Crash Course on Usability Testing

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Crash Course on Usability Testing

• Just the Basics

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Usability Testing is NOT...

• I showed my program to three different people
  and they all said it looked really, really good.

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Usability Testing- Definition

• Usability testing is a method by which users of a
  product are asked to perform certain tasks in an
  effort to measure the product's ease-of-use, task
  completion time, and the user's perception of the
  experience. Changes are made to the application
  based on the findings of the usability tests.
  Users are encouraged to think aloud to voice
  their every opinion. Usability testing is best
  performed in conjunction with a user-centered
  design process, a method by which a product is
  designed according to the needs and
  specifications of users.

Adopted from http//searchwebmanagement.techtarget
.com/sDefinition/0,,sid27_gci214526,00.html
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Information Given to Users

• Explain that their involvement is to solicit user
  feedback. Any problems are the fault of the
  software.
• Explain the confidentiality agreement, liability
  legalities, and that they are free to leave at
  any time (and still get paid!)
• Provide instructions (i.e., define the task)
• Do not explain the software

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What Questions to Ask?

• Depends on the phase of the development cycle --
  What can be changed? Conceptual model? Layout?
  Fonts?
• Questions should be prepared in advance on the
  major design issues
• There should be specific questions that the
  usability testing intends to answer. Usability
  testing has specific objectives!

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The Goal of Usability Testing

• The goal is to determine if the software meets
• Qualitative Usability Goals
• Quantitative Usability Goals

Adapted from Mayhew, Deborah J. (199) The
Usability Engineering Lifecycle
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Qualitative Goals - Examples

• The design must support users working in a
  high-interrupt environment, with lots of context
  information on screen to remind users where they
  are when they get distracted.
• The design must support very infrequent users of
  a very complex task. Thus, it must be
  self-explanatory, easy to learn and remember.

Adapted from Mayhew, Deborah J. (199) The
Usability Engineering Lifecycle
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Quantitative Goals - Examples

• Experienced users (defined as users who have
  performed the task five times in a training
  session) should take no longer than 15 seconds on
  average to address an email.
• Novice users (defined as first-time users) should
  take no longer than three minutes to complete the
  registration input form.

Adapted from Mayhew, Deborah J. (199) The
Usability Engineering Lifecycle
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When to ask questions?

• If you are worried about interrupting the task
  flow of your participant, then ask the question
  after the completion of the task.
• If you are worried about the participant
  forgetting their current thought process, then
  ask right away.

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Think Aloud Protocol

• During a usability test, instruct participants to
  verbalize their thoughts to think aloud. This
  is called think aloud protocol. The usability
  testers prompt participants by asking direct
  questions about the software, in order to
  understand their mental model of the system and
  the tasks, and where they have trouble in
  understanding and using the system.

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Co-discovery Method

• During a usability test, two participants perform
  tasks together while being observed. To increase
  the amount of communication and to gain insight
  to their thought processes, one participant is
  assigned the mouse and the other the keyboard.
  They are to help each other in the same manner as
  they would if they were working together to
  accomplish a common goal using the product.

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Summary

• Usability testing has specific objectives and
  specific questions you want answered (Showing the
  program to friends and asking if it is good is
  not usability testing!)
• There's a lot of role playing. You must create a
  scenario for the user and assign the user a task
  to complete. ("to use the software is not a
  reasonable task!)
• Do not explain what the software can do or how it
  works
• Instruct the user on the tasks they should do
• Anytime the user has a question, there is a
  design issue
• If there is a usability problem, it is the
  developer's problem, not the user's
• Think like a user, not a developer!

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Thank you