What does “Subjective” and “Objective” mean?
Subjective vs. objective A question that often arises during the planning of an experiment or a test is whether to obtain objective performance data or subjective data, e.g. data related to preference setting. Objective performance data are usually preferred for experiments. In addition, they are required for design evaluations whenever the evaluation criteria are objective. Unfortunately, however, objective measurements are frequently more difficult – even impossible – to carry out, and the process of collecting objective data is usually more time-consuming and costly. In contrast, subjective data may be obtained easily, quickly, and inexpensively. The subjective measurement technique also provides the only direct means for the assessment of user opinion and preferences. (Cushman & Rosenberg 1991) The sources of objective data that are frequently used in user trials can be divided into three categories (McClelland 1995): direct objective measurements of the user, directly recorded dat
