Behavioural Indicators of Usability in Visual Analytics Dashboards

Mohammed Alhamadi, Hatim Alsayahani, Sarah Clinch, Markel Vigo*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Information presentation problems on interactive dashboards are known to hinder decision-making. Since a traditional user-centred approach to designing usable dashboards cannot fully satisfy user demands, needs and skills, we isolate behavioural indicators of usability when users conduct typical information-seeking and comparison tasks. In a first study (N=50), we identified strategies
derived from 486,435 interaction events logged in a controlled setting with synthetic dashboards. User models consisting of these user strategies and graph literacy produced strong signals indicating that usability was predictable. In a second study (N=65), we tested the initial insights on real-world dashboards. While most of our hypotheses were confirmed, graph literacy emerged as the best predictor of usability. Usability was better predicted in dashboards with problems, suggesting promising opportunities for automated usability
evaluation and real-time support for users struggling with visual analytics dashboards.
Original languageEnglish
JournalACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems
Early online date4 Feb 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 4 Feb 2025

Keywords

  • Human-centered computing
  • Visual analytics
  • Empirical studies in visualization
  • Information systems
  • Dashboards
  • Interactive Dashboards
  • Visual Analytics
  • Information Presentation
  • User Modelling
  • User Strategies
  • Graph Literacy
  • Usability

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