Improve Your Website with Usability Testing

Michael LambureXtension Evaluation and Research LeaderVirginia TechNational Extension Technology ConferenceApril 28, 2008Raleigh, NC

Usability testing

A means for determining how well people use a website for its intended purpose

Involves observing people using the website to discover what works well and where improvements need to be made

Can be invaluable in improving website functionality and ultimately its purpose for your users

Key usability testing elements

How many users to involve What needs to be tested Tasks to be performed Questions to ask users Observation techniques Observer guidelines

How many users to involve

Quantity is not as important as quality “The best results come from testing no

more than 5 users and running as many small tests as you can afford.” Jakob Nielsen, Sun Microsystems

For a one time test, 12-15 users are probably sufficient, providing they are representative of your targeted user population

Screening users

You can screen users to get the appropriate ones for your test Do you surf the web and how often? Familiarity with ??? Age Education Ethnicity Gender

What needs to be tested

Should be driven by the intended purpose of the website

Goes beyond asking users “do you understand this” to watching users try to use your website for its intended purpose

Involves creating a scenario where the user performs a set of tasks using your website

What needs to be tested is determined by what you want users to do on your website

What needs to be tested

Time on task – How long does it take to complete a task?

Accuracy – How many mistakes were made?

Recall – How much does the user remember afterwards?

Emotional response – How does the user feel about the tasks completed?

Tasks to be performed

Tasks should be focused on the intended purpose of the website

Some example tasks: Locate something Create something Explore something Use something

Questions to ask users

Can ask users pre-questions Which websites do you most often visit? How do you usually find information on the

web? Do you ever go to websites to find

information on a particular topic? How familiar are you with ???

Questions to ask users

During the usability test, questions should be tied to the task and the purpose of the website

For example: What are your first thoughts as you look at this

page? What types of information would you expect to find

on this page? Is this what you expected? Anything unexpected?

Is there anything you especially like on this page? Is anything confusing or hard to understand? Any other specific questions related to tasks

Observation techniques

Can use unobtrusive or obtrusive observation

Unobtrusive observation means no interaction with the user as they interact with the website

This limits your ability understand how the user interacts with your website by asking questions

Observation techniques

Unobtrusive observation can be misleading because behaviors that you observe can have many interpretations

For example, if a user didn’t click a link, perhaps the user didn’t see the link or didn’t understand it

You can’t know the reason without asking the user

Observation techniques

Obtrusive observation means interacting with the user as they interact with the website

Observers must be: Nonjudgmental Genuine and transparent Adaptive to each user

Observer guidelines

Observers may be asked to record: Verbal comments (users are often asked to

think aloud as they move through the test) Errors (number and type) Emotional responses (confusion,

frustration, focus, etc.) If a user is unable to complete a task

Observer guidelines

Remain distant from the task and do not assist the user

Answer a question with a question: User question: What does this text mean? Response: What do you think it means? User question: Do I have to click here? Response: What do you think will happen if

you click there?

Observer guidelines

Get users to speak in terms of problems, not solutions User observation: This label isn’t right. Incorrect response: What would make it a

better label? Correct response: Why isn’t it right? User observation: This page is dull. Incorrect response: How would you

improve it? Correct response: Why don’t you like it?

Key usability testing elements

How many users to involve What needs to be tested Tasks to be performed Questions to ask users Observation techniques Observer guidelines

References for usability testing

http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/saul/hci_topics/assignments/usability/ass2_usabil.html

http://www.testingstandards.co.uk/usability_guidelines.htm

http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000183.php

References for usability testing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability_testing

http://www.webcredible.co.uk/services/usability-testing.shtml

http://www.usability.gov/refine/learnusa.html

http://www.interactionarchitect.com/knowledge/article19991212shd.htm

References for usability testing

http://about.extension.org/mediawiki/files/c/c3/eXtension_Public_Website_Usability_Test_Protocol.pdf