Moderating Usability Tests

Joe Dumas is a recognized expert in usability evaluation. He has 25 years experience as a usability professional. He as moderated or observed others moderate thousands of usability testing sessions and taught numerous students and usability professionals how to moderate. He is the author of A practical guide to usability testing (with Ginny Redish), Designing user interfaces for software, and numerous articles, both for researchers and practitioners. He is currently a Usability Consultant for Oracle Corporation. He was a Senior Human Factors Specialist at Bentley College’s Design and Usability Center and taught graduate courses in the college’s Human Factors in Information Design Master’s Degree program. He has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Introduction to the problem
Goals of the book and videos
A brief history of usability testing practice

Part I: The rules of interaction

Chapter 2: Your roles as administrator
The gracious host
The objective observer
The tradeoffs between them

Chapter 3: The Golden Rules -

Part 1: the Five Core Rules
1.The goals of the test and your relationship with developers determine why and when to interact
2.Respect the participants? rights
3.You have a responsibility to future users
4.The participants are the experts; you are in charge
5.Being ?real? is being professional

Chapter 4: The Golden Rules -

Part 2: Five Additional Rules
6.Let the participants speak
7.Your intuition can hurt and help you
8.Be unbiased
9.Don't give away information inadvertently
10.Watch yourself to keep sharp

Part II: Moderating the test session

Chapter 5: First contact ? Setting the tone
Pre-test instructions
Informed consent

Chapter 6: Interacting During the Session
Keeping the participant talking
How much to interact
Providing encouragement
Dealing with stress
Deciding when to give assistance
How to move the participant along

Chapter 7: Post-task activities
What to do first
Taking advantage of their knowledge
Presenting ratings and questionnaires
Making a good last impression

Part III: Special topics
Chapter 8: Interacting in a remote testing session
Preparing for the session
Getting the session started
Interacting when you can't see the participant

Chapter 9: In the Room vs. Out of the Room
Advantages and disadvantages of being in the room
Advantages and disadvantages of being out of the room

Chapter 10: Summing Up
Where do we go from here?
Advice for novice administrators