Front End Development Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'card sorting' used for in front-end UX research?
- Sorting CSS style rules by specificity
- Understanding how users mentally categorize and group content or navigation items (Correct answer)
- Ranking bug severity in a project backlog
- Organizing JavaScript modules by load order
Correct answer: Understanding how users mentally categorize and group content or navigation items
Card sorting is a research technique where participants group topics written on cards to reveal users' mental models for organizing information.
Question 2: Which statistical concept is critical to ensure A/B test results are trustworthy and not due to chance?
- Color theory
- Statistical significance (Correct answer)
- Responsive breakpoints
- Semantic versioning
Correct answer: Statistical significance
Statistical significance (typically p < 0.05) confirms that the observed difference between A/B variants is unlikely to have occurred by random chance.
Question 3: What is 'tree testing' used to evaluate in front-end UX research?
- The performance of recursive DOM tree traversal algorithms
- How well users can navigate and find content within a site's information architecture (Correct answer)
- CSS specificity tree conflicts
- Component hierarchy in React applications
Correct answer: How well users can navigate and find content within a site's information architecture
Tree testing presents users with a text-only site structure and tasks, isolating the navigation from visual design to test IA effectiveness.
Question 4: What does 'Cumulative Layout Shift' (CLS) measure in Core Web Vitals research?
- Total number of DOM elements shifting during scroll
- The visual instability of a page as elements unexpectedly move during loading (Correct answer)
- The time for layout recalculations in CSS Flexbox
- Cumulative bytes transferred during page rendering
Correct answer: The visual instability of a page as elements unexpectedly move during loading
CLS quantifies how much page content unexpectedly shifts position during load, directly affecting user experience and Google's ranking signals.
Question 5: In heuristic evaluation, which of Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics addresses keeping users informed about what is happening?
- Error prevention
- Visibility of system status (Correct answer)
- Recognition rather than recall
- Flexibility and efficiency of use
Correct answer: Visibility of system status
Visibility of system status means the system should always keep users informed about what is going on through appropriate feedback in reasonable time.
Question 6: What is the primary advantage of remote user research over in-person lab testing?
- It provides more accurate eye-tracking data
- It allows access to a geographically diverse participant pool at lower cost (Correct answer)
- It eliminates the need for a research screener
- It automatically generates heatmaps
Correct answer: It allows access to a geographically diverse participant pool at lower cost
Remote research removes geographic barriers, enables recruitment of diverse participants, and significantly reduces logistical costs compared to in-person sessions.
Question 7: Which approach best describes 'guerrilla usability testing'?
- Testing a site without the company's knowledge to avoid bias
- Quick, informal usability tests conducted with conveniently available participants in public spaces (Correct answer)
- Automated Selenium tests run in stealth mode
- Security penetration testing of front-end forms
Correct answer: Quick, informal usability tests conducted with conveniently available participants in public spaces
Guerrilla testing involves approaching people in cafes, libraries, or other public spaces for quick, informal usability sessions to gather fast, low-cost insights.
Front End Development Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3
What is 'card sorting' used for in front-end UX research?