Usability testing
From ICT research methods
Contents
Why?
Detect problems users have with your solution and correct them before the system goes live.
How?
You can use a paper or electronic prototype of your solution to test your application in an early stage. Later, you can use your actual solution and test things like interface, performance and how a user executes a typical task. Users are usually asked to think aloud, but you can also get results from automatic measurement tools (e.g. timers, eye trackers, mouse movement tracking and text logging).
Ingredients
- A prototype (paper or electronic).
- A quiet room with the user.
- Tools for automatically gathering data (may be embedded in your solution).
- Video or audio recording equipment.
In practice
Because a complete system cannot be tested far before its release, companies typically test parts or early versions in earlier stages, so there is still time to fix things as needed.
