USABILITY TESTING
Usability testing for the Scottish Housing Regulator’s new website
THE PROBLEM
The Scottish Housing Regulator required to update their website after realising how difficult was to find information to its users who would end up calling them regularly to obtain the information.
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Due to the nature of the website's main audience, vulnerable, elder, homeless and disabled, a great emphasis on usability and accessibility was made. The previous site did not have these considerations in place.
The goal of the testing was to validate the redesign of the website, its usability and accessibility, as well as capturing feedback that could inform any additional improvements or required changes. ​
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The testing targeted the three key user groups and it comprised the recording (face, voice and screen) of participants performing a set of pre-established tasks.
DATE
May 2019
STATUS
Completed
MY ROLE
I was responsible for the end-to-end usability testing of the new site. For this, I started by understanding the organisation's offerings, all the user groups they serve and to whom the new site was targeted to, followed by the needs and attributes of each user group.
An outputs report was delivered, providing an overview of the process and rationale behind the testing, followed by findings and recommendations.
Key activities
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User research
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Participant’s recruitment specifications and brief
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Testing plan
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Test design
(Questions, tasks, script, SUS)
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Usability testing
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Tabulation of results
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Report writing (Summary, findings, recommendations)
THE PROCESS
The usability testing of the new website comprised of three user groups over three days with individual sessions that lasted between 45 and 60 minutes.
Initiation
Immersing into the findings obtained during the discovery phase of the project, as I was not involved at that stage.
I proceeded to create proto-personas for the different user types, focusing on their requirements and relationship with the organisation. Direct access to the end-users was limited at this point in the project.
Testing Plan and a Recruitment Brief
A testing plan and a Recruitment Brief were created, containing detailed information about the main characteristics and considerations required for the recruitment of test participants.
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The recruitment brief was provided to the client as they established themselves as responsible for the recruitment of participants, including their incentives.
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Testing
The testing took place in three sessions, one per user type.
A script containing a series of tasks was prepared aimed to validate key requirements for each user type. These were informed by the findings obtained during the discovery phase; in the form of user stories.
The sessions included the recording of the users’ screen, face and voice. All users were notified prior to the beginning of the sessions and were able to opt-out if desired.
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Each participant was scheduled for a period of 45-60 minutes and all sessions followed the same structure:
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Welcome
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Introduction, explanation and consent
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Basic questions / personal question
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Introduction of the new website
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Tasks (between 4 to 5)
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Final comments
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System Usability Scale (SUS)
Findings Report
Once all the session were concluded, the data was analysed and tabulated and presented back to the client in the form of a report. This included an overview of the exercise, its purpose, objectives and the approach taken, as well as comments, observation and recommendations.
It also included a description of the demographics for each user type, as all results were anonymised.
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Recommendations were presented as a categorised table, allowing to track issues to specific areas of the website in conjunction with additional notes to provide context and better understanding.
This table was then used by the development team as a backlog to track and prioritise changes, and by the project manager to allocate resources and identify future work streams.
NEW WEBSITE
NEXT STEPS
The project was successfully completed, relevant changes applied and the website is currenlty live.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
The client was receptive to the feedback provided by the participants and it helped to start a dialogue about the accessibility of information and the content they create.
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During the testing, themes came out about other areas of the site that were not updated at the time, these are now considered for redevelopment following the same principles and approach o the new website.