USABILITY TESTING BASICSStephen FrancoeurUser Experience Librarian

Baruch College (New York, NY)

About Me

User experience librarian @ Baruch College

Blogger• Beating the Bounds• Digital Reference• Stephen Francoeur’s Commonplace Book

On (too) many social networks

ecahoy. “Finding Time in the Penn State Libraries.” YouTube. 2007. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.

Learning Goals

Define usability

Identify what to test

Run a basic test

Act on test results

User Experience

Mindstate of the user

System characteristics

Context of the interaction

Adapted from Marc Hassenzahl and Noam Tractinsky, “User Experience - a Research Agenda.” Behaviour & Information Technology 25.2 (2006): 91–97.

Usability

Learnability

Efficiency

MemorabilityError

s

Satisfaction

Nielsen, Jakob. “Usabiilty 101: Introduction to Usability.” useit.com. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.

Highly Recommended

Usability Tests

Start new test

Identify 3-5 tasks to test

Observe test participants performing

tasks

Identify the 2-3 easiest things to

fix

Make changes to site

Why Test at All?

User-centered design

Grounds design

debates

Methodical Surprising results

What Your Library Can Test

Things You

Control

Things You

Kind of Control

Things You

Barely or Don’t Control

Things You Control

Library website

Things You Kind of Control

Catalog

A-Z journals list

LibGuides

Things You Barely or Don’t Control

Databases

Ebook platforms

Digital reference

Identify Tasks for the Test

Known problem

areas

Most common activities

Popular pages

New pages or services

Recommended Gear

Computer(or paper prototype)

Screen recording software(or observer)

Microphone(or observer)

Tasks

You want to renew the loan period on a book you’ve checked out.

You need to find an article on the role of genes in schizophrenia.

You want to see what hours the library is open next Monday.

Screen Recording Software

Price

Features

Staff of One

Recruits test participants Runs the test

Records the test

(screen recording software & mic)

Preps test environment

before & after test

“Guerilla testing!”

Click icon to add picture

Photo and caption credit::Amanda Etches http://instagr.am/p/IuHhRri-wS/

Staff of Two

Recruits test participants

Runs the test

#1Observes the test

Preps test environment before & after each test

#2

Draft a Test Protocol

Tasks

Script

RecruitmentGoals

Staff Roles Equipment

Before Each Test Participant Arrives

Check mic

Check screen recording software

Clear cache in browser

Getting Each Test Participant Started

Explain why you’ll be reading from a script

Chat about websites they like

Don’t show website until first task is introduced

Working Through Tasks

Stick to the script

Encourage participant to speak aloud

Don’t help the participant

As Each Participant Finishes

Thank participant profusely

Give participant any payment or reward

End and save the screen recording

After Test Is Done

Make

Notes

• ASAP (same day)• Identify common problems

Write

Report

• Keep it simple• Focus on fixing just 2-3 things

Test Agai

n

• Might not be same tasks• Lather, rinse, repeat

Focus on Fixing Easy Things

Small changes

Iterative development and testing

A website that

keeps up with users

For More InfoFrancoeur, Stephen. “Usability Testing Our New Website.” Beating the Bounds. 16 Jan. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. link

Hassenzahl, Marc and Noam Tractinsky. “User Experience - a Research Agenda.” Behaviour & Information Technology 25.2 (2006): 91–97. link

Krug, Steve. Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems. Berkeley, Calif: New Riders, 2010. Print.

Nielsen, Jakob. “Usabiilty 101: Introduction to Usability.” useit.com. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. link

Reidsma, Matthew. “How We Do Usability Testing.” Matthew Reidsma. 15 Nov. 2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. link

Reidsma, Matthew. “Why We Do Usability Testing.” Matthew Reidsma. 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. link

University of Texas at Austin. “Usability Testing.” Web Publishing. University of Texas at Austin. 27 Mar. 2012. link