout on the emotional response of the participant, who were then grouped accordingly.

Originally it was proposed that a Neurosky Mind Reader would be used, which measures brain waves to gauge emotional engagement. However, the group had issues getting this to work. As a results, the FaceReader 6 software was used instead.

Phase Two of the testing was a standard usability test. Afterwards, however, the video recording made of the participants was run through the FaceReader 6 software to measure emotional engagement. The purpose of this was to see if participants grouped as high, medium or low engagement produced similar readings. If this was the case, it could be strongly argued that pre screening participants for their emotional engagement is worthwhile, and helps to contextualise the results gained from usability testing.

In addition to making participants watch adverts and partake in usability testing, participants were asked their thoughts on both the brands featured and their overall perception of brands general. This was measured before viewing the adverts, after viewing, and after UX usability testing.

Results of the testing will be analysed this coming week.

Emotional Engagement Technologies

The group has now tested both the Neurosky, Eye Tracker and Face Reader technologies. The FaceReader shows a range of emotions that the user experiences whilst being filmed. Problems were encountered with calibrating the software so that it measured neutral when the participant's expression was neutral. This was best evidenced by myself, when I used it the emotion that was read was 'angry' a lot of the time!

The FaceReader analyses a section of a recording of a person's face, showing what emotions they are currently displaying. However, it does not show how emotionally engaged a user is, which is want is more important for what we are trying to measure.

Tomorrow we hope to look at the technologies and make a decision as to which best serves our needs.

FaceReader

FaceReader 6 by Track Sys is a piece of software that uses a webcam to capture emotions a person is expressing. A demonstration of the software has been arranged so that the group can evaluate its suitability for the project. It's thought that if it works, it can help with establishing the kinds of emotions that users feel when both interacting with the websites and viewing the adverts.

http://www.tracksys.co.uk/product-details.php?id=20