Usability Evaluation Methods for Software Development: A Systematic Mapping Review

Usability is currently one of the most important aspects of software quality. Developers are aware that if a software product does not meet user´s expectations regarding usability, the entire project might fail. For this reason, several usability evaluation methods have emerged and nowadays are employed from early phases of the software development process. However, the literature reports a wide range of techniques for this purpose. In this way, the choice of a suitable method for a particular scenario has become a difficult decision. Through a systematic mapping review about the use of usability evaluation methods in software development contexts, we have identified the most commonly used techniques. A total of 228 case studies were selected for this review. We found that (1) Questionnaire, (2) User Testing and (3) Heuristic Evaluation were the most frequent. This study is intended to be a guide for scholars in this area.