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Usability
Labs: Portable and Fixed
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more about:
Overview
Usability engineering
practitioners often find it valuable to record usability test sessions
in order to review and analyze observed participant performance after-the-fact.
The facilities used to do so vary greatly in capabilities, flexibility,
and cost — from a hand-held video camcorder to elaborate usability
labs containing the latest recording technologies. Typical audio-video
equipment found in usability labs include the following:
- One or more video
cameras to capture views of participant behavior (e.g., facial expressions,
hands, movements, posture)
- A scan converter
to capture (to video) the computer screen with which the participant
is interacting
- A video mixer
to combine these video sources into a split-screen or picture-in-picture
image
- One or more microphones
to capture the participantês voice and the test administratorês voice
- An audio mixer
to combine these audio inputs or an intercom to allow an interchange
between the test participant and the test administrator or other observers
- A video recorder
to store the output of the video mixer and the participant and test
administrator audio
- One or more video
monitors to display these video sources
- One or more speakers
to present the audio interchange to observers, both in real-time and
upon playback
Computer equipment
can include the computer system with which the test participant interacts
and a separate computer for use by the test administrator or other observer
in logging observational data.
Portable
labs
The aforementioned
capabilities are now available in portable units that can be readily
shipped and set up quickly at remote facilities. There are various packaging
approaches for these portable units, but all are intended to integrate
the audio-video components to an extent that minimizes set-up time and
maximizes durability. Interconnections among the basic audio-video components
are "hardwired," leaving the lab user to connect the equipment that
resides in the vicinity of the test participant with the equipment that
can reside some distance away (e.g., in an adjacent room), and the components
are mounted in the shipping case itself or in a structure that fits
in the shipping case. Portable labs usually include one or more small
video monitors, but may have outputs that can feed larger monitors if
they are available in the test environment. With the exception of thus
sometimes having to follow the action on relatively small displays,
portable labs have advanced to the point that there are few other compromises
in functionality entailed in their use.
Fixed
labs
Fixed labs, i.e.,
those with stationary equipment, often include the following additional
capabilities:
- Video cameras
mounted on the walls or ceiling, sometimes with pan-tilt-zoom controls
in order to follow participant movements
- Adjacent rooms
for the test participant and test administrator or observers, with
a viewing portal equipped with one-way glass
- Large video monitors
or projectors to accommodate groups of observers
- An auxiliary
computer monitor for observers that mirrors the computer monitor being
viewed by the participant
- Additional video
recorders to allow concurrent recordings in real-time or copying tapes
upon playback
- Video editing
equipment to support the production of "highlights" tapes
- Auxiliary keyboard
and mouse to allow control of the participantês computer from the
adjacent room
Benefits
of Using a Fixed vs. a Portable Usability Laboratory
•
Benefits
of a fixed lab:
- A fixed usability
lab has a separate room for note takers and observers. That allows
you to have more people at a usability test than you can have when
everyone is in the same room. Having room for observers is important
because seeing a usability test is such an eye-opening experience
that it often serves as a catalyst for changing attitudes about users
and about the importance of usability.
- It is easier
to do a formal usability test in a fixed usability lab. A formal usability
test is one in which you have the participant working alone and you
are taking quantitative data, such as time to complete a task, as
well as qualitative notes.
- Even if you are
doing informal usability testing (where a usability specialist sits
with the participant and you focus on qualitative notes), you may
want to tape record the session. Fixed labs have recording equipment
already set up. Fixed labs usually also have someone with the technical
knowledge to set up and maintain the recording equipment.
- A usability lab
can be a powerful statement. Even doing a test in one (not just building
one of your own) can be a highly visible reminder of the importance
of testing for usability. Sometimes, seeing a usability lab with its
space, rooms, equipment, etc. is what makes a manager or executive
realize that usability is a serious endeavor.
•
Benefits of a portable
lab:
- It may be more
difficult to schedule time in a fixed usability lab than to find a
conference or hotel room in which to set up a portable lab.
- It usually costs
more to rent a full-scale fixed usability lab than to rent a portable
lab.
- Some usability
specialists prefer to conduct usability testing in a more natural
environment. They consider the fixed usability lab to be too artificial
an environment.
- Some usability
specialists prefer to always use informal usability testing methods,
where the test administrator sits with the user and where the test
team concentrates on qualitative rather than quantitative data. You
can hold an informal usability test in a usability laboratory, but
you don't need the formal setting.
- The fixed lab
may not give you the flexibility you need in terms of where to hold
the usability tests.
A final
note:
You should be doing usability testing even if
you do not have a fixed laboratory or access to one. Do not let anyone
say, "We can't do usability testing because we do not have a usability
lab." Just do it! Do it in any space you can find.
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