End-User Evaluations

Abstract

The past few years have seen tremendous development in web technologies. A range of websites and mobile applications have been developed to support a variety of online activities. The ubiquitous nature and increasing complexity of technology mean that ensuring accessibility remains challenging. Accessibility evaluation refers to the process of examining a product and establishing the extent to which it supports accessibility through the identification of potential barriers. While accessibility guidelines can guide the development process and automated evaluation tools can assist in measuring conformance, they do not guarantee that products will be accessible in a live context. The most reliable way to evaluate the accessibility of a product is to conduct a study with representative users interacting with the product. This chapter outlines a range of methods which can be used to ensure that a product is designed to meet the requirements and specific needs of users, from the ideation phase to the design and iterative development. The strengths and weaknesses of each method are described, as well as the primary considerations to ensure that the results of a study are reliable and valid, and also participants are treated ethically. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the field as well as an examination of future trends such as how data from user studies can be used to influence the design of future accessibility guidelines to improve their efficacy.