Learning from Business and Industry

Thinking about Your WWW Site: Can It be Evaluated?

A survey of 1,000 commercial World Wide Web (WWW) sites was conducted by the University of Illinois at Chicago in May 1996. The survey attempted to categorize how the commercial sites were classified. Basic categories describing sites were:

• promotion of products or services,
• provision of data and information; and/or
• processing of business transactions.

These functional categories of sites were further described in terms of the "values" reflected in the creation of the site. These included such things as:

• timeliness within the context of a special sale, special offers, or product announcements;
• customization of database to items of interest;
• logistics including price lists, online catalogs, and online access (ordering system); and
• sensational purposes such as contests, sweepstakes, or giveaways.

The study conducted by James K. Ho revealed several interesting findings about how business is now using the WWW technology:

• To users, most of the sites are considered to be in the promotion category. Most of the strategies taken are traditional-in the logistics area- using product news, catalogs, and portfolios as the basic approach.
• The major difference, however, with the WWW marketing approach and that used in the mass media is that the user has better control over what he or she views.
• Commercial sites are using provision functions of sites much less than the promotion functions. Surprisingly, use of the WWW in processing business transactions is largely undeveloped.
• Approximately 95 percent of the 1,000 commercial sites studied included elements of logistical promotion. This is the most frequent use of commercial sites.

While this type of evaluation seems perhaps simplistic, Trochim (1996) has pointed out:

It is surprising given the importance of this technology and the resources that are being committed to implementing it [the World Wide Web], that there has been so little effort to date to evaluate it. There is a remarkable absence of studies that examine how websites are conceptualized, developed, and implemented, or that look at the effects of their use. In the haste to construct the World Wide Web we have simply not had the time to evaluate and reflect on how this technology is being accomplished and the effects it is having on the way we live, perform in our jobs, and interact with our environment.

Many challenges exist in trying to describe why websites are developed and in trying to determine if usage of the website is producing measurable and intended results. Generally, there is agreement that websites are developed to address one or more of the following:

• information dissemination,
• education and training,
• commerce and advertising,
• entertainment, and/or
• communications.

Specific ways in which websites can be evaluated for effectiveness depend on the: original design or concept for the site; the way in which the site's content information was developed; the manner through which the site was implemented using text, graphics, and other components; and the extent to which a site is appraised for effectiveness by its users.

Fitzelle and Trochim (1996) have studied factors related to university student's perceptions of useful, helpful websites. Characteristics identified by these users include such things as:

• the extent to which the site improves generic computing skills through the incorporation of such things as useful, related links to other websites; and involvement of users in contributing to a knowledge base.
• whether or not the website is updated regularly and is accessible (considered to be responsive to user's needs);
• the perception of information included on the website as being comprehensive;
• the ability of the website to link users with "experts" in the topical area(s) addressed by the website; and
• the extent to which the website is adaptable to different learning styles of the users.

NIDRR grantees should be aware of the different ways in which the utility of websites can be described and evaluated. Over half of all NIDRR grantees now maintain a website. Links are available through the NCCDR (Projects On_line) All grantees should incorporate evaluation of their website activities and its impact in their overall dissemination evaluation.

References

Ho, J. K. (1996). Evaluating the World Wide Web: A study of 1000 commercial sites [Online]. Available: http://www.uic.edu/~jimho/www1000.html

Fitzelle, G. & Trochim, W.K. (1996) Survey evaluation of web site instructional technology: Does it increase student learning? [Online]. Available: http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/webeval/webeval.htm

Trochim, W.K. (1996). Evaluating websites [Online]. Available: http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/webeval/webeval.htm

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