ABSTRACT:
The usability evaluation of mHealth apps is still a herculean task among researchers as evaluating the usability attributes of these apps require substantial efforts from a wide range of knowledge domains and prospective users. Most usability models possess many attributes that can be used to assess these apps but current techniques cannot effectively rank numerous qualitative and quantitative usability attributes simultaneously. Hence, the main objective of this work is to rank and prioritize the usability attributes embedded in a model for mobile app evaluation purposes. The model used was designed hierarchically based on the People at the Center of Mobile Application Development (PACMAD) model and the Integrated Measurement Model (IMM). Attributes were ranked using their priority weights based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Consistency of decision makers’ judgements was obtained using Saaty’s Eigen value and Eigen vector approach. Results of evaluation showed that efficiency and effectiveness had the highest priorities with 30% and 27% while satisfaction and user interface aesthetics had the lowest ranks with 6% and 5% respectively. Overall AHP group consensus results was 68%. In conclusion, it was established that the mathematical technique used is a powerful yet simple tool that has the ability to evaluate both the quantitative and qualitative usability attributes simultaneously. It is recommended that further studies extend the usability model used by increasing the number of usability attributes and for the evaluation to be done using other Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approaches and for the results obtained to be compared so as to be able to determine the differences or relationships between other MCDM techniques on usability models.
Keywords:
AHP, mHealth applications, MCDM, Usability models
