From these results, I can work an average of how long it takes people to do a little bit of online shopping using the Sainsbury's website. I noticed that with each user, they spent the longest searching for milk and they all comented that they had problems finding the correct categories for certain items. My next post will be on paper prototyping and its uses.
Test users will feel under pressure. Knowing that they are being observed and recorded increases anxiety. Test users will make errors.
Here's some useful things to consider which I picked up from looking at Rubin & Chismell's Handbook Of Usability Testing and Usability Engineering by Jakob Nielsen:
Make test users feel as comfortable as possible.
Make clear to users it is the system being measured, not them.
Make clear to users no information will be revealed - Everything is confidential.
All test users should remain anonymous.
Inform them they can stop the test at any time.
Minimise the number of observers.
Ensure you've answered all their questions before you start the test.
How to achieve this:
Environment should be comfortable/quiet
Serve refreshments
Make sure everything is ready before hand i.e. computer, hand-outs, recording devices...
It's time to prepare what I need for testing an existing website (Sainsbury's) with real people. It's not enough to show people pictures of a website, because you won't get what they think of the usability, only on it's appearance. So here's what I will need to do to carry out a test with real users and a working site:
A consent form to have the user's permission to use the recordings from the testing. Here's what I'll be using:
Participant Consent Form
User-Centered Design – Task Analysis
By signing this form I agree to participate in this research and understand:
This agreement is of my own free will
I have had the opportunity to ask any questions about the study
I realise that I may withdraw from the study at any time without giving a reason
I have been given full information regarding the aims of the research
All personal information provided by myself will remain confidential and no information that identifies me will be made publically available
A background questionnaire - So when looking at the results you can deduct why the results turned out a certain way by looking at the person's backround information. This is the questionnaire I will be giving my users:
Age:__________
Gender:M/F
Income:
0 – 15K__________
15 – 25K__________
25 – 40K__________
40K +__________
Computer skills:
Terrible
Not Very Good
Good
Very Good
How Often Do You Shop Online?
Never
Hardly
Once A Month
Once A Week
Everyday
Do You Shop At Online Supermarkets?Yes/No
If Yes, Do You Shop With The Online Supermarkets That Do Delivery?Yes/No
A script of what I should read to each user before doing the test, which explains what they need to do. A script is used so each user is given exactly the same information. This is my script:
Thank you for agreeing to participate in this usability study today. I will be working from this script to ensure that my instructions to everyone who participates in the study are the same. The aim of the study is to observe how people shop online using a supermarket website. This session will be recorded so I have a back-up of how each study went and so I can look back at them for further analysing. In this study you will be given a simple task of buying a few items on a supermarket website. This isn't a test on you, it is a test on how easy the website is to use. You will start the task from the website's homepage. As you work through the task, say aloud what you are doing or thinking. For example, if you are clicking a button, say which one you are clicking and why. e.g. "I'm looking for bread so I'm clicking on the bakery button." At the end of the task I will ask you some questions about the website. You've read through the task and the information that is needed for it. Are there any questions before we begin?
The task problem. I will be giving the user a sheet of what they need to do and any information they will need to use to do it. Here is what it will say:
Task Analysis Problem
You would like to buy some items from an online supermarket site and have them delivered to your home.
The 5 items you require are:
Bread (wholemeal, unsliced);
Milk (semi-skimmed, 2 pints, organic);
Red wine (price limit £5.00);
Spaghetti 500g (price check);
Tin tomatoes (chopped).
I will also supply the following details, in order for the user to get up to the purchasing stage, of which need to be different for each test user:
Name
Address
Card Details
Video/audio device to record the session and something to make notes with
Debrief questionnaire. Questions will be asked verbally and this session will also be recorded. Here are the questions I will be asking:
Task Analysis Questionnaire
1)What were your general first impressions of the site?
2)How easy did you find it to locate the items on the shopping list?
3)Were there any particular problems you encountered when using the site?
4)Were there any features of the site that you found difficult to use?
5)Were there any features of the site that behaved in unexpected ways?
6)Were there any features you would like to have seen on the site that were not available?
Here is a scenario of where a user may want to buy some bread online. I've used the Sainsbury's website and gone through each motions myself, so I can see what a user is faced with. I've shown a screen grab of what I did, step-by-step:
I've gone from the home page - groceries - bread - white - added to trolley - checked out - checked post code - registered - checked out - selected delivery time - sorted payment method
