This book broadly covers the field of human factors testing and evaluation (HFTE). The editors, Charlton and O'Brien, acknowledge in the preface that experts in a particular area will likely be frustrated by the lack of depth in the area of their interest. However, considering that deeper coverage can be found on many of the subjects in other books, the book is enjoyable and worthwhile reading. It is a nice compilation for someone who wants to gain broad exposure to different areas in the field.
The foreword by David Meister sets a philosophical and challenging tone and the first chapter by Meister and O'Brien gives a historical perspective with which to view the rest of the book. Meister speaks to the HFTE practitioner and researcher looking for appropriate methods for a particular situation, while challenging the HFTE community to work toward more predictive methods. He highlights the conflict set up by the desire for controlled experiments using objective measures with the apparent need and utility of the subjective measures that are indispensable for capturing the cognitive states of the test subjects/product users.
Much of the text is focused on methods for testing and evaluation. However, aside from the methods described, there is an underlying theme that care should be taken in shaping the research question. For example, an early chapter by Charlton and O'Brien focuses on the role of HFTE in systems development. In this chapter, there is acknowledgment that there is not a unified view of HFTE within the human factors community. The authors note that some factors in testing can be anticipated and planned and they refer to a paper on selecting measures for human factors research (Kantowitz, 1992). In that paper, there appears to be rather explicit disagreement, ironically, with Meister on the role of theory in deciding appropriate methods. In recognizing the absence of a unified view, the reader can gain valuable insight into the field that may help shape their research questions and the methods they select or choose to develop.
Many of the authors appear to have had knowledge of what others had contributed to this edited book. When something was mentioned in two different chapters, it was either covered in a different manner, referenced to the other chapter, or both. It appears that great care was taken in putting such finishing touches on the book.