This research will focus on the accessibility of websites for blind and partially sighted people. Websites must be user-friendly and easy to use for blind and partially sighted people.
Research Objectives
There is limited empirical evidence on the accessibility problems experienced, how the design of a particular website affects accessibility for blind and partially sighted people, and how the use of assistive technology affects the website when performing online tasks.
Scope of the study ...........................................................................................................5-6
What are the accessibility problems that blind and visually impaired people experience when interacting with selected websites. How does assistive technology used by blind and visually impaired people relate to the accessibility of websites and the performance of web-based tasks?
Importance/Significance of the Study
The literature survey will identify the many potential factors affecting website accessibility for the blind and visually impaired. How website design relates to accessibility issues for both experienced and visually impaired individuals.
Research Design and Methodology
Ethical Requirements
Representative Sampling
Data Analysis
Limitations of the Study
In order for blind and visually impaired individuals to access the Internet, these individuals usually have their own assistive technology (screen reader) or can use synthetic speech output or Braille, as well as non-keyboard typing systems (dictation software). Blind and visually impaired individuals may have difficulty reading information on websites with dark backgrounds.
Alternative technologies
- Augmented Cognition …………………………………………………...……30-32
- Haptic ……………………………………………………………………….....32-33
- HCI Design for visually impaired users ……………………………………..34-36
- Business benefits
- Technology benefits
- Usability benefits ............................................................................................36-37
- Society benefits ...............................................................................................37-40
The graphic design principles relate to section 2.6.4 'Designing accessible websites for the blind and visually impaired'. Therefore, the needs of each individual must be carefully examined to design websites that are accessible to the blind and visually impaired.
Research Methodology
Research Philosophies
- Positivist research
- Interpretive research
Positivist studies generally attempt to test theory in an attempt to increase predictive understanding of phenomena. According to Myers (2000), "interpretive studies assume that people create and connect their own objective and intersubjective meanings as they interact with the world around them."
Research problem
Research Questions
Empirical research
- Empirical research questions
Research Design
- Qualitative verses Quantitative studies
- Qualitative research
- Quantitative Research .....................................................................................46-47
- Action research
- Ethnographic research
- Grounded theory
- Case study research ......................................................................................48-49
- Experiments
- Surveys
- Methods and Techniques in Information Systems …………………….……..49-50
- Usability Inspection Method ........................................................................50-51
The usability inspection method that the researcher will use is user testing and 'think aloud'. Empirical research is conducted to answer a specific question or to test a hypothesis to help the researcher gain a better understanding of the study.
Strengths and weaknesses of research strategies
- Strengths of user test, observation and interview
- Weaknesses of user test, observation and interview
- Strengths and weakness of case study method
- Appropriate methods and techniques for this study
How should testing techniques be adapted to the needs of the participants; Would the study yield useful (that is, generalizable) data; and how the researcher will know whether the barriers encountered were due to the common software application, assistive technology, or unique characteristics of the individual user. The researcher chose this method to easily obtain information about various tasks while the participant was performing the user test. The interviews were selected to gain a better understanding of any issues the participant may have experienced that may not have been expressed during the user trial and observation.
This method was used to measure website accessibility in relation to several factors such as task completion and to determine how effective assistive technologies are in achieving accessibility. The researcher will also use this technique to make a thorough comparison with the findings of the user tests conducted.
Themes and categories
Data measurements
Research methodology
- User testing ....................................................................................................57-58
- The case study protocol ……………………………………………….........59-60
- Data analysis
T he method was chosen to enable the researcher to study the participants while conducting the user test. An interview was chosen to gain a better understanding of the tasks performed during the user test, for example problems that may be experienced, task satisfaction, etc. After that, questions are based on the tasks in the user test. asked how problems were encountered and how long it took to complete a task, etc.
The purpose of these questions is to relate it to the data obtained from the observation in order to better understand the user test findings. A pilot study was conducted to ensure that the formulated questions would produce the results the researcher was looking for and to determine whether a blind or visually impaired individual would be able to perform the user test tasks. However, when the participants showed signs of stress, the researcher gave an "instruction" to enable the user to continue.
This enabled the researcher to get greater feedback from the participant as to why they performed the given task in a particular way during the user test.
Case study research design .......................................................................................60-61
- Modes of analysis .........................................................................................63-64
Content categories will be set up to count the number of times these categories appear in the case study data. The researcher counts the number of occurrences based on the number of participants who experienced a particular problem. The researcher cannot analyze the data based on the number of times a particular problem occurs because the purpose of the study was to determine the number of people who experienced a specific problem and not the number of people who experienced a specific problem. Occasionally a problem was experienced.
The researcher also did not ask the participants in the interview how many times they experienced a specific problem, so that the content of an analysis could not be analyzed in relation to the number of occurrences of a certain type of problem. The researcher will then use correspondence analysis to determine if there are multivariate correlations in the data. Increasing the number of users does not allow finding more problems because the problems are related to the software, not to the users.
When testing the second user, the researcher will discover that the user does some of the same things as the first user, so there is some overlap in the findings.
Reliability and validity
- Reliability
- Validity
- Validity test
Even when the groups of users are very different, there will still be great similarities between the observations of the two groups. In testing multiple groups of different users, one does not need to include as many people from each group as one would in a single test of a single group of users. 3 users from each category if you are testing three or more groups of users (you always want at least 3 users to ensure you have covered the diversity of behavior within the group).
Is the extent to which an instrument measures what it purports to measure (Elasy and Gaddy, 1998). It refers to the extent to which the research results accurately represent the collected data. Is when the research results can be generalized or transferred to other contexts or environments.
Is identified when the scale discriminates against individuals who are known to be different, that is, they should score differently on the instrument.
Data collection methods
- Interview
- How did the researcher conduct the interview
- Observation with ‘think aloud’ protocol .........................................................69-71
Because the data is collected through observation, participants are asked to “think out loud,” telling the researcher what they are doing and why as they perform a variety of tasks. This method allows the researcher to directly observe the user when he/she uses a website. Observation was chosen because the researcher would be able to study the participants in their normal environment and thus generate practical and theoretical truths about human life based on the realities of everyday existence (Jorgensen, 1989).
The researcher has chosen the interview research method because it will enable the researcher to get the best results with this method due to the verbal interaction between the researcher and the participant. Interviews can be useful as a follow-up for some respondents, in this case to further investigate their responses from user testing. With easy data analysis, the researcher will be able to draw conclusions at a greater speed, and interviews and user testing are inexpensive.
Descriptive statistics by means of a frequency table to summarize the responses as frequency counts and percentages of the user test.
Triangulation ...........................................................................................................71-72
- Campus Facilities
Theoretical triangulation: Multiple theories and/or perspectives are used to interpret and interpret the data. The researcher will use the method of triangulation to obtain results through observation, user testing and interview. This limits the number of users per test and thus increases the time to perform a user test.
Ethical considerations
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………..72-73
The purpose of this chapter is to present the findings and analysis of the user testing, observation using the think aloud protocol and semi-structured interviews and automated web evaluation conducted in this study. The researcher's goal is to understand how blind and visually impaired individuals use a website with assistive technologies and whether the websites are accessible. The information-seeking behavior of people with visual impairment was examined in this study to develop a deeper insight and understanding into their interaction and experience with Internet resources.
A synopsis of the case studies
- Characterisation of website used in case study 1: Google
- Characterisation of website used in case study 2: OLS
- Characterisation of website used in case study 3: Woolworths
The researcher recorded the degree of visual impairment of each participant. For the study, these people had to participate in a user test and an interview. Blind and visually impaired people may have difficulty reading information on websites with a dark background. This shows that blind and visually impaired individuals need more time to complete a task compared to sighted users.
Many blind and partially sighted people prefer serif fonts such as Times New Roman or Helvetica. According to the Nielsen Norman Group (2001), "the Web is about three times easier for sighted users than for users who are blind or visually impaired." These figures clearly show how poorly the web is designed for people who are blind or visually impaired. The results revealed that many blind and visually impaired individuals experience technical and conceptual problems with website design.
From the table it can be seen that W oolworths and Computicket websites contained the most problems, as four out of four visually impaired participants using Zoom text experienced T P2 (images without ''ALT''). ext).The same participants also found Computicket a problem because this website also did not contain ''ALT'' text for the images. The QuickScan confirmed similar results of the issues raised by the user test participants. For example, blind and visually impaired people were dissatisfied with the organization of the Woolworths location.
Blind and partially sighted individuals in this study experienced technical and conceptual difficulties in designing a website. Blind and partially sighted individuals rely on online shopping sites to purchase food.
