Basic Elements of Usability Testing

■ Development of research questions or test objectives rather than hypotheses.

« Use of a representative sample of end users which may or may not be randomly chosen.

• Representation of the actual work environment.

■ Observation of end users who either use or review a representation of the product.

■ Controlled and sometimes extensive interviewing and probing of the participants by the test moderator.

■ Collection of quantitative and qualitative performance and preference measures.

■ Recommendation of improvements to the design of the product. We detail the "how-to" of this approach in the chapters that follow