Bridging the Gap Between Academic Research and Pragmatic Needs in Usability: A Hybrid Approach to Usability Evaluation of Health Care Information Systems (Preprint)

Abstract

BackgroundTechnology is increasingly embedded into the full spectrum of healthcare. This movement has benefitted from the application of software development practices such as usability testing and agile development processes. These practices are frequently applied in both commercial/operational and academic settings, however the relative importance placed on rapid iteration, validity, reproducibility, generalizability and efficiency differs between the two settings and the needs and objectives of academic versus pragmatic usability evaluations. ObjectiveThis paper explores how usability evaluation typically varies on key dimensions (e.g., rapidity, validity, reproducibility) in pragmatic versus academic settings and proposes a hybrid approach aimed at satisfying both pragmatic and academic objectives. MethodsWe outline the characteristics of pragmatic versus academically-oriented usability testing in healthcare, describe the tensions and gaps resulting from differing contexts and goals, and present a model of this hybrid process along with two case studies of digital development projects in which we demonstrate this integrated approach to usability evaluation. ResultsCase studies illustrate design choices characteristic of our hybrid approach to usability evaluation. ConclusionsDesigned to leverage the strengths of both pragmatic and academically-focused usability studies, a hybrid approach allows new development projects to efficiently iterate and optimize from usability data while preserving the ability for these projects to produce deeper insights via thorough qualitative analysis to inform further tool development and usability research by way of academic-focused dissemination.