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Methods for Designing Usable Web Sites - conducting and using usability tests

Conducting and Using Usability Tests

Overview

What Is Usability Testing?

Usability testing encompasses a range of methods for identifying how users actually interact with a prototype or a complete site. In a typical approach, users — one at a time or two working together — use the Web site to perform tasks, while one or more people watch, listen, and take notes.

Testing Goals

The goal of usability testing is to find out what is and is not working well on the site (or other product or service). In a usability test, you usually want to answer questions like these:

  • Do users complete a task successfully?
  • If so, how fast do they do each task?
  • Is that fast enough to satisfy them?
  • What paths do they take in trying?
  • Do those paths seem efficient enough to them?
  • Where do they stumble?— What problems do they have?— Where do they get confused?
  • What words or paths are they looking for that are not now on the site?

Types of Questions to Ask

You might also have more specific questions that are related to your site. For example:

  • Do users realize, without being told, whose site they are working with — just from looking at the home page?
  • Do users click through pages or do they use Search?
  • What words do they try in Search?
  • What do they choose from the Search results?
  • How do they react to the download time for specific pages?
  • If they abandon a shopping cart before buying, when do they stop and why?

Iterative Testing Works Best

Usability testing is an iterative process that involves testing the site and then using the test results to change the site to better meet users' needs. The best process is to try out a prototype with a few users, fix it, and test it again.

Read more about:

Also see the sections on usability testing in Usability Basics.

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What to Call It: Testing? Evaluation? Try Out?

In the usability community, this technique is called "usability testing." For users, however, "testing" often has negative connotations. We don't want users to think that we are testing them. They are helping us test the site. If something goes wrong, we fix the site — we don't (and can't) fix the users.

It helps if you make sure you always think of the testing that way. Think "how well is the site allowing the users to meet their goals" rather than "how well do the users do on the site."

But it may help even more if you change the word "testing" even in your own mind. Some usability specialists like "usability evaluation" — even though it is a longer word than "testing" — because it is softer.

An even better choice might be "try out." We are asking users to come "try out" or "test drive" a draft version of the site.

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What Are the Steps in Usability Testing and in Using the Results?

Under each step, we list some questions or guidelines to consider in carrying out that step.

1. Plan scope, issues, participants, location, budget

  • What are you going to test?
  • What concerns do you have about the site that you want to test?
  • Which users should participate in the test?
  • Where will you conduct the test? In a fixed laboratory? In a conference room or other space with a portable lab? In a conference room or other space but without any recording equipment? Remotely?
  • What is your budget for testing?

For information on fixed labs, portable labs, and recording equipment, see Usability Labs.

For information on remote usability testing, see http://research.cs.vt.edu/usability/projects/remote%20evaln/
remote%20evaln.htm

2. Develop scenarios

  • Select relevant tasks for users to try.
  • Prepare, try out, and refine scenarios for those tasks.
    Note: Make sure the scenarios are clearly written and not too much of a challenge for the allotted test time.

3. Recruit test participants

4. Conduct usability testing

  • Have a trained facilitator interact with the user.
  • Have trained observers watch, listen, and take notes.
  • Make sure participants know that they are helping by trying out the Web site; the site is being tested, not them.
  • Get participants to think aloud as they work.
  • Let participants express their reactions.
  • Listen! Do not lead. Be sure to stay neutral in your words and body language. Be careful not to ask leading questions that may skew the participants' responses.
  • Take detailed, useful notes concentrating on observations of behavior rather than inferences.

5. Make good use of the test results

  • Compile the data from all participants.
  • List the problems that participants had.
  • Sort the problems by priority and frequency of the problem.
  • Develop solutions. Get expert advice if the solutions are not obvious.
  • Fix the problems.
  • Test the revised version to ensure you made the right design decisions.

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Links to Related Articles About Usability Testing

A Usability Test Storyboard, Grant Consulting, http://www.grantconsulting.com/usability_storyboard/index.htm

User Testing, Jennifer Fleming, http://www.ahref.com/guides/design/199806/0615jef.html

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Links to Related Articles About Using Test Results

Web Usability: Observed Problems and Solutions, MIT Libraries, http://macfadden.mit.edu:9500/webgroup/usability/
results/solutions.html

How Usability-Focused Companies Think, User Interface Engineering,
http://world.std.com/~uieweb/focused.htm

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What's New

Moving Forms to the Web - Thursday-Friday, October 14-15, 2004

Goal Oriented Planning and Testing October 21, 2004

New Research-Based Guidelines Sorting Tool: Sort Guidelines by Importance, Strength of Evidence, and Other Options

What's New Archive

   
   
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