General information about thinking aloud

“Thinking aloud” involves having the participants verbalise their thoughts while, for example, while using specific software, doing an exercise, etc. This allows, for example, the usability of software to be investigated by analysing in detail the problems that have arisen during the its use, or by investigating which learning and problem-solving strategies have been employed in tackling the exercise.

Usually, the statements of the participants are tape-recorded, transcribed (written down) and then  content-analysed using a category system.

The evaluator should record any problems, questions, help provided, etc. while the participants are thinking aloud. He or she should create as relaxing an atmosphere as possible and encourage the participant, if necessary (e.g. if there are long pauses), to express his or her ideas. After "thinking aloud" or using the program, the evaluator can conduct an interview, for example, to recapitulate any critical or unclear situation and to clarify outstanding questions.

Required resources

Depending on how many people participate in the study, how long each thinking-aloud session lasts and how detailed the recordings to be analysed are, the method can be very time-consuming. Each “thinking aloud” session takes approximately three times as long to transcribe as the actual session.

Advantages

The thinking aloud method allows a large amount of qualitative data to  be collected from a few participants. A detailed insight can be gained into how people handle software or how they tackle an exercise.

Disadvantages

One disadvantage of the method of thinking aloud can be that some participants experience difficulties in articulating their thoughts, that they feel self-conscious, or that they think to have to meet certain expectations.

Guidelines for the “thinking aloud” method

• On the page http://www.e-teaching.org/didaktik/qualitaet/usability/ (under the heading "Lautes Denken" [Thinking aloud]), you can download a German guide to the thinking aloud method by Uwe Frommann as a pdf file. This guide explains the concept and execution of the method as well as the handling of the data collected in detail.