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Toral Contractor
User Research and Usability Testing, the Key to User-Centered Design
June 3rd, 2010
Usability, User Experience Design, User Research
The most successful Web sites are those that put the user’s needs, rather than the organization’s, at the center of its design. But without User Research and Usability Testing, how can you have a user-centered design?
In this presentation to the Potomac Forum, Director of User Research, Toral Contractor, and Information Architect, Kirsten Miller, outline the following major methods of user research and usability testing, providing case studies for each method with tips and important discoveries. And help you understand how each method fits in to the project lifecycle.
Check out the whole presentation or download it from slideshare:
User Research, Direct
Contextual inquiry
•Interview and observe users in their own environment as they use the site and perform relevant tasks
Intercept interviews
•“Hi. Would you like to help us improve your web site by answering a few questions?”
Focus groups
•Structured group interviews used to collect opinions and insights into user needs and perceptions
User surveys
•Collect a range of qualitative and quantitative data on user demographics, behavior and opinions
Card sorts
•Users sort, group and label site topics
User Research, Indirect
Web Analytics
•Analyze site traffic and user behavior
Call center interviews and log analysis
•Interview call center agents and review call logs, if available
Social media sites
•Explore groups that form around common user interests; review user behavior on your own social media sites/pages
•Can also use for direct user research
Usability testing
Live site vs. Prototype testing
•Live site: Test participants interact with currently existing site
•Prototype: Test participants interact with proposed design; can be low or high fidelity, paper or electronic
Moderated vs. Unmoderated
•Moderated: Test participants interact with system/prototype andwith researcher/facilitator
•Unmoderated: Test participants interact only with system/prototype; researcher may observe behavior and/or analyze data collected by system
Remote vs. In-person
•Remote: Test participant and researcher/facilitator in separate physical locations
•In-person: Test participant and researcher/facilitator in same physical location
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