Usability Testing with Different User Groups

When designing and creating a website or an interface, usability testing is important in enabling us to truly understand the needs of the ‘real users’. In her paper Remote usability evaluations with disabled people, Helen Petrie refers the ‘eureka moment’ experience, a moment of understanding or realizing how users try to access a (badly designed) webpage. It could provide invaluable qualitative and quantitative feedback on how users interact with a product, website or interface.

User groups

When we talk about performing a user test, we talk about testing with the correct user group. User groups can be classified into different categories according to their job roles, gender, familiarity with a product or frequency of use of a service. It depends on the characteristics of the test and what we intend to find out from it. However, this is not the only element we should cater for. In a user test, data is only valid when users give their honest feelings and perception. This will only happen when they are relaxed and comfortable with the testing environment (physical and/or computing environment).

Different user groups have their preferred style of communicating. For instance, when testing with children, we might need to change the way of saying things and asking questions. Children like to be given encouragement and they are more likely to perform ‘better’ (in the way we would like them to perform) when they are interested in the task, for example with something fun, entertaining or challenging (or sounds challenging to them).

Avoiding marginalisation

I have been working quite a lot with people with impairments and elderly people in the past. There are arguments about whether they should be treated differently in a usability testing. In my opinion, this shouldn’t be the case because by doing so, it will reinforce their feelings of marginalisation and made them feel less valued. However, it is important to cater for, but not to forget, the requirements of people with special needs.

People with impairments

For example, when performing usability testing with people with impairments, it is vital to take into consideration and prepare assistive technologies that they might require in completing the test. Visually impaired users might need screen magnifiers or screen readers; whereas users with motor impairments might require different alternative input devices. Additionally, there are a number of screen readers available in the market, for example JAWS and Window-Eyes and they use different keyboard shortcuts to navigate within a webpage. Providing the users with the screen reader that they are familiar with is therefore essential in ensuring they are comfortable in completing their tasks.

Other possible issues we’ve found when testing with visually impaired people is that they might have problems in using a keyboard with different layout to theirs at home. One way to resolve this problem is to use keyboard stickers or ‘bump on’s (which are available from RNIB online shop). In addition, it is also important to cater for additional space for guide dogs or wheel chairs.

Elderly People

Some impairments are linked to the elderly, for example visual deterioration. Therefore, when testing with elderly people, issues such as font size and screen resolution should also be considered (for instance, with font size more than 12 and 800 x 600 resolution). Moreover, we are often encouraged not to use technical terms when running a test with elderly people. Using jargon might make them feel embarrassed if they don’t understand the terms and subsequently they will feel as if they know nothing. Of course there are exceptional cases. For example, previously I have performed a test with a man in his late 70s whose knowledge of technology was really impressive and he was aware of many new cutting edge technologies and was sharing them with us. Therefore, a better conclusion that we could make is to speak the user’s language that one is familiar with during the test. But how do we assess this? Well, here is where the initial interview plays a crucial role. A brief chat with the users prior to the test might not seem to be related to the test itself, but it can give us a good idea of the user’s background and personalities. This helps us in finding the best way in communicating with each user in their most comfortable way.

Preparation and approach

Running a user test should appear simple, but I think to do it right is complex and requires a lot of preparation. To get the true answers and obtain what we really want can be tricky. It could involve an understanding of both usability and psychology. Perhaps, the basic rules that we should bear in mind are to speak the user’s language and make sure they are comfortable and relaxed. Then we would be more likely to see what they see, feel what they feel.

A small note, when I said speak the user’s language, it does not mean we ignore completely the script we have prepared in advance. We are still saying the same thing to each participant to avoid introducing a bias. However the terms we use and our tone of voice can introduce a sense of ease and comfort.

Find out more:

Usability testing
Some useful advice from UIaccess.com:
Planning usability testing
Preparing for usability testing
Conducting usability testing