A Practical Guide to Usability Testing

Joseph S. Dumas, Oracle Corporation, and
Janice C. Redish, Redish & Associates, Inc.
Published 1999 (revised edition) / 416 pages
Paper: 1-84150-020-8

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The revised edition includes a new preface in which Ginny and Joe discuss what has happened in usability testing since the first edition was published. It also includes an updated bibliography of recent books and an updated appendix on labs. The body of the book is the same as in the first edition. It's still all relevant to help you bring usability evaluations into your process -- or mentor others to do usability evaluations.

What it's about

Are you considering introducing usability into your product design process? Have you been given the responsibility for usability in your organization? Are you a product designer, software engineer, or documentation specialist who is trying to make your product more usable? Are you incorporating usability into a course on human factors, human-computer interaction, or document design? If so, this book is for you.

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 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.

Contents

Preface to the First Edition
Preface to the Revised Edition
How to Use This Book

PART I. Concerning Usability

1. Introducing Usability
2. Introducing Usability Testing
3. Uncovering Usability Needs Before You Design
4. Basing Designs on Expertise in Human-Computer Interaction
5. Evaluating Usability Throughout Design and Development
6. Establishing a Usability Program in Your Organization

PART II. Planning and Preparing for a Usability Test

7. Planning a Usability Test
8. Defining Goals and Concerns
9. Deciding Who Should Be Test Participants
10. Recruiting Participants
11. Selecting and Organizing Tasks to Test
12. Creating Task Scenarios
13. Deciding How to Measure Usability
14. Preparing Test Materials
15. Preparing the Test Environment
16. Preparing the Test Team
17. Conducting a Pilot Test

PART III. Conducting and Using the Results of a Usability Test

18. Caring for the Test Participants
19. Conducting the Test
20. Tabulating and Analyzing Data
21. Recommending Changes
22. Communicating the Results
23. Preparing a Highlight Tape
24. Changing the Product and the Process

References

APPENDIX A: Setting Up a Usability Lab
APPENDIX B: Relevant Organizations and Journals