Cartoon by Chris Lysy at freshspectrum.com.
Before reporting the results of an evaluation, it’s essential to ensure you’ve reported the results in a way that is understandable and useful to your target audience. What is the point in writing a report that no one reads or uses?
In How to User Test a Report, Toolkit, or Dashboard (a.k.a. usability testing), information design consultant Chris Lysy provides helpful tips on how to perform effective user testing (also called usability testing). One of the best tips Lysy provides is: Don’t overcomplicate and just go with the basics.
The main steps in user testing are:
· Find someone to facilitate the user test.
· Find a small group of participants who are part of the target audience.
· Assign the participants a set of tasks to perform and observe how they perform those tasks, preferably while thinking out loud.
Facilitators should ask open-ended, neutral questions about how participants perform and interpret tasks, without influencing the participants’ decisions.
User testing can be done in different ways, both formally and informally. The important thing is to simply do it – and with an open mind.