Labs/Ubiquity/Usability/Usability Testing/How To

This is rough "as hell".

Designing the Test

Prototype Type

Wire-frame

In order of least PITA to high PITA.

• Omnigraffle
• Pencil
• SVG
• Fireworks
• Photoshop

Dealing with participants

Background Psychological Information

You don't really need to read the recommendations below, but it makes in the field recruiting much more useful.

Framing- this is how Obama and Bush won. They framed the issues in a way that there was a water fall of meaning from everything they did. Partial Birth Abortion isn't real, in a historical or technical sense. Yet, there it is, and it is a very powerful frame to invoke the killing of a live baby as opposed to stopping a biological process inside of a woman.

In the context of usability testing calling the user a participant or subject creates a frame that we are testing the user not the product. This leads to skewing the users actual usage patterns. This is often multiplied by the caliber of a usability testing lab and the size of the audience. In recent years many have abandoned the lab and now test in as low key a setting as possible with as few people as possible or even remotely via the users computer and some webcam/screen capture software. To go a step further I revised the title of the researcher to facilitator and the title of the user to tester. These might not lead to the most grammatically correct sentences but it does reduce the skewing users introduce.

• Wikpedia article on framing

Social Proofing/Social Value Theory

Social proofing arose partially from Social Theory but was largely created by sales people and evolutionary psychologists studying how to influence others and what makes certian people higher in the social ranking.

Very simply, there is a strategic plan and some tactics on how rearrange how to introduce oneself and how to convince people to do things for you. It largly rests on ensuring the enjoyment of the social interaction between them.

This makes people more receptive to frames that are introduced and role-playing.

In the context of usability it turns the session into a chore that is interrupting their activity to an interesting, fun thing to do. It makes the user better able to assume the role of a tester and also allows the facilitator to recruit the user into bad mouthing the software if it would help the facilitator. (I have a bet with one of the developers, etc)

To do so dress nicely, whatever makes you look like a relaxed, confident person. I wear a motorcycle jacket that significantly bulks me up, and a beret with a pin on it for attention. Talk about how cool your job is and how incredibly powerful/awesome the company you are working for is (this is how actors get laid).

Talk with others, even if you don't know them. A smile and quick interaction helps improves your social value.

• Smile (especially during the introduction)
• Put in a time constraint (lie) after the introduction, "I only have a minute, I have to get back to editing video"
• Sit in a relaxed asymmetrical position
• Use the person's name when talking to them, "Heather, could you do X for me" or oh this is good stuff, heather."
• Eye Contact!

DON'T OFFER T-SHIRTS, DRINKS, MONEY, ETC. Then they are doing you a favor instead of them being cool enough to do something with you. Seriously, if you beg it turns into a crappy session. See sessions 9 and 11 vs 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Recording the Session

Basically you need screen and web-cam capture software. What you use doesn't really matter, but a quick list of stuff we have tried is here.

If you are sharing the data publicly (especially personally identifiable information) some sort of consent is a very good idea. While a written consent form an audio or visual consent form is easier to manage and can't be lost as they are embedded in the information itself. The standard IANAL applies, nor has the following been vetted by a real lawyer but you can see examples of our consent process from previous testing. This consent process consistent to other Usability professionals and the Psychological research field in general.

Taking notes is good, but you will be going over the video again anyway so it's best to just pay attention. Silverback has an excellent feature that allows use of the Apple remote to add bookmarks.