Usability Testing

Usability testing has its roots in the field of usability engineering, which is concerned with studying and designing ease of use into products. A major part of usability engineering, and thus usability testing, is Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) "the study of how people interact with computer technology and how to make this interaction effective" (Battleson, 2001, p. 188).

There are five parts of formal usability testing identified by Dumas (1999, p. 22):

1. the goal to improve the usability of the interface
2. testers represent real users
3. testers perform real tasks
4. user behavior and commentary are observed and recorded
5. data are analyzed to recognize problems and suggest solutions

Reeves & Hedberg explain that usability testing "enables evaluators to collect both quantitative and qualitative data related to issues such as user interface, mental models, navigation, documentation utility, effectiveness, and efficiency" (2001, p. 154).

When should usability testing be done?