User Testing

I am starting to see some action on the blog indicating that people are thinking about how to ramp up your user testing. As I stated in class last week, this is a five step process:

1. Formulate the question(s) that you need to answer to ensure that your product will perform as hoped, and that users will understand and enjoy it.

2. Design an experiment that seems likely to produce meaningful and unbiased results.




3. Carry out the experiment on as large a sample of likely users of your product as you can.

4. Analyze the data generated through user testing, and develop a set of findings based on your analysis and observation. The findings should provide an answer to the questions you posed in step 1.

5. Use the findings from user testing to make necessary changes to your design, so that the wisdom you accumulated in the testing process is reflected in the way your product looks, feels, and functions.

Start the process again.....

There are many ways to do user testing, and each student must develop an approach that is appropriate to his or her own project. I will be speaking to each person over the next several weeks to find out about your plans for user testing, so please consider this in advance, and be ready to talk and blog about what you have in mind.
steven