The evaluation of groupware has a long history; several researchers have investigated this research area and made attempts to develop evaluation methods. This paper aims to make a contribution to this research topic by introducing a groupware evaluation method called Team Usability Testing. The goal of this method is to evaluate the usability of real-time distributed groupware. The Team Usability Test consists of a combination of questionnaires, on-screen behaviour recordings and interviews. The data analysis is based on the mechanics of collaboration theoretical framework and involves communication analysis, behaviour analysis, and analysis of post-experiment interviews. A laboratory experiment and a field study constitute the two main phases of the creation of the usability testing method. In this paper, the results of the laboratory experiment and its implications for the field study will be discussed. According to the results, the Team Usability Test is able to explore team-level usability problems and contextual problems. The paper ends with the discussion of future field research considerations related to the possible application of the Team Usability Test in real-life work settings.

中文翻译：

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团队可用性测试的实证研究：实验室实验

群件的评价历史悠久；一些研究人员对这一研究领域进行了调查，并尝试开发评估方法。本文旨在通过介绍一种称为团队可用性测试的群件评估方法来为这一研究课题做出贡献。该方法的目标是评估实时分布式群件的可用性。团队可用性测试包括问卷、屏幕行为记录和访谈的组合。数据分析基于协作机制理论框架，涉及沟通分析、行为分析和实验后访谈分析。实验室实验和现场研究构成了可用性测试方法创建的两个主要阶段。在本文中，将讨论实验室实验的结果及其对实地研究的影响。根据结果​​，团队可用性测试能够探索团队级别的可用性问题和上下文问题。本文最后讨论了与团队可用性测试在现实工作环境中的可能应用相关的未来实地研究注意事项。