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I am conducting a usability test of my web application for my research. It's a one-page analytical dashboard. The question is, will I get any useful data from screen recording during the test?

Existing research work says that there is virtually no correlation between cursor movement (speed/click rate) and perceived usability of web-site. Since my dashboard contains just one page, I cannot track any navigation through screen recording. So, am I missing something, or there is indeed no point for me to do screen recording for this usability test?

I would appreciate any help/opinion on this! Thanks :)

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  • If you have the means to do so,tracking eye movement can give you alot of information about how the users perceive your website and how they choose to get the information they want.
    – downrep_nation
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 4:03
  • Thank you! I think, indeed, eye-tracking fits my study more since I need to see where participants try to find statistical info that they need on my page, so I have to see where they are looking, right?...if it makes any sense )))
    – Natasha
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 14:50
  • no problem! Eye tracking combined with mouse movement gives you even more information,showing hesitation and choice in one picture. Good luck on your research
    – downrep_nation
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 15:23

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I believe it depends on the kind of layout you want to test. this would be more useful to complex layouts (such as dashboards). Did usability testing with screen recording and it provided some insights and user pain points. For us what was particularly useful is the sequence in which users tried to do things. Give the user specific tasks and observe how they try to achieve them using your UI.

Added to the screen recording, asking the user to think out loud will help too.

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  • I think screen recording always adds something to the picture. If you tie what is happening on screen to what is happening on the audio it will give you better insights into things people don't understand properly. "Perceived Usabilty" is a very vague measure.
    – PhillipW
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 11:50
  • So, basically, cursor tracking IS helpful, but you never know what exactly you are looking for or what you get from it? I mean it's like qualitative data. You can't measure it, but it's still helpful :) Thanks for your ideas! I think I'll do cursor tracking and see what I get.
    – Natasha
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 15:04
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Click, nothing happens, click,click,click,click, cursor moves a bit, click, nothing happens, click, click, click, click to the old point.

You can gather this information with modern tools but they are also screen recording with datasets. It will give you some insights but these insights can be also collected during the session.

If you don't have any clear goals, or sequenced actions; it may be overkill but the business situation sometimes needs overkill technics :)

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  • Hehe, yeah, it does feel kinda like overkill! It's for my university research, not for business. So, the budget is very limited :) If our university's UXLab won't cooperate with me I think I'll pass on that overkill. Thanks :)
    – Natasha
    Commented Jul 27, 2015 at 14:55

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