CFR Website Usability Survey Results
June 11, 2009
Introduction
The CFR Website Usability Survey results are in! The anonymous survey was available for four
weeks: April 27 through May 22. Unfortunately, of at least several hundred potential respondents
(CFR faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the general public), only 45 people completed the survey.
It was disappointing that no alumni or prospective students were included in this small sample. A bit
of good news, though, is that exactly half of the respondents are current students, so that group is
well-represented our sample.
The assumption I'm making about the low response rate is that most people are happy with our site
and don't have any strong feelings about it one way or the other. I think we can further assume that
this means the non-respondents are getting the information they need. Still, the wide variety of
constructive criticism we got from the people who made the effort to take the survey is greatly
appreciated, and worthy of consideration.
Results of Multiple-Choice Questions
(numbers given are counts, not percentages)
Please rate the CFR website in the following areas:
Excellent
Above Average Average
General
12
20
12
Appearance
Ease of
10
11
20
Use/Navigation
Relevance of
13
13
13
Information
Clarity of
11
16
13
Information
Overall
9
14
15
Satisfaction
Below Average
1
Poor
0
3
1
4
2
3
1
4
2
How often do you visit the CFR website?
Daily
10
Weekly
17
Monthly
14
Yearly
2
First Time
0
Other
2
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CFR Website Usability Survey Results
June 11, 2009
What is your relation to CFR, if any?
Alumni
0
Faculty
6
Staff
15
Current Student
22
Prospective Student
0
None
1
Other
0
How important do
Very Important
Important
No Preference
Not Important
Unnecessary 0
you feel the website is for accomplishing the College's mission?
32
11
1
1
As you can see, our site was rated quite highly by the respondents, with more than half indicating
Excellent or Above Average in all categories. Almost all visit the site monthly or more frequently, and
most were current students or staff. Significantly (but not unexpectedly), the vast majority of
respondents feel that the site is Very Important in accomplishing CFR's mission. (You might be
interested to know that the person who indicated No Preference for the importance question is a staff
member who visits the site yearly, and the person who indicated Not Important is a current student
who visits the site monthly.)
Summaries of Open-Ended Questions
The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of people who made the same or similar comments.
There is no order other than placing the comments made by more than one person at the top of each
list. My comments are in square brackets.
You may provide detail for any of your ratings from Question 1 in the box below:
POSITIVE
much better than/leaps and bounds above previous [website] (2)
beautiful website (1)
always interesting information (1)
particularly like the rotating pictures (1)
information relatively easy to find (1)
like the menu bar and dropdown links (1)
NEGATIVE
horizontal menus difficult to use without losing focus (5)
information is outdated (4)
many faculty pages not informative/need pictures (2)
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June 11, 2009
show more female faculty photos (1)
profile grad students and their research (1)
need to make it current/fun/engaging/cutting edge (1)
surprised that you think it's completed (1)
numerous problems (1)
need cool pictures (1)
black & white historic photos make college look dated (1)
show cool new research & technologies (1)
update computer research pages to match main page (1)
home page font too small; too much empty space (1)
Please tell us if there is anything that you particularly like or dislike about our website, or if you have
any suggestions for improvement:
(comments also made in previous section – usually by the same person - have been excluded)
LIKES
a lot of info about the college (2)
consistent look (1)
like links listed at both top & sides of page (1)
like the pictures that have been chosen/very pretty and help sell the college (3)
news & facts link on home page very up-to-date and readable (1)
well organized, overall
DISLIKES
need faculty/staff search option (by name or faculty area of interest) (1)
sadly bland – not dynamic (1)
more focus on research (1)
consider password-protecting some of CFR's internal materials (1)
make sure it catches the eye of the 18-year-old (1)
links to more video presentations/podcasts dealing with CFR curricula (1)
home page needs trees or fish or something somewhere (1)
more current events, etc., possibly internships (1)
research page - add paragraph to clarify links, & current CFR research facts ($ amts, etc.), photo (1)
Please tell us if there is any information you have looked for on our website that you couldn't find:
total research dollars (2)
amount granted to each research project (2)
research labs (one specifically states Analytical Soils Lab) (2)
outdated information [i.e., can't find current information] (one specific to list of grad students) (2)
information about cutting edge issues (for attracting students and educating the general public) (1)
digital booking for rooms (1)
MEH curriculum [but it is there] (1)
faculty codes (1)
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no easy link to RTI (1)
information about capstone projects (1)
links to some faculty pages [all faculty who have a page do have a link, as far as I know] (1)
study abroad, job, research, and volunteer opportunities (1)
current course websites (1)
Conclusions and Action Plan
Our overall ratings were high enough that we could certainly get by with the status quo, especially
given the fact that less than 15% of potential respondents (45 out of more than 300) completed the
survey. However, as the many thoughtful comments indicate, there are several areas in which we
can improve. A few things that stand out are:
•
•
•
do a better job keeping content up-to-date (especially faculty pages and photos)
make the site more interesting and engaging, including more/better photos
provide more information on current research
Though there were five negative comments about our horizontal menus, 5 out of 45 is still just 11%
of an already small sample. There was also one positive comment, so I don't think it would be worth
the trouble to replace them with dropdowns. (This is not a trivial task!) Perhaps if future user
feedback or usability testing so indicates, we can revisit this issue at that time.
Many of the comments made by only one person illustrate very good points, and certainly we should
tackle some of the issues raised as time permits (for example, one of my personal priorities – links to
current course websites), but they are of lower priority. We have to keep in mind how small the
sample size was, and while many respondents were passionate in their comments, we still can't
justify any significant investment of resources in addressing most of these issues.
Having discussed the above responses and comments with several Web Advisory Committee
members, I will work with appropriate CFR staff and faculty over the summer to make sure our site
content is as up-to-date as possible. Part of this process will include adding more photos and
replacing old ones. When the Committee meets during Autumn Quarter, we can decide if and how
more research information can be provided on the site.
Jon Diemer
CFR Webmaster/Web Advisory Committee Chair
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