Chapter 13, Additional Exercise 1: Researching Usability Testing

Form groups of three or four for this project. Read a book on usability testing, such as one of the following:

Dumas, J. S., and Redish, J. C. (1993). A practical guide to usability testing. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Rubin, J. (1994). Handbook of usability testing: How to plan, design, and conduct effective tests. New York, NY: Wiley.

Using students in your class as test participants, carry out an informal usability test on the help instructions on your word processor for performing a particular task. For example, test the help instructions on how to save a file, create a new style, use a template, or number the pages in a document. In a 500-word memo to your instructor, describe the test you performed and the results you obtained. (See Chapter 14 for a discussion of memos.)