Measuring User Rated Language Quality: Development and Validation of the User Interface Language Quality Survey (LQS)
Venue
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, vol. 86 (2015), pp. 1-10
Publication Year
2015
Authors
Javier A. Bargas-Avila, Florian Bruehlmann
BibTeX
Abstract
Written text plays a special role in user interfaces. Key information in
interaction elements and content are mostly conveyed through text. The global
context, where software has to run in multiple geographical and cultural regions,
requires software developers to translate their interfaces into many different
languages. This translation process is prone to errors – therefore the question of
how language quality can be measured is important. This article presents the
development of a questionnaire to measure user interface language quality (LQS).
After a first validation of the instrument with 843 participants, a final set of 10
items remained, which was tested again (N=690). The survey showed a high internal
consistency (Cronbach's α) of .82, acceptable discriminatory power coefficients
(.34 – .47), as well as a moderate average homogeneity of .36. The LQS also showed
moderate correlation to UMUX, an established usability metric (convergent
validity), and it successfully distinguished high and low language quality
(discriminative validity). The application to three different products (YouTube,
Google Analytics, Google AdWords) revealed similar key statistics, providing
evidence that this survey is product-independent. Meanwhile, the survey has been
translated and applied to more than 60 languages.
