Given at Usability Professionals Association Conference June 6, 2012

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Conducting Quick Check
Testing to Get User Feedback

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Schedule
Introduction 3:00 – 3:02
Quick check tests 3:02 – 3:10
What are they? What problems do they solve? How do they compare to traditional testing?
Planning & conducting a quick check test 3:10 – 3:15
Comparison 3:15 – 3:20
Group Exercise 3:20 – 3:30
Discussion 3:30 – 3:35
Case Study 3:35 – 3:45
Questions / Discussion 3:45 – 3:50
Tips & Takeways 3:50 – 3:55
Wrap-up, Final questions 3:55 – 4:00

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Today’s Challenges
(And yesterday’s and tomorrow’s)
 Knowing whether a design will work
 Time
 Budget
 Resources
 Access to users

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Quick Check Tests
 Post your design and gather feedback and reactions
 Quickly
 Low or no cost
 Validate design or ask specific questions
 Gauge understanding of content
 Check effectiveness, impact of design
 Explore interactions
 Can conduct online or post print-outs
 Provide an alternative to more thorough usability testing

5. Picture Source: Whitney Quesenbery

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Planning a Quick Check Test
1. Decide what you want to check
 Content, flow, design, colors, images, understanding, tone
 Documents, screenshots, video
 Tasks, questions
1. Consider context and bounds
 What instructions and context will participants need to be helpful?
 Number / label areas to help provide easy reference points
 How can you convey that without biasing them?
1. Pick a good location, time
 High-traffic areas or low-traffic, secured areas
1. Coordinate logistics and set it up
2. Check in and observe

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Sample Questions
 Where would you look to complete [task 1]?
 Was there anything that helped you know that?
 How clear is the content?
 Are there any design elements that help you understand how
to use this?
 What would you suggest changing?
 Are there any elements your friends, family, or colleagues
would have trouble understanding?

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Online Options
Notable
http://www.notableapp.com
flickr
http://www.flickr.com
To give people “Add a note” option, go to You > Your Account > Privacy & Permissions

9. + Group Exercise
Plan a Quick Check Test
You want to get reactions to your mobile app design. Think
about how you’ll set up a quick check test.
1.Define your goals, what you want to learn.
2.Consider:
 Participants & advertising (how will participants learn about this)
 Where you can set up the test (online, in-person location; timing, duration)
 Context, background participants might need
 Questions you want answered
 How you will collect results (email, suggestion box, post-it notes)
 Format or Supplies you will need (online - website, file type, etc.; in-person - paper, post-it notes, pens)
1.Use the next slides to plan out your first quick check test.

10. + Group Exercise
Plan a Quick Check Test
Goals
Participants & Recruiting
Location (online, in-person...)
Duration
Background / Context
participants will need
Materials needed
Questions you want
answered
How you will collect results

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Case Study

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Howto.gov/firstfridays

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Video
 SAVE
YouTube VIDEO LOCALLY JUST IN CASE WE
DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO WEB FROM ROOM!

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Moderated Unmoderate
d
10th Floor 6th Floor

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Permissions

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Publications Test: Success rate by task

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Moderated Unmoderate
d
10th Floor 6th Floor

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Quick Test steps
1. Pick site / document to test
2. Develop tasks (even “First Clicks are OK)
3. Determine # testers needed to succeed (10)
4. Timed dry run of the test
5. Select location
6. Set up materials 45 min before test begins
7. Test people for 5-15 min max each
8. Record the successes / failures and feedback
9. Debrief problems and solutions

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Wrap-up

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To Learn More…
 Kate Walser
 kwalser@cxinsights.com
 @kwalser
 +1 (571) 281-2626
 Jon Rubin
 jonathan.rubin@gsa.gov
 @govnewmedia
 +1 (202) 501-0855

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Photo Credits
Quick Check Test
Whitney Quesenbery, Open University open hallway usability test