usability testing 101 - an introduction
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Elizabeth SnowdonBusiness / Web Analyst Consultant
eliz.snowdon@gmail.com
� Why does usability matter
� What is usability
� Planning a usability test
� Types of usability studies
� Q&A
� Senior Business / Web Analyst Consultant
� Over 10 years experience in high-technology companies leading software implementations, usability testing and web site design projects
� Conducting usability tests since 2003
� Contact Info◦ LinkedIn:ca.linkedin.com/in/elizabethsnowdon
◦ Email: eliz.snowdon@gmail.com
� Usability can save time, money and lives
� On the web, usability is a precondition for survival
� On commercial off the shelf software applications, usability can determine market share
Signs at the time of the March 2, 2007 bus accident
� Usability Professionals Association◦ Is an approach that incorporates direct user feedback throughout the development cycle in order to reduce costs and create products and tools that meet user needs
� Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think◦ “..making sure that something works well: that a person of average (or even below average) ability and experience can use the thing --- for it’s intended purpose without getting hopelessly frustrated”
� Increased productivity
� Decreased training and support costs
� Increased sales and revenues
� Reduced development time and costs
� Reduced maintenance costs
� Increased customer satisfaction
Source: UPA.org web site
� Focus on users’ needs, tasks, and goals
� Invest in initial research and requirements◦ Identify your target audience and observe them
◦ Let users define product requirements
� Iterative design process
� Observe real target users using the system
� is a technique used to evaluate a product by testing it on users.
� test users will try to complete typical tasks while observers watch, listen and takes notes.
� Goal ◦ identify any usability problems
◦ collect quantitative data on participants' performance
◦ determine participant's satisfaction with the product
1. Plan user tests
2. Conduct user tests
3. Analyze findings
4. Present findings
5. Modify and retest designs
� Purpose
� Problem statement/test objectives
� User profile
� Method (test design)
� Task list
� Test environment/equipment
� Test monitor role
� Evaluation measures (data to be collected)
� Report contents and presentation
Source: Rubin: "Handbook of Usability Testing", chapter 5
� Paper prototype
� HTML prototype
� Live site or application
� Competitor’s site or application
� Brand new site or application
� test early and test often
� identify problems before they get coded
� When validating claims regarding your product or against competitors
� during the development of a product
� to mould or improve the product
� Iterative
Output
� Usability problems and suggested fixes
� Highlight videos
� At the end of a development stage
� To measure or validate the usability of a product
� "How usable is this product"
� To compare against competitor products or usability metrics
� To generate data to support marketing claims about usability
Output
� Statistical measures of usability
� Reports or white papers
� Observe user behavior
� Listen to user feedback
� Facilitator stays quiet, observes, take notes
� Test one user at a time
� Mainly qualitative
� 6-8 users per test or 5 users spread over multiple tests
� little ROI in testing more than 9 users
Source:Jakob Nielsen
� Moderator / Note-taker ◦ Screen sharing: WebEx or web conferencing tool◦ Recording: Morae, Camtasia ◦ Speakerphone
� Participant◦ High speed internet access◦ Speakerphone or headset telephone
� for more info, go to Remote Testing Presentation http://bit.ly/7RYwSO
� Decide what to test◦ What are your objectives
� Recruit users◦ Who is your target audience?
◦ Write a screener
� Write tasks that meet your objectives
� Understand requirementsUnderstand requirementsUnderstand requirementsUnderstand requirements◦ What do usersusersusersusers want to accomplish?
◦ What does the companycompanycompanycompany want to accomplish?
� Determine the goalsDetermine the goalsDetermine the goalsDetermine the goals◦ What tasks does the web site or application support?
� Decide on the area of focus area of focus area of focus area of focus ◦ Tasks that have the most impact on your site
◦ Typical tasks
◦ Most critical tasks
� First impression questions◦ What is your impression of this home page or application?
� Exploratory task◦ Open-ended / research-oriented
� Directed tasks◦ Specific / answer-oriented
� Task success
� Task time
� Errors
� Efficiency◦ Number of steps required to perform a task
� Self-reported metrics◦ Likert scale
◦ Do you prefer A or B?
� Tullis, Albert (2009), Measuring the User Experience . � Rubin, Jeff (1994), Handbook of Usability Testing.� Usability.gov http://www.usability.gov/� Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/� Usability Professionals Association http://www.upassoc.org/
� Jeff Sauro – Quantitative Usability http://www.measuringusability.com/calc.php
� STC usability site http://www.stcsig.org/usability/
� Nielsen, Jakob, and Landauer, Thomas K.: "A mathematical model of the finding of usability problems," Proceedings of ACM INTERCHI'93 Conference (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 24-29 April 1993), pp. 206-213.
� Any questions?
� Feel free to contact me at eliz.snowdon@gmail.com if have any further questions or would like to explore the idea of setting up a usability test in your organization.
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