[Podcast Transcript]

Welcome to Screen Space, your podcast about creating usable, accessible, effective, and efficient web, blog, and digital media design for the everyday (and non-expert) designer. This is episode 18 of Screen Space ldquo;Usability #38; Usability Testing 101 Part 4mdash;Preparing the Testing.rdquo; In this episode, I discuss the third step of usability testingmdash;preparing the testing. There will be two more parts to this series, where I will discuss conducting the testing and then analyzing and utilizing the results from the testing.

If you have not listened to the previous parts of this series, you may want to go back and listen. In the first part, Screen Space 11: Usability #38; Usability Testing 101, I discuss usability, provide a definition of usability testing, and outline the steps to conduct a usability test. In Part 2, Screen Space 12: Usability #38; Usability Testing 101 Part 2mdash;Selecting Users, you can find information on selecting your users for usability testing. In Part 3, Screen Space 17: Usability #38; Usability Testing 101 Part 3mdash;Deciding what to Test, I discuss the steps to setting objectives and selecting tasks to test. You may also find Screen Space 10 on User-Centered Design helpful.

I am your host, Dr. Jennifer L. Bowie. I conduct research and have taught in areas related to digital media, web, and blog design. Previously I mentioned being an assistant professor at GSU. However, this is no longer the case and I am currently looking for a job in usability, user-centered design, and/or social media. Stay tuned and Irsquo;ll provide details at the end of this podcast.

A warm welcome this week to my new listeners from Liverpool, London, and Manchester in the UK.nbsp; Welcome to Screen Space and design well! Another warm welcome to my loyal listeners. Welcome to another episodes and thanks for listening!

In this episode, I will present the next step in usability testing: preparing for the testing. This includes choosing the order of tasks, creating written test materials, recruiting participants, defining team membersrsquo; roles, creating a written test plan, practicing the testing, and preparing the test environment. I will use the same example I used in episodes 11, 12, and 17mdash;testing a photography blog. Wersquo;ll imagine we have a photography blog with a decent sized audience. We want to get more users and see how useable the blog is for your current users.

Without further ado, letrsquo;s discuss step three.

In the third step we prepare for the testing by choosing task order, creating written test materials, recruiting participants, defining team membersrsquo; roles, creating a written test plan, practicing the testing, and preparing the test environment.

Step 1: Choose order of tasks

First, choose the order of tasks. You can start easy, go sequential, or be random. I suggest starting with an easy task to warm your users up and give the testing a positive light. If users start with a hard task they could become frustrated and this may impact the rest of the testing. If your tasks follow a particular sequence, it makes sense to go in the sequence. If you have no other determination, you could randomly select the tasks. In fact, if you randomly select the tasks order for each usability test you run, this will had some rigor to your results as task order will not be impacting results.

In episode 17 (part 3), we came up with five tasks. Letrsquo;s start easy, but also work with the bit of sequence we have between the task where we ask them to find a photo they may like to buy and purchasing this photo. Here is my recommended task order:

Task 1: Find a particular photo

Task 2: Find a photography tip

Task 3: Find a photo they like

Task 4: Purchase and download that photo

Task 5: Subscribing to the blog

We start with two easy tasks, go to the two sequential tasks, and end with a task that may be harder. I also separated the two tasks w...