Implementing GOMS Approach in User Research
Have you ever go on a website and got confused about how to use it? Or maybe you know how to use it but the steps are rather tedious and hard to remember? Well, If that’s the case, then the user flow of the website is not that great. Here I will be giving an example of a user flow on downloading documents based on a real website (which for everyone’s sake I will keep anonymous).
This website is an e-learning website. So there are courses that users can take and have videocalls with a tutor. One of its core features besides the videocall is downloading materials for self-learning, which will be our main Goal for this mini-project. We will use this feature for our experiment.
So first let’s take a look at the hi-fi prototype that I made as similar as possible to the real one (with some differences, of course) so that we can better understand the flow that they have going on, which we will call Method A:
By looking at picture 1, it doesn't look that complicated, right? There are only three in total. Here we assume that the dashboard is a schedule of their courses. However, it’s hard to understand the process that users go through as they go through the steps to accomplishing the goal of downloading a document. Aside from the positive side of the design, which is easy access to the video call sessions by making it part of the dashboard, the only confusion users may have is the fact that they wouldn't know that there are files they can download and self-learn unless they have done a session. Wouldn’t users want a shortcut to download these files?
But most importantly, by using Method A, how many operators do users need to go through in order to accomplish their goal? Below is the diagram for Method A.
The total of the operators in Picture 2 is 7 operators. In method A we can see that there is only 1 selection rule;
IF the goal is to download a document, AND with no considerations that the user either have a lesson to take at the time or not, THEN use method A (downloading a document by entering videocall room)
which means only 1 way to accomplish the goal. Rather harsh, don’t you think?
The Ikea Way
To put things into perspective, have you ever gone to Ikea or maybe heard of it? It’s a company originally from Sweden which sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances, and anything you need for your home and work. All with great pricing and amazing quality. Who doesn’t love that, right? Another unique thing about Ikea is its famous maze-like experience whereas a customer you can go through uniquely made dioramas and try out their products. You can sit down on sofas for a long time or even take a nap on it and no one would bother you. But what if you want to go out quickly or you just want to quickly go to the food court and eat? No worries! There are shortcuts created for any customers who want to skip some parts of the maze. Cool, right? As they say, it’s always nice to have more than 1 option…
By using Ikea as an example, how can we create another method so that users can have another option to accomplish their goal of downloading a document? Well, take a look at our options:
- Method B: Add a button on the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen called ‘materials’, where users have the option to read or just download the documents.
- Method C: When the three-dot ‘more’ button is tapped, there’s a pop up that not only has a ‘reschedule’ button but also a ‘download’ button.
- Method D: Add a ‘download’ button to the card, right beside the join button.
As you may have noticed, these methods all fulfill 2 new selection rules broken down from the first one which are;
1. IF the goal is to download a document, AND there’s no videocall session at the time, THEN use method B OR C OR D to immediately access download button
2. IF the goal is to download a document, AND there’s a videocall session at the time, THEN use method A to download a document by entering videocall room
Now the only question is, which one is the best method for this particular selection rule? Let’s take a look at the diagram below which explains more about how methods operate and do some comparisons.
From Picture 4 we can conclude:
- Method A has 7 operators
- Method B has 5 operators
- Method C has 5 operators, which is the same amount as Method B
- Method D has 3 operators
Just by looking at the number of operators, we can conclude that the best method to take as a shortcut is Method D and eliminate Method B (since there will no longer be a need for a page specialized for materials unless a preview of the document becomes an added feature, which is not the case) and Method C because Method D has the least number of operators, which could imply that it is the most simple and easy to access way of downloading a document. And finally we can finalize our selection rules;
1. IF the goal is to download a document, AND there’s no videocall session at the time, THEN use method D to immediately access download button
2. IF the goal is to download a document, AND there’s a videocall session at the time, THEN use method A to download a document by entering videocall room
And so my very last words written here is that the mini-project proves that the GOMS approach can really help us determine which is the most convenient and easy way for a user to accomplish a goal or a particular action as simple as downloading a document. With some tweaks, here is the final Hi-Fi Prototype for you to enjoy as a bonus for anyone who wants to see!
Link to Prototypes to interact with:
Resources:
19 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets of Ikea Employees by Jessica Hullinger
Research Methods for Human-Computer Interaction by Paul Cairns and Anna L. Cox
