[WEB4LIB] Focus groups and survey questions

[David King]

In my experience, focus groups and surveys find different information
than one finds with usability testing:

- Focus groups/surveys find what someone thinks they'd like to see in a
site
- usability testing finds what actually works on the site

I think that with focus groups and surveys, you'll be able to discover
some useful info about what content your group is hoping to see, and
what they generally like to use as far as navigation.

But usability testing is the place for discovering true usability of the
site. 20 people can say "no, I don't search that way" in a focus group -
but then those same 20 people would be able to use the search feature in
that same way, successfully, during a usability test... Just a lame
example here :-)

David King
Kansas City Public Library
816-701-3400, ext. 2503
davidking at kclibrary.org

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of MacKenzie Stewart
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 12:52 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Focus groups and survey questions

Dear Web4Lib readers - 

We are about to begin an evaluation of our Library web site. This Fall ,
we'll be working on ways to obtain useful information, including focus
groups and surveys. We are looking for feedback in regard to usability,
content and navigation specifically. 

Have others done anything similar ? Did you receive useful feedback ?

Thanks,
Mac
______________________________________________________________
MacKenzie Stewart, Digital Library Specialist, Digital Technologies
Group, Library, Information Services, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
02481
email: mstewart at wellesley.edu   ph.  781-283-2906    fax  781-283-3690
______________________________________________________________