Using paper prototyping as a usability testing methodology for web application development

This research focuses on prototyping methodology by studying the usability of two different prototyping media: paper and web. My intent is to conduct a quantitative analysis while attempting to follow the structure of a formal experiment in the design of user sessions. The experiment involved six participants testing the usability of a web application prototype. Three conducted the usability test on a paper prototype while the rest used a web prototype. Although this was not a formal experiment, my planning and careful design of the user sessions enabled me to collect better data. Although the sample size is small, the data quality is high. By using a quantitative approach, this study indicates that both prototyping media generate similar usability results. With thematic analysis, a qualitative approach, the research indicates that paper prototype is not as effective as indicated by the quantitative approach and other researchers’ studies.