Erica Olmsted-Hawala
Social Science Analyst Researcher, U.S. Census Bureau
Erica Olmsted-Hawala has over 20 years’ experience in usability testing at the US Census Bureau where she works on usability evaluations of Web-based surveys and the data-rich Website highlighting Census information. She frequently leads usability studies on different facets of the Website and Web-based surveys, using the think-aloud protocol to elicit useful feedback from real users of the products. She has led a number of research projects, two of which have focused on think-aloud methodology. The results of this research have been presented at international conferences as well as in a webinar. She has a Master’s degree in Technical Communication.
My Sessions
Research driven think-aloud and cognitive probing protocols in user testing
Coral 1Think-aloud protocols are the primary technique used by usability professionals when conducting usability tests. The reason for using think-aloud protocols is because the test administrator cannot observe what the user is thinking. The usability professional hopes to get an understanding of the users’ expectations and expressions of surprise when things don’t go as expected. As […]