[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 19 of Screen Space ldquo;Usability #38; Usability Testing 101 Part 5mdash;Conducting the Testing.rdquo; In this episode, I discuss the fourth step of usability testingmdash;what to do before, during, and after the testing. There will be one more part to this series, where I will discuss 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. In Part 4, Screen Space 18: Usability #38; Usability Testing 101 Part 4mdash;Preparing the Testing, I provide information on getting ready to do the testing. 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.

Welcome, welcome, welcome my new listeners from Germany, India, and Australia.nbsp; Thanks for listening and design well!

In this episode, I present the fourth step in usability testing: conducting the testing. This includes what to do before, during, and after the testing. I will use the same example I used in episodes 11, 12, 17, and 18mdash;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 the current users.nbsp; By this point in the series we have figures out which user profiles we will test (part 2), we have designed the testing (part 3), and we have prepared for testing (part 4). So, letrsquo;s figure out how to conduct usability testing. There are three steps.

Before the Testing

It is test day and the environment is setup and we are ready to test. In walks our first participant. nbsp;Our first step is to greet and brief them.

Step 1: Greet #38; Brief participant

Read/say welcome:nbsp; In part 4, we wrote our welcome and intro to the testing.nbsp; Here is where we read it. Remember it is important to treat each user the same, as to not impact the testing, so try to make the welcome as consistent as possible.

Emphasize that you are not testing them: While we call this usability testing, this is not a test of our users. This is not something they can pass or fail. This is a test of our site, and a test our site can pass or fail. Our participants, however, will often think this is a test of them and will often try to ldquo;passrdquo; the test. This will change the test results we have, as regular users do not try to ldquo;passrdquo; tests when using websites or other media. So, you need to emphasize that this is not a test of the participants, but of the product and that they should act as natural as possible. You can tell them that this is a test of the site and they are helping you determine how usable it is. I like to also emphasize that what I learn from watching them use the site will help me make the site more usable in the future.

Explain think-aloud protocol (if you are using it): Think-aloud protocol is a fan...