Often times, as a part of a usability test team, you will gather expected and unexpected results through usability tests. These usability test could be in the form of heuristic evaluations, participant user research or other forms. Ultimately, as a part of the usability testing team, we would want to fix all the flaws in the system as soon possible. However, it is first imperative that we make sense of all out findings first before we provide our blueprint for curating and improving the system for better usability.
Analyzing Findings:
- Determining Causes of Problems: Often times, determining the cause of problems may not be simple. Although sometimes we can identify a problem by segregating it into a type or category, such as navigation, concept or terminology. Often times, working as a team, or listening to users in participant tests can be very helpful in helping identifying problems, as well as their causes.
- Determining Scope & Severity of Problems: Although one might find multiple problems and issues with their system during a usability test, they may not be of the same magnitude. Some problems for example, may severely affect the usability of the system, while other may not. In order to help the tester distinguish the gravity and urgency of solving a problem, it is most helpful for them devise a system that can help quantify the scope and severity of the problems. We may see some users implement a rating scale for example, where the lower numbers such as 1 or 2 may indicate a problem of low severity, and higher numbers such as 9 or 10 may indicate an issue that is severely impeding usability. Others may use label such as ‘Not Serious’ or ‘Catastrophic’
- Making Recommendations: Solely identifying the usability problems in a system, and their causes, is not enough to produce a satisfactory analysis of findings. A tester will need to provide their understanding of how to either fix, or ameliorate problems in a system.
Reporting Results:
Often times the results are reported in a written Usability Test Report format. When writing a Usability Test Report we will need to provide information in such a way that both, a general audience without experience with usability testing, as well as insiders with plenty of experience, may be able to understand the results of the study. At its most general, the audience should be able to understand the goals, structure and outcomes of the test. For insiders, they may be more interested in the the methodology and an evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of the methodology. A formal Usability Test Report should have the following:
- Cover Memo or Letter
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Methodology
- Results
- Recommendations/Actions
- Appendices
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