August 27, 2010

Usability Testing

See also Remote Usability Testing; Mobile Usability Testing

Readings

updated 9/20

Kuniavsky, ch. 10

Rubin, Jeffrey, Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests. Wiley, 1994

(This book is worth buying — a classic — get the new edition, 2008.)

New edition has sample forms online — note in particular:

Chapter 05: Test Plans and Designs
A sample test plan including sections for overall objectives, research questions, location and setup, recruiting participants, and methodology.		 17.41 KB HTTP | FTP
Chapter 08: Session Forms
Pre-Test Forms: Background Questionnaire		 9.69 KB HTTP | FTP
Chapter 08: Session Forms
Post-Test Forms: Closing Likert Ratings		 61.39 KB HTTP | FTP
Chapter 08: Session Forms
Post-Test Forms: Closing Semantics Deferentials		 8.07 KB HTTP | FTP
Chapter 08: Session Forms
Session Script: Example A Session Script		 12.78 KB HTTP | FTP
Chapter 08: Session Forms
Pre-Test Forms: Guidelines for Observers		 7.56 KB HTTP | FTP

Joseph S. Dumas and Beth A. Loring, Moderating Usability Tests: Principles and Practices for Interacting, Elsevier, 2008. The table of contents for this book has an excellent set of rules for interacting with participants in tests, which apply pretty well to interviews, too.  The table of contents has other good advice, too.  Available as an e-book and as a Kindle book.

Nielsen/Norman group User Testing workshop: list of topics tells a lot about what you need to know.

Optional from Rubin— but highly recommended:

From Usability.gov: Good templates for a variety of documents for usability testing: test plan, tester scripts, consent forms, note-taker’s guide.  As part of a page of usability templates of all kinds.

Reporting

Kuniavsky, ch. 17

Templates from usability.gov — scroll down to Reports.

Common Industry Format — is supposed to be a standard but no one uses it.

Tools

Morae: Not cheap but widely used

Ethnio

Report comparing available tools: Robin Good, Website Usability Testing: Guide To The Best Professional Usability Testing Tools And Services.  I don’t know how good this assessment is — I’m suspicious looks OK — may be most valuable for the list of tools for which you should seek other reviews. None are cheap, but some may have free trials.

Usabilla: micro usability tests

A list and description of usability testing tools: 24 Usability Testing Tools from W Craig Tomlin — don’t know the author but this list is useful.

Examples

Really good example — Wikipedia study by Bolt | Peters.  They use the Wikipedia format for report to/about Wikipedia. Includes links to highlight videos.

* Filed by Nancy Van House at 11:30 am under Methods,Readings,Usability Testing
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