Page Design Tests

I did the page design tests on the employees of the same office but this time I selected members of another department because I thought the previous participants already had an idea of what my project is about and the ‘Get it’ test will not be done properly.

The ‘Get it’ test was successful, everyone got it right! I guess I made sure the site is clear enough after my usability test participants had so much trouble guessing the purpose of the 3 websites I chose.
I generally wanted to know if they understood what the website does and where or how to find information on it. I also asked them their preferred place to start, which was the main menu for most of them.
For privacy reasons I have covered the names of the test participants here but the final documentation does have the complete scans of the page design test papers. You may click on the images to get a closer look.

Card Sorting Video

Card Sorting Tests

I have conducted my card sorting tests but am yet to analyse the results. I think most test participants organised the cards similarly. In just one of the tests two cards remained unsorted as the participant was not sure which category they belonged to. I had already explained to the participants to leave whatever they think cannot be sorted under the existing categories in the left hand side window.
I have attached the screenshots of the completed tests. It shows the cards already sorted out. I will also try and upload the recording of one of the card sorting sessions, if I can.

Card Sorting Video

Since I finished my usability tests last week and I already had Camtasia Studio 5 installed on my computer as an evaluation copy, with only few days left of my evaluation period, I decided to do some card sorting tests and record them as well.

So I again asked all my test participants this week to do the card sorting tests. I may have to do some evaluation of the card sorting results before I can make anything out of it. I have asked Edwin and Marika if I could include the videos on the usability tests DVD since I will not be sending in a CD or DVD for the last assignment. If it was decided that I should not include the card sorting tests on the DVD I will try and post a few cuts of the videos here on this blog.

I hope it works as I never tried posting a video on any of my blogs before!

The Videos Length! May Create a Problem...

I am a bit worried after I reviewed my usability test videos. I think they may be just a little short. I know the assignment requirements do not mention how long each test should last but I think Marika mentioned on the discussion board that they need to be half an hour long. I was so busy with other aspects of the tests that I forgot to think about the time. Also, there is not much to do on my proposed websites. The only thing the users can do is search for a business and they did. I think I did however find many problems with the websites that may just save me from this time limit issue.

My Usability test 3

Test 3 went fine but with few changes. First of all my test participant asked me to read the test script for him before he started the test so when it came to the actual test I didn’t really read the whole script, just the important points. Once again the nerves got the best of me and I did jumble some words.

I also decided to let the user roam around a little on his own and I didn’t really stick to the script very tightly. I think it worked well.

My Usability Test 2

The highlighted test script worked!
I didn’t sound like a robot and was much calmer, as I predicted. My test participant was also more cooperative and once I explained that I want to find out how these websites work he pretty much went on his own and found most of the problems I didn’t even realise they were there on the websites.
He also expressed his opinion about other features like colour and layout etc, which would help with designing the aesthetics of my website.

One Solution

This time I have highlighted the key words and the beginning of each sentence in my test script for the second test. I think this way I may be able to read calmly and it will help me not to miss any important points I want my participant to know.

My Usability Test 1

My first usability test was a near disaster. I jumbled words and read the test script as if I was reading the constitution; point-by-point.
I was so nervous I couldn’t read my test script properly. The words were there but I couldn’t see them.
I forgot to ask two questions and remembered them near the end, I had to take my test participant back to the other two websites and ask him the questions I forgot.
I also had to cut a sneeze, or was it a cough?, from the final video. As requested by my test participant of course.

Overall, a good first time experience!