using google analytics and think-aloud study for improving the information architecture of metu ...

193 Pages·2010·1.94 MB·English

USING GOOGLE ANALYTICS AND THINK-ALOUD STUDY FOR IMPROVING
THE INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE OF METU INFORMATICS INSTITUTE
WEBSITE: A CASE STUDY

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF INFORMATICS
OF
THE MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

SEHER DEMĐREL KÜTÜKÇÜ

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN
THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

SEPTEMBER 2010
Approval of the Graduate School of Informatics
____________________
Prof. Dr. Nazife Baykal
Director

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master
of Science.
________________________________
Assist. Prof. Dr. Tuğba Taşkaya Temizel
Head of Department

This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate,
in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science.

________________________________
Assist. Prof. Dr. Tuğba Taşkaya Temizel
Supervisor
Examining Committee Members
Assist. Prof. Dr. Erhan Eren (METU, IS) _____________________
Assist. Prof. Dr. Tuğba Taşkaya Temizel (METU, IS) _____________________
Dr. Ali Arifoğlu (METU, IS) _____________________
Assist. Prof. Dr. Sevgi Özkan (METU, IS) _____________________
Assist. Prof. Dr. Pınar Şenkul (METU, CENG) _____________________
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare
that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all
material and results that are not original to this work.

Name, Last name : Seher Demirel Kütükçü

Signature : ____________________

iii
ABSTRACT

USING GOOGLE ANALYTICS AND THINK-ALOUD STUDY FOR IMPROVING
THE INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE OF METU INFORMATICS INSTITUTE
WEBSITE: A CASE STUDY

Demirel Kütükçü, Seher
M.S., Department of Information Systems
Supervisor: Assist.Prof. Dr. Tuğba Taşkaya Temizel

September 2010, 176 pages

Today, web sites are important communication channels that reach a wide group of
people. Measuring the effectiveness of these web-sites has become a key issue for
researchers as well as practitioners. However, there is no consensus on how to define
web site effectiveness and which dimensions need to be used for the evaluation of these
web sites. This problem is more noteworthy for information driven web sites like
academic web sites. There is limited academic literature in this predominant application
area. The existing studies measured the effectiveness of these academic web sites by
taking into account their information architecture mostly using think-aloud
methodology. However, there is limited study on web analytics tools which are capable
of providing valuable information regarding the web site users such as their navigation
behaviours and browser details. Although web analytics tools provide detailed and
valuable information, the existing studies have utilized their very basic features.
iv
In this thesis, we have explored web analytic tools and think-aloud study method to
improve information architecture of web sites. Taking METU Informatics Institute web
site as a case study, we have used the reports of Google Analytics which is a commercial
web analytics tool owned by Google and think-aloud study results to improve the
information architecture of our case study web-site.

Keywords: Information Architecture, Web Analytics, Google Analytics, Landing Page
Optimization, Think-Aloud

v
ÖZ

ODTÜ ENFORMATĐK ENSTĐTÜSÜ WEB SAYFASININ BĐLGĐ MĐMARĐSĐNĐ
ĐYĐLEŞTĐRMEK ĐÇĐN GOOGLE ANALĐTĐK VE SESLĐ DÜŞÜN YÖNTEMĐNĐN
KULLANILMASI: ÖRNEK OLAY ÇALIŞMASI

Demirel Kütükçü, Seher
Yüksek Lisans, Bilişim Sistemleri Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Tuğba Taşkaya Temizel

Eylül 2010, 176 sayfa

Günümüzde web sayfaları birçok kişiye ulaşabilmek için önemli bir iletişim kanalıdır.
Bu web sayfalarının etkinliğini ölçmek araştırmacılar ve uygulayıcılar için kilit bir konu
haline gelmiştir. Fakat, web sayfası etkinliğinin nasıl tanımlanması gerektiği ve web
sayfalarını değerlendirirken hangi boyutların (dimension) kullanılması gerektiği
konusunda fikir birliği yoktur. Bu problem akademik web sayfaları gibi bilgi ağırlıklı
web sayfalarında daha dikkate değerdir. Uygulama ağırlıklı olan bu alanda, kısıtlı
akademik çalışma yer almaktadır. Mevcut çalışmalarda bu akademik web sitelerinin
başarısı bu sayfaların bilgi mimarileri dikkate alınarak çoğunlukla sesli-düşün yöntemi
kullanılarak ölçülmektedir. Fakat, gezinme davranışları ve kullanılan tarayıcı programı
detayları gibi web sayfası kullanıcılarına ait değerli bilgiler sunma kapasitesine sahip
web analitik araçları ile ilgili kısıtlı çalışma bulunmaktadır. Web analitik araçları detaylı
ve değerli bilgi sunmalarına karşın, mevcut çalışmalar bu araçların çok temel
özelliklerinden faydalanmaktadır.
vi
Bu tez çalışmasında, web sayfalarının bilgi mimarisini iyileştirmek için web analitik
araçlarını ve sesli-düşün yöntemini araştırdık. ODTÜ Enformatik Enstitüsü web
sayfasını örnek olay olarak ele alarak bu sayfanın bilgi mimarisini iyileştirmek amacıyla
Google firmasına ait ticari bir web analitik aracı olan Google analitik raporlarını ve
sesli-düşün çalışması sonuçlarını kullandık.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Bilgi Mimarisi, Web Analitik, Google Analitik, Açılış Sayfası
Optimizasyonu, Sesli Düşün
vii
DEDICATION

To the memory of my grandfather Ahmet Demirel,

viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This was a long study for me during which I got financial, technical and motivational
support from many people around me. I want to express sincere appreciation to Assist.
Prof. Dr. Tuğba Taşkaya Temizel for her guidance, insight and patience throughout the
research as my advisor. My financial support was from The Scientific and Technological
Research Council of Turkey (TUBĐTAK) without whom this study can not be finalized,
thanks for its support. I cannot forget the technical support of the Research Assistants
Süleyman Özarslan, Fatih Ömrüuzun and Đbrahim Arpacı, thanks for their cooperation.
My dear friends Birgül Çakır and Güliz Karaaslan worked like my secretariat for finding
participants to the think-aloud study, many thanks goes to them from me. Last thank
goes to my husband who really worked hard to test my motivation by asking me to go
out at every occasion.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. iv
ÖZ ................................................................................................................................ vi
DEDICATION............................................................................................................ viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................. ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... x
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... xiv
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... xvii
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................... 4
2.1 Website Evaluation ...................................................................................... 4
2.2 Information Architecture ............................................................................ 12
2.3 Landing Page Optimization ........................................................................ 16
2.4 Web Analytic Tools and Google Analytics ................................................. 17
2.4.1 Web Analytic Tools ...................................................................... 18
2.4.2 What is Google Analytics? ........................................................... 20
2.4.3 How does Google Analytics function? .......................................... 21
2.4.4 What Google Analytics can and cannot do? .................................. 22
2.4.5 What are dimension and metric and how to get reports in Google
Analytics? .................................................................................... 26
2.4.6 How Google Analytics is used and what results are obtained? ..... 29

x