Usability Test Plan Template

Test Plan for: Product/Application Component

Persona Type Tested: Primary/Secondary/Negative/Supplemental/Served/Customer

Context: an environment (location) where the user is comfortable without distractions

Duration: XX minutes

Complete the following before starting: Greeting and Consent & User Background Information.

Overall Objectives

List the objectives/goals of the usability test; what you want to study or to evaluate. Be specific in what you want achieve, to evaluate with this test (e.g. obtain quality or quantitative regarding certain product/application components, accessibility evaluation, heuristic evaluation, cognitive walk-through etc.).

Assess the overall effectiveness of the product/application for different types of users performing basic, common tasks;
Identify obstacles to completing a certain task or using a certain component;
Evaluate consistency and standards;
Use the References to guide you in writing your objectives.

Scenario

Use one scenario for each test. Do not use multiple scenarios for a usability test as it can confuse and frustrate the user. The scenarios used in the usability tests have a direct connection with the scenarios built for the personas document.

Tasks

Write out the tasks for each persona type. Avoid complex tasks. Make sure the user is able to complete the test in the specified time interval. Assign an estimated completion time for each task.

Task 1 + estimated time to complete it;
Task 2 + estimated time to complete it;
Task 3 + estimated time to complete it;
As many tasks needed.

A user might complete a task in a shorter or greater time than the estimated time. If the completion time exceeds the estimated time then it there is a problem. Also a user might skip the current task thus the completion time would be 0.

Post-test Questions

These questions could be presented to the user as a questionnaire or verbally asked.

Question 1;
Question 2;
Question 3;
As many questions needed.

Notes for Test Coordinator

Remind the user that you would like them to 'think aloud' so that you can understand what they are thinking, about the task or the product/application;
Read the user the scenario for the test;
Read the user the tasks he has to complete. If the tasks are complex, you may want to put a sheet of paper in front of the user with each task written out;
Record the user's actions, comments, questions, and body language (write them in the Test Observations section accompanied by video/audio).
Don't offer help; let the user attempt to perform the task. If they ask for help reply with: "What do you think you/that would do?" "What do you think that means?".

References

Fluid User Testing;
usability.gov Templates;
Handbook of Usability Testing by Jeffrey Rubin;
A Practical Guide to Usability Testing by Joseph S. Dumas and Janice C. Redish.

Other Notes

Written/video/audio notes done attached to the usability test. These notes reflect the user thoughts and frustrations.

Test Results for: Product/Application Component

Success Criteria

A successful design has been achieved when:

50% of users...
80% of users...
And so on...

Summary

List major findings in list or table format for quick and easy reading. E.g. "A number of users (specify the number) did/found _______"

Finding 1;
Finding 2;
Finding 3;
These finding reflect the observation notes of the observer.

Demographics

User Number	Gender	Age Range	Persona Type	Technical Level	Background questions answers
User 1
User 2
User 3
User 4

Literature recommends testing no more than five users and running as many small tests as you can afford, according to Nielsen, J. (1994). Usability Engineering, Academic Press Inc, p 165.

Interaction Notes

Enter a detailed descriptions of the participants' interactions in this table. The table can be separated by task, category, or whatever makes most sense for this test.

User	Task 1	Task 2
User 1	Task Result description + completion time	Task Result description + completion time
User 2	Task Result description + completion time	Task Result description + completion time
User 3	Task Result description + completion time	Task Result description + completion time
User 4	Task Result description + completion time	Task Result description + completion time

A user might complete a task in a shorter or greater time than the estimated time. If the completion time exceeds the estimated time then it there is an issue with the design. Also a user might skip the current task thus the completion time would be 0.

Post-test Questions Answers

Before the test write down some expected answers to these questions in order to compare them with the user's answers. Another solution is to establish the expected answers by using a control user.

Test Observations