Usability of health information portals: data

This dataset contains a survey instrument, statistical analysis and a Microsoft Access database which was generated when investigating the usability of health information portals as part of a discovery project which focused on smart information use. It is an output of an ARC Discovery Project where Monash University researchers Julie Fisher and Frada Burstein collected quantitative and qualitative data to investigate how you can more effectively develop health information portals from a user needs and values perspective. Previous research looking at web sites and an interest in the ad hoc way in which small businesses put their web sites together led to the development and validation of an instrument for teaching and research. A comprehensive study examining how you can more effectively develop health information portals from user needs resulted in the modification of the validated tool for use with health information web sites. 207 usability tests with 46 questions, where university students were the survey participants, were used to analyse three health information web sites. The responses generated quantitative data which was entered into SPSS for statistical analysis and qualitative data which was entered into a meta-matrix access database in order to generate reports. The dataset is an example of how a research instrument can be used as a teaching tool. Re-use could involve running a different set of statistical sets.