UEQ-S (User Experience Questionnaire - Short Version)

What Is UEQ-S?

UEQ-S is a questionnaire method for conveniently measuring the quality of user experience (UX) of a product or service. With just 8 questions, you can objectively quantify how good or bad the experience was.

Difference from the SD Method

• SD method → Measures the "impression" of a work (bright, flashy, natural, etc.)
• UEQ-S → Measures the "quality of the experience" of a work (easy to use, interesting, novel, etc.)

The SD method asks "what does it feel like?" while UEQ-S asks "how was it to use?"

What Is UX (User Experience)?

UX is the overall quality of a user's experience with a product or service. Consider a smartphone app as an example:

Usability (Pragmatic Quality)

• Menus are easy to understand
• You do not get lost navigating
• You can accomplish what you want quickly

Enjoyment and Appeal (Hedonic Quality)

• The design is attractive
• Using it is fun
• It offers an experience you cannot get elsewhere

Good UX means these two dimensions are well balanced.

The 8 Question Items

UEQ-S asks respondents to rate 8 adjective pairs on a 7-point scale.

Pragmatic Quality Items (Items 1--4)

#	Left	Right	What It Measures
1	Obstructive	Supportive	Whether the work helps the user's actions
2	Complicated	Easy	Difficulty of operation and understanding
3	Inefficient	Efficient	Effort required to achieve the goal
4	Confusing	Clear	Clarity of controls and responses

Hedonic Quality Items (Items 5--8)

#	Left	Right	What It Measures
5	Boring	Exciting	How engaging and thrilling the experience is
6	Not interesting	Interesting	Whether it sparks curiosity
7	Conventional	Inventive	Novelty and originality
8	Usual	Leading edge	Sense of innovation

How Respondents Answer

Obstructive  o---o---o---o---o---o---o  Supportive
              1   2   3   4   5   6   7

For each item, select 1 if it feels close to the left adjective, 7 if close to the right.

Creating a Survey with Google Forms

Step 1: Create the Form

1. Open Google Forms
2. Select "Blank form"
3. Title: "UX Evaluation Survey for [Work Title]"
4. Add a description:

Please rate your experience with this work on each of the following items.
For each adjective pair, select the point closest to your experience.
Please respond intuitively -- do not overthink.

Step 2: Create the Questions

For each of the 8 adjective pairs:

1. Click the "Add question" (+) button
2. Change the question type to "Linear scale"
3. Set the scale from 1 to 7
4. Set the labels:
   • Label for 1: Left-side adjective
   • Label for 7: Right-side adjective
5. Turn on "Required"

Order Matters

Keep the UEQ-S questions in the order listed above. This format has been validated through research, and changing the order may affect the validity of the results.

Data Analysis Steps

Step 1: Download the Data

1. Open the "Responses" tab in Google Forms
2. Click the spreadsheet icon
3. Go to File → Download → Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)

Step 2: Convert Scores

Convert the response values (1--7) to UEQ-S analysis scores (-3 to +3).

Conversion formula: response value - 4 = score

Response	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Score	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3

About Negative-Left Items

Items 1--4 (pragmatic quality) have the negative adjective on the left, so the conversion works straightforwardly. Items 5--8 (hedonic quality) follow the same pattern.

However, if you use the official analysis sheet, the conversion is handled automatically, so you can skip this step.

Step 3: Use the Analysis Sheet (Recommended)

An official Excel analysis sheet is available for UEQ-S.

1. Open the analysis sheet (distributed in class or download from the UEQ website)
2. Duplicate the sheet before use
3. Paste the response data (1--7 values) into the "Data" sheet
4. The "Results" sheet will automatically generate graphs

Step 4: Interpreting the Results

The analysis sheet generates graphs that include:

Average Score Graph

              -3   -2   -1    0   +1   +2   +3
              |    |    |    |    |    |    |
Pragmatic PQ  ─────────────────────■■■■■─────
Hedonic   HQ  ──────────────────────────■■■■■
Overall       ───────────────────────■■■■──

• +1.0 or above: Positive evaluation
• -1.0 to +1.0: Neutral
• -1.0 or below: Negative evaluation

Benchmark Comparison

The analysis sheet includes benchmark data from other products' UEQ-S results, allowing you to compare your work.

Benchmark Category	Meaning
Excellent	Top 10%
Good	Top 25%
Above Average	Top 50%
Below Average	Bottom 50%
Bad	Bottom 25%

Interpreting the Results

High Pragmatic Quality (PQ)

→ Operation was intuitive and easy to understand

Low Pragmatic Quality (PQ)

→ Operation was confusing; responses did not match expectations → Improvements: Add operating instructions to the caption, adjust sensor sensitivity

High Hedonic Quality (HQ)

→ The experience was novel, interesting, and exciting

Low Hedonic Quality (HQ)

→ The experience felt generic or unremarkable → Improvements: Add surprise to the interaction, enhance the audio design

PQ and HQ Balance

Pattern	Interpretation	Improvement Direction
PQ high, HQ high	Ideal experience	Maintain and polish further
PQ high, HQ low	Easy to use but boring	Add creative elements and surprise
PQ low, HQ high	Interesting but hard to use	Improve usability, add guidance
PQ low, HQ low	Needs major improvement	Reconsider the core concept

Summarizing in Slides

Summarize your analysis on 1--2 slides:

Slide 1: UEQ-S Results Graph

• Pragmatic quality and hedonic quality score graph
• Benchmark comparison (if available)
• Number of respondents

Slide 2: Discussion

• PQ/HQ balance interpretation
• Notably high or low items
• Improvement ideas