19 - User Studies

Class: CSCE-331

Notes:

User Testing: Why & How (Jakob Nielsen)

• Why User Testing?
  • You != User
  • Cheap
  • Convincing
• How to Test with Users
  • Get Representative Users
  • Give users realistic tasks
  • Shut up and let the users do the talking

The 3 Types of User Interviews: Structured, Semi-Structured, and Unstructured

• Structured
  • Carefully scripted questions ask by each user/interviewer
  • Lots of closed questions
  • determined options to choose form
  • Do not generally generate new insights
  • Used if you want to get rich feedback for analytics
• Semi-structured
  • Discussion guide
  • Open ended questions to allow the participant to talk
  • Allows to change questions
  • Used if you are looking to see experience
• Unstructured
  • There aren't prepared questions
  • Used if you know nothing about the demand

Small vs. Big User Studies - What's Best? (Jakob Nilsen)

• Recommend smaller studies but more of them

Better User Research Through Surveys

• Questions need to be easy to understand and appropriate for the audience
• Avoid double negatives
• Avoid questions with two concepts
• Use balanced rating scales
• Use open-ended questions
• Include "don't know" options
• First send it to a subset of your audience rather than from the whole sample