Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation

participant committed. As such, it makes little sense to subtract the number 
of correct answers given from the total number of errors. Instead, it was de-
cided to define the PTS Score as the number of incorrect answers provided 
in the post-test survey as this is more compatible with the aim of the re-
maining criteria. The criterion governing the number of tasks completed 
was reworded as the number of tasks 
not
completed . Figure 5 illustrates 
the graph with the new data. 
231
when calculating average scores for the Experimental group, the participant 
was treated as a non-scoring member of the group so that averages could be 
calculated on the basis of equal group numbers. 
“
”

---

Assessing Usability 
Figure 5: Usability Criteria Error Scores for Pilot Study Groups 
Implications for Experimental Design 
Over the course of the pilot study and during the subsequent analysis of the 
data, it became apparent that there were a number of areas relating to the 
design of the experiment that were either unsuitable, insufficiently refined 
or which were otherwise problematic. The problems encountered can be 
grouped under the broad categories of: 
Tasks
,
Data Collection
and 
Criteria
.
Tasks
There were a number of issues relating to the tasks to be performed as part 
of the test which gave rise to certain problems. The first problem was in re-
lation to the manner in which subjects were prepared for the tasks. Central 
to the entire test was the need for all participants to read the user guide for 
30 minutes. It emerged during the tests that 30 minutes was too long a pe-
riod of time. Having noted the average times spent by each subject, a pe-
riod of 20 minutes emerged as a more realistic period of time. 
Another problem with the length of time subjects should spend reading 
the user guide emerged during the session with subject P4. This participant 
failed to read the brochure provided as part of Session 1 and despite nu-
merous requests, this subject refused to read the user guide for the required 
period of time, arguing that this was not how the participant normally used 
a user guide. The participant was asked a number of times to read the user 
232

---

Experiment to Test the Impact of Iconic Linkage
guide but became agitated and defensive. Consequently, the participant did 
not read the guide and so was unable to complete any of the tasks. It is clear