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 Usability Testing

with young children UCD14 24th October 2014

Monica Ferraro @londrareale

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Monica Ferraro UXPA UK Secretary User Experience Researcher Freelancer @londrareale @UXPAUK

About me

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Usability Testing with

young children

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Former  user  tes*ng  

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DISCUSSION  PANEL  ON  USABILITY  TESTING  Rolf  Molich    Steve  Krug    David  Travis    Jakob  Biesterfeldt    

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User  tes*ng  with  children  

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•  42  leMer  sounds  

•  Diagraphs:                combina2on  of  le6ers      

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• Understand  how  children  of  different  age  (3  -­‐  6  years  old)  engage  with  the  app  

•  Iden*fy  any  design  problems    

•  Find  any  key  difficul*es  experienced    

•  Find  key  areas  for  improvement    

• What  parts  are  confusing?    

• What  parts  do  children  like?  • Where  are  the  bugs?  

   

Goals

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Jean Piaget • Sensorimotor Stage Birth – 2

• Preoperational Stage Ages 2 – 6

• Concrete Operational Stage: Ages 7 – 11

• Formal Operational Stage: Ages 12 – Adult

 

Participants 3  -­‐  6  years  old  

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•  Language  development  •  Can’t  understand  logic  •  Can’t  manipulate  (much)  

informa2on  •  Difficulty  to  take  the  point  

of  view  of  other  people  •  Very  jealous  of  their  own  

ideas  •  Get  impa2ent  very  easily  

Preoperational Stage: 2 – 6 years      

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Participants

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1  child  aged  4  aMending  Nursery  2  children  aged  4  aMending  Recep*on  2  children  aged  5  aMending  Recep*on  2  children  aged  6  aMending  Year  1    

October 2013

Participants

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1  child  aged  3  aMending  Nursery  1  child  aged  4  aMending  Nursery  1  child  aged  4  aMending  Recep*on  1  child  aged  5  aMending  Recep*on    

March 2014

Participants

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Setting •  Wear  informal  clothes      •  Adults  at  the  same  level  of  children    •  No  hand  raising    •  Use  first  names      •  All  ideas/comments  are  good    •  There  are  not  right  and  wrong  answers  

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Setting

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•  Introduce yourself “…Hi! I’m Monica and this is Alex…”

•  Break the ice

•  Give them importance “…we have designed a new game to learn the letters and we need your help to understand if it works or not…would you like to help us please?...”

“…but remember…the design is till “top secret”!...”

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No scenarios No specific task

YES user journey YES observation! WHAT do they do? WHY? WHAT works? WHAT does not work? WHY?

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Colouring  page  

23  Sounding  page  

24  Blending  page  

25  Segmen*ng  page  

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Apple  game  

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Observation – behavior

•  signs  of  engagement:    •  smiles    •  laughs      •  leaning  forward  to  try  things  

•  signs  of  disengagement:    •  frowns  •  sighs  •  yawns  •  turning  away  from  the  computer  

   

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• Would  you  play  with  the  app  again?  Why?  

• What  did  you  like  the  most?  • What  you  didn’t  like?  •  Did  you  have  any  surprise?  • Was  it  easy  to  use  or  difficult?  • Why?    

Post task questionnaire

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“We  need  to  keep  trying  this  for  5  more  minutes…then  we  can  try  something  different.”    

“…let’s  go  and  see  the  next  page…maybe  there  is  something  new…maybe  a  surprise!”    “Now  I  need  you  to…”        “Let’s  do  this…”  

Attention spam

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Rewards  

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Rewards  

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• Have clear goals in mind • Be organised • Short sessions • Be open minded! Take what you get! • Make the children feel important • Thank and reward the children • Thank and reward the school • Keep in touch with the children, school and parents for future collaborations  

Lessons learned

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They  are  users!    People  using  the  technology  we  design!  

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NO little adults…but special people with their own specific mental model!

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•  Know  more…they  are  the  users!  •  Understand  their  prospec2ve  •  Brutally  honest!  •  Can  feel  empowered            (adults  want  to  listen  to  them)  •  Look  at  things  differently  •  Adults  are  experts  in  their  own  field  –            Children  are  expert  in  being  children!  

Why testing technology with children

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“Whatever  you’ve  designed,    you  absolutely  have  to  test  with  children    

because  they’ll  use  it  in  ways    you  never  expected.”  

-­‐  Jackie  Wolf  of  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.  

Reference:  What  Can  Experience  Designers  Learn  from  Kids?  UX  MAGAZINE  

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Coopera*ve  Inquiry  

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Design  for  Kids  

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Thank you!

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@londrareale