Setting up a test
The main components of any Usability Exchange test are tasks - for example, "Find the phone number of our organisation", "Register with our website and buy a product", "Get the latest information on...". Testers must attempt all the tasks in a test in order to complete the test. Testers may also be asked questions at various stages of the test.
The number of tasks, questions and testers in a test will depend on the type of test selected. The Usability Exchange offers three types of usability test:
- Starter test
A starter test consists of four simple tasks and is sent to five different users with a range of disabilities - for example 1 blind user, 1 dyslexic user, etc. At least one question is presented to testers after each task. A starter test is the easiest of all the usability tests to create - you only need to supply basic information about your website to create the test. - Intermediate test
An intermediate test consists of seven tasks and is sent to ten different users with a range of disabilities. At least one question is presented to testers after each task. The process of creating an intermediate test is similar to that for creating a starter test - you will, however, have more flexibility to tailor the tasks to reflect the function of your website. - Advanced test
You can add any number of tasks and questions to an advanced test. You can also select any number of testers (subject to availability) and can specify particular properties that all testers must share, eg. visual impairment. Questions can be positioned at the start of the test, during or after tasks, or at the end of the test.
The cost of a starter or intermediate test is fixed, while the cost of an advanced test increases as more tasks, questions and testers are added; advanced tests are also subject to a minimum charge.
The process for creating a starter or intermediate test is relatively straightforward and is therefore not covered in these instructions. The process for creating an advanced test is outlined below.
- Advanced test - start
- Advanced test - adding tasks
- Advanced test - adding questions
- Advanced test - selecting testers
Advanced test [Step 1] - start
The Usability Exchange provides a test wizard to help organisations create advanced tests. In step 1 of the wizard you enter the title of your test, the website address to be tested and a basic description of the test:
Advanced test [Steps 2, 3] - adding tasks
Once you have entered basic information about your test, you can add tasks to your test in stage 2 of the test wizard. You will be offered a short list of standard tasks - fill in the text fields for these standard tasks or go straight to stage 3 of the wizard to create more complex tasks:
The Usability Exchange allows a number of different tasks to be created. You can ask users to find a particular piece of text on your website, go to a particular page on your website or complete a particular website process. You can add any of these tasks to your test during step 3 of the test wizard:
For complex tasks such as registering with a website, you can record the sequence of page accesses and page variables that constitute the task:
Advanced test [Step 4] - adding questions
Once you have defined all the tasks in your test, you can add questions to your test. Questions can be closed or open-ended - users can either select from a fixed range of options or can enter a text response. Questions can be positioned at the start of the test, during particular tasks, after particular tasks, or at the end of the test. Two mandatory and two optional questions are added to your test by default:
Advanced test [Step 5] - add introduction
Step 5 of the wizard allows you to add an introduction to your test that will be seen by all testers before they start your test. If there are general instructions or information that you need to give users, you should enter it here, eg. "Please ensure you empty your shopping basket before starting each task", "If you are prompted to enter a username and password, use 'XXX' and 'YYY'", "Try to stay in our website and avoid clicking on any external links":
When a tester starts a test, they will be shown this introduction before they are presented with specific tasks; testers can also return to the introduction at any point during a task.
Advanced test [Steps 6, 7] - adding testers
During step 6 of the test wizard you can define your target user group in terms of specific properties such as disability, age and gender, or more general properties such as size of user group and reliability of testers. When you click "Continue" to go to step 7 of the wizard, a random user group with these properties will be created for you:
If you want to select a typical cross-section of users during stage 6, leave all checkboxes and popup menus in their default settings. Then select the size of your target user group using the "User group size" popup menu and click "Continue" to create a random cross-section of users.
Advanced test [Step 8] - overview
Once you have selected your testers in steps 6 and 7, step 8 of the wizard provides a summary of your entire test including tasks, questions, testers and the total cost of the test:
If you need to make any changes to your test, select the appropriate stage of the test wizard. When you are happy with your test, proceed to the payment page to pay for your test. Once payment has been received, your test will be submitted to the selected testers.