What Is a Cognitive Walkthrough?
| Panel | ||
|---|---|---|
|
How to Perform a Cognitive Walkthrough
1. Choose a user
- Choose a user from whose perspective you will perform the walkthrough. This may be easiest to do by selecting a persona - see UX Walkthrough Preparation and Execution for more information on this.
- If using a persona, ensure that the persona:
- is adequate to judge what knowledge the user may plausibly be expected to have
- specifies the particular needs, preferences, and limitations the user may have
- Note: separate walkthroughs may be needed for each persona or user type, although some issues will likely show up in more than one walkthrough, resulting in later walkthroughs going more quickly than earlier ones.
...
- Determine the specific result desired by the user and motivating the interaction
- Lay out the sequence of steps the user/persona should go through to accomplish their goal. (Information on defining goals can be found in UX Walkthrough Preparation and Execution).
3. Perform the tasks
Addressing Usability in a Cognitive Walkthrough
Work out the sequence of steps the user should go through, to accomplish the goal (see "Define the Goal & Tasks" above).
...
- Will the user know what to do at this step? Is complex problem solving needed to figure out what to do?
- If the user does the right thing, will they know that they did the right thing, and are making progress towards their goal? Is complex problem solving needed to interpret the feedback?
Addressing Accessibility in a Cognitive Walkthrough
An accessibility walkthrough follows procedure similar to the cognitive walkthrough described above, with the difference that the user has one of a number of disabilities such as low vision, blindness, impaired hearing, motor control limitations, or cognitive issues.
...