• Card Sorting
• Charrettes
• Cognitive Walkthroughs
• Contextual Task Analysis
• Facilitated Brainstorming
• Focus Groups
• Heuristic Evaluation
• One-on-One Interviews
• Participatory Design
• Surveys
• Usability Testing
• Quality Assurance Testing
• HCI Design Approaches
• User Experience Modeling

Usability Testing

In order to conduct a usability test, you must first identify the target audience, which will consist of one or more user groups. For example, a single website may have content for consumers and a separate login area for site administrators. Each of these user groups will be given a specific set of tasks to complete on the system based on their respective use case scenarios.

Creating Usability Test Tasks

Typically, participants will perform a set of 5 to 10 tasks within a 90-minute session. When developing the test, the researcher will define each task’s goals and describe the most efficient way to complete the task, as well as the maximum number of errors and maximum amount of time that is acceptable for complete the task. These limits are determined relative to typical user behaviors on similar systems. For example, it is unlikely that users will make multiple attempts to complete a task if the interface is difficult to use and causes them frustration.

Conducting a Usability Test

In order to prevent experimenter bias, the researcher reads a participant one task at a time, such as “Find out how to contact technical support,” and allows the participant to complete the task without any guidance. Each task may have a different starting point based on where the user is likely to begin the task on the live system. The researcher may also ask the participant to Talk Aloud as he works on a task to better understand the participant’s mental model for the task and his decision-making in real time. When the participant has completed a task, the researcher sets up the starting point for the next task and continues the test.

Usability Test Analysis

The state-of-the-art usability testing software, TechSmith’s Morae, may be used to simultaneously record the computer screen and the participant’s voice and facial expressions while also tracking user behaviors, including mouse clicks, keystrokes, and active or open windows. When all participants have completed the study, the researcher will compile the data to determine the severity of each usability issue that was encountered and provide prioritized recommendations for the development team to meet usability requirements. For example, by analyzing participants’ facial expressions, the number of mouse clicks made, and the navigation path used to complete a task, a user experience engineer can identify the most frustrating parts of a task and suggest ways to improve the interface to better support the user.

Usability testing should be conducted at various times throughout the iterative design process to ensure that all usability requirements have been met in the final product.