The authors introduce a scale to measure the usability of print catalogs
(Catalog–Usability–Questionnaire, CUQ). Today, the usability of
interfaces is mainly tested via standardized–questionnaires or via less
standardized process–oriented verbal protocols. Standardized questionnaires
have the advantage of generating reasonable indices with quite low effort. In contrast,
process oriented verbal protocols offer the opportunity of gaining more thorough insights
into the interaction and the problems that might come up. While efficient standardized
methods for the measurement of online media with their non-linear structure already exist,
there are no such methods to measure the usability of linear structured offline media.
The objective of this paper and the conducted study was to adapt a scale to measure usability
of online shops to print catalogs in order to measure their usability. Therefore, a field study
(n = 60) and a laboratory experiment (n = 92) have been made to test the reliability and validity of the adapted scale.
Based on a literature review the paper presents three studies and their results concerning the reliability and
validity of the scale. The results show a good internal consistency (e.g. Cronbach’s alpha) and high validity for
the CUQ. The paper focused also on verbal protocols as a second method to evaluate print catalogs. In this case a
comparison has been carried out. Moreover, the CUQ was validated using the results of verbal protocols
Finally, implications for research and management will be discussed.
