{"id":546,"date":"2010-12-03T18:28:09","date_gmt":"2010-12-04T02:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/?p=546"},"modified":"2019-05-30T10:41:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T17:41:48","slug":"usability-test-step-5-performing-the-usability-test-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/usability-test-step-5-performing-the-usability-test-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Usability Test Step 5: Performing The Usability Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You have <a title=\"Usability Test Step 1: Brainstorm Top Usability Objectives\" href=\"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/wordpress\/2010\/12\/01\/usability-test-step-1-brainstorm-top-usability-objectives\/\" target=\"_blank\">brainstormed your objectives<\/a>, <a title=\"Usability Test Steps 3 and 4: Designing and Reshearsing The Tasks\" href=\"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/wordpress\/2010\/12\/01\/usability-test-steps-3-and-4-designing-and-rehearsing-the-tasks\/\"><\/a><a title=\"Usability Test Step 2: Recruit Participants\" href=\"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/wordpress\/2010\/12\/01\/usability-test-step-2-recruit-participants\/\">chosen your participants,<\/a> designed your test, and conducted a run-thr0ugh.\u00a0 The day of your actual test has finally arrived.\u00a0 Soon you will have all the data about the usefulness of your website you can handle.<\/p>\n<h3>Giving The Test<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Welcome &#8211; <\/strong>Be sure to make everyone feel at ease.\u00a0 Also make sure they understand that you are testing your website, and not them.\u00a0 This will help them relax and make their experience much better.\u00a0 Also be sure to thank them for agreeing to participate.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Agenda &#8211;<\/strong> This will give a quick overview to your subjects of what they can expect from the day.\u00a0 Let them know what will be expected of them, what your role will be, and how long the process will take.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Waiver\/Demographic Questions &#8211; <\/strong>Have the test subjects fill out the waiver form, and answer the questions about demographics.\u00a0 You can either give them a form, or ask them individually and fill the form out yourself.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Task Based Questions <\/strong>&#8211; Have the computers already open to the home page of your website.\u00a0 Now you will instruct your testers to perform certain tasks on your site.\u00a0 Encourage them to think out loud, and talk through what they see.\u00a0 You want to ask them questions about their thought processes and how they are making decisions without being leading or intruding.\u00a0 This is why the pre-test is so important.\u00a0 Make sure to take notes during this time as well.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exit Questions &#8211;<\/strong> Once the user finishes the test, hand them the exit questions for them to complete.\u00a0 This is also a great time to talk with them informally about their experience.\u00a0 Ask them what they liked\/disliked about the site, and how they feel you could improve things.\u00a0 If you have any questions for them from your notes, now is the time to ask them as well.\u00a0 Most of the time, people are very willing to talk about their experience after the test is finished.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>A Few Tips For Success<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Listen carefully<\/li>\n<li>Encourage, don&#8217;t criticize.\u00a0 Consistently let the subject know that it is your website that is being tested, not them.<\/li>\n<li>Be Neutral &#8211; Don&#8217;t be defensive because it is a site that you have designed<\/li>\n<li>Speak in plain English and avoid jargon that they won&#8217;t understand<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t lead them to an answer.\u00a0 Respond with &#8220;What would you do&#8221; or &#8220;What do you think&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Be patient with your test subjects<\/li>\n<li>Make sure you ask for lots of feedback<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Be sure to follow-up with your test subjects to let them know of the changes you have made as a result of their observations.\u00a0 You can never over-estimate their importance in helping you improve your site.\u00a0 This will make them much more likely to help you out with future testing.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n      {\n        \"@context\": \"http:\/\/schema.org\",\n        \"@type\": \"NewsArticle\",\n\t\"dateModified\": \"https:\/\/calendar.google.com\/calendar\/r\/day\/2019\/5\/29\",\n\t\"mainEntityOfPage\": \"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/wordpress\/2010\/12\/03\/usability-test-step-5-performing-the-usability-test-2\/\",\n\"author\": {\n    \"@type\": \"Person\",\n    \"name\": \"Jeff Lew\"\n  },\n   \"publisher\": {\n    \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n    \"name\": \"Numinix Web Developers\",\n    \"logo\": {\n      \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n      \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/images\/banner_hero_clarity.png\"\n    }\n    },\n        \"headline\": \"Usability Test Step 5: Performing The Usability Test\",\n        \"datePublished\": \"2010-12-03T16:00:41Z\",\n        \"image\": [\n          \"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/web-design.jpg\"\n        ]\n      }\n    <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You have brainstormed your objectives, chosen your participants, designed your test, and conducted a run-thr0ugh.\u00a0 The day of your actual test has finally arrived.\u00a0 Soon you will have all the data about the usefulness of your website you can handle. Giving The Test Welcome &#8211; Be sure to make everyone feel at ease.\u00a0 Also make&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[639,27],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-usability","tag-usability","tag-usability-test"],"modified_by":"Numinix Developer","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}