Determining Priority of Ten Usability Heuristic Using Consistent Fuzzy Preference Relations

One of the most commonly used usability checking methods is heuristic evaluation. This method has ten usability principles called usability heuristics by involving experts as evaluators. In conducting heuristic evaluations, evaluation results have been found with the same severity ratings of several heuristic principles but have not been discussed by previous studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to calculate the level of importance/priority of the ten principles/criteria of usability heuristics. The method used in this study is consistent fuzzy preference relationship which is included in multi-criteria decision making. The results of this study obtained the importance/priority of the ten most commonly used usability heuristics. The order from highest priority to lowest priority is as follows: (1)visibility of system status, (2)user control and freedom, (3)consistency and standards, (4)compatibility between the system and the real world, (5)error prevention, (6)recognition rather than recall, (7)flexibility and efficiency of use, (8)help and documentation, (9)aesthetic and minimalist design, (10)helping users identify, diagnose and recover from errors.