Usability Testing Script

Usability Testing

[Offer the opportunity to use bathroom facilities.]

INTRO

Thank you for coming today.

My name is [name]. We’re working on the design for [product], and as part

of the process we’re asking a variety of people to attempt various tasks

using it to see what elements of the design need to be changed.

I’d like to stress that we’re testing the product, and not your abilities - you can not be wrong today. If you find parts of the product difficult to use or understand, so will other people, and it will be our job to make sure we make the appropriate changes to

improve it.

As you use the product, there will be other people observing, and I’ll

introduce you to them now.

[Introduce participant to observers – even if they are in another room].

Today’s session will last for approximately one hour. If you want to stop for

a break at any time, just say so.

“I encourage you to think out loud. This helps me understand your thought process – The beauty of usability tests is you can actually learn something if they didn’t talk at all (by watching them), however, expressing internal dialog is good at helping understand why a decision was made.”

We have a total of 5 tasks, and I’ll give them to you one at a time.

I’ll be asking you to ‘think aloud’ as you work. For example, if you don’t

know what something is for, please say ‘I don’t know what this is for’, or

something similar.

I may also prompt you from time to time to ask you what you are thinking.

Do you have any questions before we begin?

MAIN TESTING

“Here’s the home page. Just by looking at it, without clicking on anything yet, what would you say is the purpose of this site? What would you say are the main sections of the site?”

1) How would you find reviews for “Fundamentals of Marketing” taught by professor Allen only?

2) How would you find reviews for the “Advertising” course?

3) How would you write and submit a review?

4) How would you create a profile?

5) How would you get to actually scheduling your class?

CONCLUSION

Thank you. This completes the tasks. We would now like to ask you a few questions about the decisions you made during the testing.

Why did you do certain things such as...?

Was it clear what you needed to do in order to complete a review?

How do you feel about the design or branding?

Do you have any more comments or suggestions about how this site can be more navigable and intuitive?