Pop-Up Usability Testing More Data, Less Time (and Money) Vicki Kirby and Kelley Martin
Today Agenda What is Pop-up Testing Types of Tests Planning the Test Testing Activities Presenting the Results
Informal Survey What kind of library? How many FTE s? Who is in charge? Have you done usability testing? Is your website important?
Pop-up Testing Guerilla Testing Do-it-yourself Testing Hallway Testing Watercooler Testing Discount Testing Candy Bar Testing
Formal Testing Timetable Meet with Project Team Create a usability testing plan Discuss plan with Project Team Iterate plan Develop documentation (i.e. user profile, testing forms, etc.) Schedule Tests Select and schedule participants Run tests Analyze results Share results
Pop-up Testing Timetable We spend days Planning Scheduling Testing Reporting
Types of Tests Survey Paper Tests Show me Click Test X & O Test Card Sorts Heuristic Evaluation Video Recorded
How to Plan It Have your research question(s) Decide who to test Pick a test method Design a test question Decide what information to collect Decide how to report it
Planning-Deciding Whom to Test What demographic should you test? New users? Experienced users? Certain age groups? Groups with physical challenges?
Planning Ask the right questions Designing questions for pop-up testing: If you receive answers and you find the results don t tell you anything: Shut it down. Reconstruct questions. Start again.
How familiar are you with composting? Very familiar Somewhat familiar Neither familiar nor unfamiliar Somewhat unfamiliar Very unfamiliar
Narrow the Focus Do you compost? Yes No CC Image courtesy by Cara Harpole on Flickr
Don t Use Jargon Can you find the cell? biological cell? a battery cell? a jail cell? a cell in a computer program? a social cell in a community?
How to Frame Questions Narrow the focus Don t use jargon Avoid questions that return an It depends answer Keep it simple Don t lead the answer Avoid biased questions
It depends Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
KEEP IT SIMPLE What do you see? A. Rabbit B. Duck C. Both D. None of the above
Leading the Answer Our webpage has the words Full-text. Where would you find a full-text version of this article? What would you do if you wanted to read the entire article?
Biased Question Do you agree that UMKC dining services serves good food? Yes No The food served by UMKC Dining Services is: (check all that apply) Healthy and nutritious Unhealthy and innutritious Good flavors Poor flavors Plenty of variety Not enough variety
How to conduct it Bring your printouts and some pencils Pick a spot in or around your library Open a box of candy bars Start asking people to help
Let s Practice! Fry, Amy, and Linda Rich. "Usability Testing for e-resource Discovery: How Students Find and Choose e-resources using Library Web Sites." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 37.5 (2011): 386-401. Web.
How to Report it Add information to a spreadsheet Write a report Executive Summary (if necessary) Method Results Discussion of findings Recommendations Turn in the raw data Create a visual (if possible)
Our Results Data
Our Results The Numbers
Our Results Visually
Our Results Visually
Our Results Visually
Our Results Visually
Wrap-up Pop-up Testing is Easy Fast Cost effective Fun NOT scary at all!
Reading Material Rubin, J., & Chisnell, D. (2008). Handbook of usability testing: How to plan, design, and conduct effective tests Wiley. Krug, S., (2006). Don't make me think: A common sense approach to web usability. Berkeley, Calif: New Riders. Krug, S. (2009). Rocket surgery made easy: The do-it-yourself guide to finding and fixing usability. Berkeley, Calif: New Riders. Nielsen, J. 1. (1999). Designing web usability: The practice of simplicity. Old Tappan: New Riders Publishing. Nielsen, J. (1994). Usability engineering. San Diego: Morgan Kaufmann.
Web Resources Weave Journal of Library User Experience http://weaveux.org Usability.gov Improving the User Experience usability.gov Nielsen Norman Group UX Research, Training, and Consulting http://www.nngroup.com Matthew Reidsma More Than Usable http://matthew.reidsrow.com
Questions Vicki Kirby kirbyv@umkc.edu Kelley Martin martinkk@umkc.edu Special thanks to: Susan Sanders sanders@umkc.edu