Usability Study Part 2: The Study

Welcome to part two of our three-part blog on conducting a usability study on one of our Drupal sites. In the first part, we explained what this is all about, our intentions, process and what we hope to achieve.

In this part, we conduct the usability test, observing the users on the website while they perform the tasks that we have set them in our scenario.

Although we are recording the users’ screens and webcam feed to observe their body language, it is a good idea to have someone with them to help guide them through the tasks, while being careful not to bias the results. For example, if the user leaves the website through an external link, the guide should gently steer them back to the website being studied, for the purposes of the test, and so on.

On a side note, finding people willing to conduct a usability test, especially when their webcam feed is being filmed, is not always easy! We recommend planning your pitch carefully, and it involving incentives like cakes and beverages…

So, let’s get down to the test. If you would like, it may help to recap on the scenario / tasks. The video below is a short teaser of the three users performing the tasks on the website. We thought this might be more interesting than watching one after the other for 10-15 minutes each. However, so you can check our methodology, (or if you are really, really interested) we have added the full tests below.

In the final part, we will assess the results of the study, write up a list of actionable to dos and implement them on the live site.

Full tests