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Phase 2: User Testing Protocol

Dr2n edited this page Oct 30, 2018 · 1 revision

Protocol for User Testing Session

Preparation before participant arrives

Prepare/lay out materials for the participant so that everything is ready. In particular, don’t let the participant see the questions on the interview while they’re testing. Re-familiarise yourself with all tasks the participant needs to complete

Introduction

Introduce yourself to the participant and give them a high-level idea of what they will be doing in their tasks today - don’t mention specifics about how the application works. In addition, tell them what is on the consent form (but don’t read it out to them).

Consent

Ask participant to fill in and sign consent form. You fill in your parts too. Point out that if at any stage they feel uncomfortable and would like to stop they may do so.

Instructions

Give the participant more detailed instructions about the task they are to do (see tasks below). Don’t tell them how to actually use the application, let them figure it out. Tell the participant they’ll have 10 minutes to complete the tasks. Ask them to think out loud or to make comments as they work.

See if there are any questions from the participants before you get started, and answer their questions.

Observation task

When participant is ready, ask them to complete the following tasks:

Play a game (star chef) with a friend by using the drop down menu. Edit your mobile number in settings Remove a person you haven’t spoken to in a while

Take video (optional) and take hand notes as the participant works, according to the arrangements you’ve worked out amongst the non-participant group.

If the participant goes a bit quiet, ask “what are you thinking now?” or “what are you working on now?”. Try to determine what the participant is thinking at all times but don’t make any assumptions.

When time is up, say “great - we now have the information we need for that part of our session” or something like that.

Interview

Ask the tester the following questions and record their responses:

Was there any task you had difficulty with? What specifically was difficult? Was there anything in particular that wasn’t intuitive? Why? Do you have any suggestions on how to improve the layout of the pages? Do you have any suggestions on how to improve the navigation between the pages? Do you think this is something you would use? If not, what would need to change for you to use it? Any other comments?

Card Sorting

First sort: ask the tester to sort the topic cards into categories that seem logical to them. After they have finished ask them to explain their categories and which categories were easiest to create.

Second sort: ask the tester to sort the cards into the categories of unnecessary, uninteresting, interesting and necessary.

Third sort: ask the tester to sort the cards into the categories of everyday day, day off and holiday.

At the end of each sort ask the tester the following questions:

Which cards were hard to sort and why? Which cards were easy to categorise? If there were any cards you couldn’t fit into a category, could you provide a new category for these cards?

Further data collection

Ask any further questions that may have arose from the interview.

Closing

Tell the participant that the session is at an end. Thank the participant for their time, tell them that their data are valuable. Let participant know that they are free to go. Low Fidelity prototype on page information: