What is Think Aloud?
During the course of a usability test, the test users are asked to verbalize their thoughts, feelings, and opinions while interacting with the system. It is very useful in capturing a wide range of cognitive activities. Two variations of thinking-aloud protocol technique are: • Critical response – This requires the user to be vocal only during the execution of certain predetermined subtasks. • Periodic report – This is used when the task is complex and makes it difficult for users to think aloud while performing the task at the same time. The user, therefore, verbalizes at predetermined intervals of time and describes what he/she is currently trying to achieve. The length of the interval depends upon the complexity of the task. This technique is very time consuming, so it is recommended for subdivisions of a task.
