Usability Testing Methods

Tips for Moderating Usability Testing

Reasons for Usability Testing

A usability-testing session involves a participant and a facilitator who gives tasks to the participant and observes the participant’s behavior.

Core Elements of Usability Testing

In a usability test, the facilitator gives instructions and task scenarios to the participant. The participant provides behavioral and verbal feedback about the interface while he performs those tasks.

Usability testing: Flow of Information

Usability testing can be either qualitative or quantitative.

Qualitative usability testing focuses on collecting insights, findings, and anecdotes about how people use the product or service. Qualitative usability testing is best for discovering problems in the user experience. This form of usability testing is more common than quantitative usability testing.

Quantitative usability testing focuses on collecting metrics that describe the user experience. Two of the metrics most commonly collected in quantitative usability testing are task success and time on task. Quantitative usability testing is best for collecting benchmarks.

The number of participants needed for a usability test varies depending on the type of study. For a typical qualitative usability study of a single user group, we recommend using five participants to uncover the majority of the most common problems in the product.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative

Remote usability tests are popular because they often require less time and money than in-person studies. There are two types of remote usability testing: moderated and unmoderated.

Remote moderated usability tests work very similarly to in-person studies. The facilitator still interacts with the participant and asks her to perform tasks. However, the facilitator and participant are in different physical locations. Usually, moderated tests can be performed using screen-sharing software like Skype or GoToMeeting.

Remote unmoderated remote usability tests do not have the same facilitator–participant interaction as an in-person or moderated tests. The researcher uses a dedicated online remote-testing tool to set up written tasks for the participant. Then, the participant completes those tasks alone on her own time. The testing tool delivers the task instructions and any followup questions. After the participant completes her test, the researcher receives a recording of the session, along with metrics like task success.

Remote vs. In-Person Testing

"It focuses on people and their tasks, and seeks empirical evidence about how to improve the usability of an interface."

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Some user research methods could be both depending on how the researcher conducts it.

Hybrid (Quantitive & Qualitative)

Hanington, Bruce M. Universal Methods Of Design: 100 Ways To Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, And Design Effective Solutions. Beverly, MA : Rockport Publishers, 2012. Print.

Universal Methods of Design

"It is a method that requires participants to verbalize waht they are doing and thinking as they complete a test, revealing aspects of an interface that delight, confuse, and frustrate."

Concurrent think-aloud and retrospective think-aloud are two commeon procedures of the think-aloud protocol.

Think-aloud Protocol

Usability Testing

- "Heuristic evaluation summarized a set of usability best practices that can help detext usability problems before actual users are brought in to further evaluate an interface."
- See the node "Nielsen Norman Group" for the 10 heuristics that Nielsen built in 1994.

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