Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas: assessing the validity of the Usability Evaluation Questionnaire

The validity of the Usability Evaluation questionnaire (version 1.1) should be assessed before suggesting the use of this tool to designers. The present study is aimed at assessing the validity of its three scales (Handling, Satisfaction, Attractiveness) using an experimental paradigm. One-hundred and sixty participants were requested to evaluate one instance of eight versions of the same website representing a combination of features (navigation aids, task completion, and appeal) and polarity of the features (presence/absence). Results show sensitivity of the Handling and Attractiveness scales. However, no sensitivity of the Satisfaction scale was found . This might be due to the lack of validity of this scale, or to the type of task that relied on extrinsic instead of intrinsic motivation.