A Practical Guide to Usability Testing

Joseph S. Dumas and Janice (Ginny) Redish
1999 (revised edition) / 416 pages
Paper: 1-84150-020-8

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The revised edition includes a preface in which Joe and Ginny discuss what happened in usability testing since the first edition was published. It also includes an updated bibliography and an updated appendix on labs – both current when the revised edition was published in 1999.

The body of the book is the same as the 1993 first edition. Although the examples are software and documentation – not web, it can still help you bring usability evaluations into your process -- or mentor others to do usability testing.

What it's about

In A Practical Guide to Usability Testing, the authors begin by defining usability, advocating and explaining the methods of usability engineering and reviewing many techniques for assessing and assuring usability throughout the development process. They then take you through all the steps in planning and conducting a usability test, analyzing data, and using the results to improve both products and processes.

Written in plain English and filled with examples from many types of pre-web products and tests, A Practical Guide to Usability Testing discusses the full range of testing options from quick studies with a few participants to more formal tests with carefully designed controls. You’ll also find forms that you can use or modify to conduct a usability test.

The authors, a human factors psychologist and a linguist, have extensive experience conducting research on usability, doing usability testing, helping companies set up usability labs and programs, and teaching usability engineering and testing.