Software Developers' Attitudes toward User-Centered Design.

The concepts of usability and user-centered design (UCD) have grown in popularity over the past 20 years as measured by the number of research and mainstream articles devoted to their discussion. As with all new developments, however, there are always the questions of how things work in practice compared to theory. A survey of 83 software developers, mostly in small- to medium-sized companies in variety of industries was conducted to examine software developers' views on UCD and usability practices and to illuminate how current practices relate to theory. Results of a descriptive analysis of the 22 Likert-scale attitude question items suggested that respondents had moderately positive attitudes towards UCD activities and discipline. The Likert-scale items were subsequently factor-analyzed and the results suggested that the respondents tended to agree that UCD is worth the effort and cost. They also tended to agree that it is important to conduct many use test sessions and they learned a lot about their products from user test sessions. Software developers who reported that their companies followed important UCD practices were more likely to agree with the view that UCD is worth the effort and cost. Those who have attended usability test sessions were more likely to agree that user test sessions are valuable, and that UCD is worth the effort and cost. However, those who have attended usability test sessions also were more likely to agree that UCD is more work and costs more than conventional development activities. Also, significantly more good usability practices were reported by software developers who worked on teams that either hired usability consultants or had a usability specialist on their teams compared with those who had no usability specialists at all. While software developers held positive attitudes towards UCD, it was notable that they did not report that their companies used practices that are central to UCD. It appears that, while many software developers agree that UCD is a good idea, it tends not to be implemented fully in practice. (Contains 18 references.) (Author/AEF)