Bureaucrats, emailconfirmed
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testing
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Now, as you are finished building the prototype you need, you can finally do the actual test! | Now, as you are finished building the prototype you need, you can finally do the actual test! | ||
If you test with paper prototypes it | If you test with paper prototypes it will be useful to get an additional person before you start: besides of doing the actual testing, somebody needs to be the "computer" and change the prototype according to the users interactions. | ||
If your testers never tested an prototype before they are likely to wonder what is going to happen. So it is important to give them a brief introduction. | If your testers never tested an prototype before they are likely to wonder what is going to happen. So it is important to give them a brief introduction. | ||
''"Please note, that the product/software/website is going to be tested and not you! | A very common thought is that ''they'' are going to be tested if they are clever enough to figure out how your software works. This causes them distress and it causes you less useful results because they don't act normally. So tell them: ''"Please note, that the product/software/website is going to be tested and not you! Occurring problems are part of the process and not a reason to worry. As well you should not worry about hurting our feelings - because we do this to find out what we could do better"'' They probably will feel better now. Tell them as well that they can cancel the testing if they feel uncomfortable ant any given moment. | ||
You want to know what participants think while testing your product - so you should ask them to "think aloud": during the testing process they shall tell what is in their mind at the moment. This will sound like this ''"I think this menu entry will import the images... so I click... well... I know that..."'' To get the people talking you should ask them a few simple questions like if they have already experience with similar products and things like this. | |||
After this introduction the test can start. Tell the participants the task, or better, hand them a paper with the task and the context scenario. | |||
While the user does the task you write down your notes. Its not that easy to write, keep your eyes on the screen and listen to the users thinking-aloud – but you will get used to it. | |||
As with the interviews there are some things you should avoid. Most importantly you should not influence the tester or help him or her. | |||
*If the user does anything and you have the urgent feeling that you should show the right way: don't do so. It will spoil what you actually want to know: where problems occur and how the user deals with them. | |||
* If the user asks you questions about solving the task like "is this right?" or "can I..." just answer:What you like" or "What would you do if I were not here?" | |||
* If the user really gets stuck you can gradually help. First with something with ''"where do you think could the [whatever] function be?"'' if this not helps in any way you can point to the solution so you can move further: '' "what do you think does this button do?" '' | |||
* If the user forgets about thinking aloud just ask ''"What do you think at the moment" '' | |||