Book Image

Remote Usability Testing

By : Inge De Bleecker, Rebecca Okoroji
Book Image

Remote Usability Testing

By: Inge De Bleecker, Rebecca Okoroji

Overview of this book

Usability testing is a subdiscipline of User Experience. Its goal is to ensure that a given product is easy to use and the user's experience with the product is intuitive and satisfying. Usability studies are conducted with study participants who are representative of the target users to gather feedback on a user interface. The feedback is then used to refine and improve the user interface. Remote studies involve fewer logistics, allow participation regardless of location and are quicker and cheaper to execute compared to in person studies, while delivering valuable insights. The users are not inhibited by being in a new environment under observation; they can act naturally in their familiar environment. Remote unmoderated studies additionally have the advantage of being independent of time zones. This book will teach you how to conduct qualitative remote usability studies, in particular remote moderated and unmoderated studies. Each chapter provides actionable tips on how to use each methodology and how to compensate for the specific nature of each methodology. The book also provides material to help with planning and executing each study type.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
8
What to Consider When Analyzing and Presenting the Study Results
Index

Preparing for the study


Once the tasks have been created and the script has been crafted, there are just a few more things to check before starting the study:

  • Check the product under testing to make sure that participants can access it. This includes checking the URL, credentials, or the installation of an executable.
  • Check that the script contains all necessary information.
  • Do a dry run of the tasks to confirm the following:
    • Tasks are clear and presented in logical order—for instance, registering should precede logging in
    • Questions make sense and use the correct question type
    • The time required to complete the session is within the expected parameters and is correctly reflected in the script

Scheduling participants

Scheduling the participants does not differ much from the previous chapters. Here too, it is recommended that you recruit additional participants in order to have backup should there be no-shows in the original set of participants.