Think-aloud protocol (or think-aloud protocols, or TAP) is a method used to gather data in
usability testingUsability testing is a technique used to evaluate a product by testing it on users. This can be seen as an irreplaceable usability practice, since it gives direct input on how real users use the system...
in product design and development, in
psychologyPsychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior...
and a range of social sciences (e.g., reading, writing and translation process research). The think-aloud method was developed by Clayton Lewis while he was at
IBMInternational Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM, is a multinational computer technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, Town of North Castle, New York, United States. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating...
, and is explained in
Task-Centered User Interface Design: A Practical Introduction by C.
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Think-aloud protocol (or think-aloud protocols, or TAP) is a method used to gather data in
usability testingUsability testing is a technique used to evaluate a product by testing it on users. This can be seen as an irreplaceable usability practice, since it gives direct input on how real users use the system...
in product design and development, in
psychologyPsychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior...
and a range of social sciences (e.g., reading, writing and translation process research). The think-aloud method was developed by Clayton Lewis while he was at
IBMInternational Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM, is a multinational computer technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, Town of North Castle, New York, United States. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating...
, and is explained in
Task-Centered User Interface Design: A Practical Introduction by C. Lewis and J. Rieman. The method was further refined by Ericsson & Simon (1980, 1987, 1993).
Think aloud protocols involve participants thinking aloud as they are performing a set of specified tasks. Users are asked to say whatever they are looking at, thinking, doing, and feeling, as they go about their task. This enables observers to see first-hand the process of task completion (rather than only its final product). Observers at such a test are asked to objectively take notes of everything that users say, without attempting to interpret their actions and words. Test sessions are often audio and video taped so that developers can go back and refer to what participants did, and how they reacted.
The purpose of this method is to make explicit what is implicitly present in subjects who are able to perform a specific task.
A related but slightly different data-gathering method is the
talk-aloud protocol. This involves participants only describing their action but not giving explanations. This method is thought to be more objective in that participants merely report how they go about completing a task rather than interpreting or justifying their actions (see the standard works by Ericsson & Simon).