Visualization Viewpoints: Evaluating Visualizations: Do Expert Reviews Work?

The article focuses on the relevance of visual display for users and experts views about the display system. Visualization research generates beautiful images and impressive interactive systems. But if the interaction is awkward or does not carefully considered users' needs, even the most well-intentioned and technically developed visual display will be ineffective. Formal laboratory user studies can effectively evaluate visualizations. Designing and running a controlled experiment requires substantial time and resources. A clear objective, controlled laboratory setting, and strict limited tasks are also essential. Researchers have successfully used alternative evaluation techniques in human-computer interaction, including focus groups, field studies, and expert reviews. These methods tend to produce qualitative results and require fewer participants than controlled experiments. While expert reviews can provide quick and valuable insight into usability problems, they should not be used exclusively and should not replace user studies. Expert reviews often identify different problems than tests with end users and could miss important usability issues. Furthermore, some of the so-called problems found by experts might not present difficulties for end users. Results of an expert review will depend on experts' qualifications, and opinions of experts are subjective and can vary. INSET: Conducting a Heuristic Evaluation..