Articles : A Barebones Guide to Usability Testing :

Setting Testing Goals and Parameters

So now that we know we want to perform a usability test, we know how we are going to record the users actions for better analysis and presentation, what next? The next step is to establish the testing goals and parameters. Some specific areas to be aware of include: Goals to accomplish, audience, location, length, and frequency.

The most important issue to nail down is your test goals. What do you wish to accomplish. Are you looking for broad feedback? Or are you looking to test one specific portion of your application like a new system for navigation. One trap to avoid is trying to test too many things at one time. Sometimes it may make sense to break up one big usability test into multiple more focused tests.

Who is your audience? Do you need to set a quota of different user categories such as age, sex, and profession so that your test will represent a fair snapshot of your audience? Where can you find this type of person? Will you pay your testers for their time? The system that worked best for me was to first establish quotas for the type of users I needed in the test. I then could focus on locations that my target audience frequented. I would then offer random people "$20.00 for 20 minutes of their time to help test a new website and give their feedback". A couple of things to note. 1) Some may scoff at having to pay people for their time. Perhaps you can find users willing to take your tests for free, or perhaps you can offer non-monetary compensation like a t-shirt or other company swag. It just seems that a little "something" helps grease the wheels and makes finding users go much much faster. All things considered, a couple hundred dollars in testing fees is small potatoes compared to more formal usability tests that may require paying finders fees and hourly fees for test users, let alone the cost of not fixing your application before it goes live.

What is the target location of your test? Universities are a gold mine. What student wouldn’t do anything for $20? However, universities will normally limit you to a set age group. A large shopping mall is a great location to find a wide sampling of people, but if you need to focus on a specific audience then you may need to find a more specialized location.

How long will the test last? Most people do not have very long attention spans. If the test is going to take more then 15 to 30 minutes, you many want to break it up into multiple more specialized tests, or look into a more formal test setting.

Frequency. How many tests will you give? To keep it simple I would recommend at least 2 or 3 sets of tests for each project. The idea being, to test, adjust based on results, and then retest. Be sure to leave enough time in between tests to act on your feedback, and actually work the changes into the project. You may also want to consider performing your first test as early as your working user interface mock-ups (on paper or computerized). That way you can collect feedback before too much actual work has already gone into the application.

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