Usability Testing
Kuniavsky, ch. 10
Usability Testing Includes Users as Stakeholders – “The determination of the right number of users to test is based less on a “golden number,” and more on the goals for testing, what is being tested, and if you want to consider your users as stakeholders.”
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.
HTTP| FTPChapter 08: Session Forms Pre-Test Forms: Background Questionnaire
>HTTP| FTPChapter 08: Session Forms Post-Test Forms: Closing Likert Ratings
>HTTP| FTPChapter 08: Session Forms Post-Test Forms: Closing Semantics Deferentials<
HTTP| FTPChapter 08: Session Forms Session Script: Example A Session ScriptHTTP| FTPChapter 08: Session Forms Pre-Test Forms: Guidelines for ObserversHTTP| FTP
Joseph S. Dumas and Beth A. Loring, Moderating Usability Tests: Principles and Practices for Interacting, Elsevier, 2008. The table of contentsfor 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.
Here’s another site with sample test materials.