1. A quick guide to understanding and conducting a usability study.
Usability Testing
A quick guide to understanding and conducting a usability study.

2. Focus Groups vs. Usability Testing
Small groups
Focus on sampling user opinions and feelings
Usability Test
One user at a time
Focus on tasks
Focus on understanding
Focus on user behavior

3. Usability Testing Truths
You’ve got to test if you want a good site
It’s like friends visiting from out of town
One user is 100% better than zero users
Testing one user early is better than 50 users later
Representative users are overrated
Not out to “prove” but to inform judgment
Testing is iterative
Live audience reaction is the best

4. Traditional vs Quick Testing
Usually 8 or more
Target audience
Usability lab
Usability professional
Large-scale planning
$5000 and up
Long, long reports
3 or 4 users
Anyone will work fine
Quiet room
Reasonable patient person
Short planning time
Small incentives
Conversations and short reports

5. Best (quick) Practices
The first three users will tell you most of what you need to know
Test where you can talk without interruption
Good testers are good listeners
You need an observer and note taker if you don’t record
Dismiss your subject and talk and compare notes immediately
Write a short report

6. What to Test “Get it” testing Key task testing
See if the user “gets” the site
Do they see the purpose of the site?
What is the value of the site?
How does the site work and how is it organized?
Key task testing
Ask the user to do something and then watch to see how they do it (or fail to do it).
Get the user to invest some interest or engage in the problem

7. What’s in a Report? List the problems users encountered
Suggest ways to fix these problems
Appeal to common sense
Ignore where users go astray
Ignore opinions about color or icons for the most part unless they impact usability
Describe users’ thinking