A note for user testing and research based on literature
uxpin_testing_and_redesigning_yelps_website
uxpin_guide_to_usability_testing.
Different testing by type of the use of product
Scripted use of the product —These tests focus on specific usage aspects. The degree of scripting varies, with more scripting generating more controlled data.
Decontextualized use the product —Tests that don’t use the product — at least in the actual testing phase — are designed for broader topics like UX or generating ideas.
Natural use of product —These tests seek to analyze common usage behaviors and trends with the product, doing well with data authenticity at the cost control.
Hybrid —Hybrid tests are creative and non-traditional tests. Geared towards understanding the users’ mentality, these tests vary in what they can accomplish.
Terminology
Direct Task— a direct task is purely instructional
e.g. find a turkey recipe on the Food Network / Learn about wiener dog on the blog.
These are more technical in nature, and could detract from the user’s experience of the product as a whole.
Scenario task— phrase the instructions in a real-life example.
e.g. You are going to a high school reunion this weekend, and you want to find a nice outfit on the Macy’s website.
Scenario tasks are more common than direct tasks because they help the user forget that they are taking a test.
Closed —a closed task is one with clearly defined success or failure.
E.g. Your friend is having a birthday this weekend. Find a fun venue that can seat up to 15 people.
Open-ended —user can compete it several ways. More subjective and most useful when trying to determine how user behaves spontaneously, or how they prefer to interact with your product.
E.g. You heard your coworkers talking about YoungCapital. You are interested in what it is and how it works.
Heuristics Evaluations —can even be carried out by people who aren’t UX experts, as long as you’ve reviewed and walked through the usability scenarios. (P54 UXPIN_guide_to_usability_testing.pdf)
First click testing — Where do users click first?
When users’ first click is own the right path, 87% eventually succeed. Chalkmark
- Create a few task-scenarios
- Define the optimal any correct paths.
- Track where users click
- Time how long it takes users to make that click
- How confident they are
- How difficult was it?
- Compared to what is old and new model.
Quick exposure memory test
The quick exposure memory test shows the participant a user interface for only a moment before it is removed. The user is then asked to recall what stood out the most in that brief amount of time, and why. As a SUPPLEMENTARY method
Adjective Cards
Simply show the design or have the user interact with products, then as them to pick 3–5 cards that best capture their feelings and explain their reasoning. Including both negative and positive expressions.
Quick and simple:
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/02/rapid-desirability-testing-a-case-study.php
Participation Design
https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-work-on-the-Product-Design-team-at-Pinterest
Open card sorting
Test participants are provided cards showing site content with no established groupings. They are then asked to organize the cards into groups that make sense for them, and to label those groups.
Closed card sorting
Tests participants are given cards showing site content, and are shown groups that already have labels. They are asked to organize the cards into these groups.
Qualitative: (UserTest.com)
5 users do the test will cover 80% percent of problems.
Five tests for each user, take the records and see how they interact with the product.
Quantitative: (optimalworkshop.cdm)
20 users for quantitative results
Card sorting to see how people cluster and find things at least.
Instead of testing the top level navigation labels of website, closed card sorting can also help find out which features were most important to users, and which were ignored.
e.g. Yelp applied three goals of doing closed card sorting.
determine how often people use search filters
determine which filters are most important to users
determine which filters are least important to users
by important, somewhat important, not important, and unsure what it is.
