Effectiveness of embodied evaluation of mobile applications: A qualitative study

Abstract

As a consequence of technological advances, the number of devices has increased, with the emergence of different smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches present in both personal and professional activities. As a result, mobile applications have been developed, and with them comes the need for techniques and methods that provide support for conducting evaluation and prototyping since the current approaches are limited and cannot support the complexity and the need for understanding the context. The overall goal of the study is to evaluate the applicability of adopting a situated and embodied approach to mobile application usability testing. The aspects of postmodern and phenomenological approaches were taken into consideration. The study was conducted using the technique of digital ethnography, in particular the re-enactment technique, combined with qualitative research techniques to capture the evidence that the situated and embodied approach allows for capturing the perceptions and experience of the participants about the use of the application under evaluation. As motivation, there is the theoretical and methodological evolution and contribution and the proof that the postmodern and situated approach allows us to evaluate the usability of mobile applications in a complete way, considering the context and the user experience. The results show aspects of experience, reflections, perceptions, contingencies, practices, and meanings that go beyond the complexity of interactions and context with the use of the application, reinforcing the effectiveness of the use of the situated prototyping approach.