SEVEN FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT USABILITY TESTING Usability Testing 101

“THE EVALUATION OF A PRODUCT’S USABILITY THROUGH DIRECT OBSERVATION OF USER BEAHVIOR DURING A STRUCTERD TASK.” USABILITY EVALUATION OR EVALUATION What is a Usability Test?

OUR CLASS OTHER SITUATIONS Fellow Classmates  Student  years old  Educated  In fields that view Technical Writing as a needed skill Representative sample of the user populations Varies depending on what one is testing Who are the Test Participants?

OUR CLASS OTHER SITUATIONS Test instructions Find usability issues Evaluate your design Users not necessarily like you Help people explain usability issues they can’t verbalize Why Usability Test?

TESTING A PRODUCT TESTING A PROCEDURE LOW FIDELITY STAGE – EARLY ON HIGH FIDELITY STAGE – END PRODUCT When to Usability Test?

OUR CLASS OTHER SITUATIONS Classroom (HC 3353)  Poorly controlled  Inexpensive  Convenient for user  Potential interruptions  Videotaping inconvenient  Third-party observations intrusive User’s environment Usability lab  Well controlled  Expensive  Inconvenient to user  No interruptions  Videotaping convenient  Third-party observations unintrusive  HC 8011 Where to Usability Test

1. COMPLETE PREREQUISITES 2. PLAN 3. DEVELOP MATERIALS 4. PILOT TEST 5. RECRUIT PARTICIPANTS 6. TEST 7. SUMMARIZE, ANALYZE, & REPORT FINDINGS How to Usability Test?

OUR CLASS OTHER SITUATIONS Observer briefing User introduction User or training documentation Test tasks Data collection sheet Posttest questionnaire Informed consent Non disclosure agreement Pretest questionnaire Test script Develop Materials

FACILITATOR ROLE QUESTIONS TO ASK Think aloud protocol Provide posttest Don’t lead or help Ask questions Avoid distracting user Take notes What are you thinking? Is that what you expected? What would you like to accomplish? Avoid*  Why? (encourages justification) Test Process

SUMMARIZE & ANALYZE REPORT Note time per task Errors Statistics like averages  It took approximately 15 minutes per person to complete task. Elements that worked Issues that arose Severity of issues Suggestions for improvement Summarize, Analyze, & Report

HOW TO BETTER INSTRUCTIONS MEMO Did I profile my audience well? Were my instructions successful? How can I adjust my instructions to make them more user- friendly? How was my audience analysis? What was the purpose for instructions? How did the usability testing process go? What course goals did I meet? Things to Think About During Test