A Three-Level Aggregation Model for Evaluating Software Usability by Fuzzy Logic

Abstract

Rapid deployment of IT brings about new issues with software usability measurement. Usability is based on users' experience and is strongly subjective, having a qualitative character. The users' comfort is usually collected by surveys in their daily work. The present article stems from an experimental study related to the evaluation of the usability of tools by a rule-based system. The work suggests a robust computational model that will be able to avoid the main problems arising from the experimental study (a large and less-legible rule base) and to deal with the vagueness of IT user experience, different levels of skills and various numbers of filled questionnaires in different departments. The computational model is based on three hierarchical levels of aggregation supported by fuzzy logic. Choices for the most suitable aggregation functions in each level are advocated and illustrated with examples. The number of questions and granularity of answers in this approach can be adjusted to each user group, which could reduce the response burden and errors. Finally, the paper briefly describes further possibilities of the suggested approach.