To Inspect Or To Test? What Approach Provides Better Results When It Comes To Usability And Ux?

Companies are constantly striving to improve their products for satisfying customers. Evaluating the quality of these products concerning usability and User eXperience (UX) has become essential for obtaining an advantage over competing products. However, several evaluation methods exist, making it difficult to decide which to choose. This paper presents a comparison between usability inspection and testing methods and a UX evaluation. We investigated the extent to which each method allows identifying usability problems with efficiency and effectiveness. We also investigated whether there is a difference in UX ratings between inspectors and users. To do so, we evaluated a Web platform designed for a government traffic department. Inspectors used TUXEL to evaluate the usability and UX of the platform, while usability testing moderators employed Concurrent Think-Aloud and User Experience Questionnaire with users. The inspection method outperformed usability testing regarding effectiveness and efficiency while addressing most major problems that occurred in usability testing, even when considering only the results from novice inspectors. Finally, the UX evaluation revealed contrasting results. While inspectors evaluated the platform as neutral, reflecting the problems they identified, users, by contrast, rated it very positively, in contradiction to the problems they had during the interaction.