Hi Meredith, Agree on B.
But would like to add, that if you know what the dependcies are from A to B, that would help a great deal. So from understanding the dependencies and based on the resources and time available ( which I rarely have enough) I would narrow down on the most important tasks / scenarios that go from A to B. So once that is done, then what would happen is that, you have one session in which users get to do A and then continue to do B. Also, if you have do test various scenarios, then you would have to break the resources . My 2 cents based on the simplistic understanding of your requirements. Hope it helps. Regards, Jay Kumar On 3/20/08, Meredith Noble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Can anyone recommend methods for performing usability tests on large, > complex applications with lots of conceptual dependencies? > > > > We're running into issues in our design of a test. We want to test > "Section B" of our application, but "Section B" doesn't make a lot of > sense unless you've already been exposed to "Section A". The trouble is, > Section A is pretty complicated in itself. They're definitely too big to > test together in a single 60 minute test. > > > > What to do, what to do...! So far I've thought of (with drawbacks in > parentheses): > > > > a) Have a facilitator walk them through Section A for 15 minutes before > they do the 60 minute Section B test (perhaps a bit overwhelming, hard > to digest) > > > > b) Ensure the participants who test Section A come back and test Section > B (good in theory, but difficult to schedule) > > > > c) Test the two back-to-back in a 120-minute-long test (participants > might fade) > > > > d) Pretend the dependencies don't exist and have them test Section B > with no background knowledge (not realistic, but hey, maybe the others > are too ambitious) > > > > Surely other people have had experience with this sort of thing - any > recommendations on what has and hasn't worked well? Am I approaching it > all wrong? > > > > Thanks so much, > > Meredith > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
