The point of doing usability testing is to get data on which to base
design decisions. Early in a design, you're looking a lot at *why*
people are doing what they're doing, not just what they're doing or
whether they can use it. If you're not observing the interaction
somehow, all you have to rely on is what people tell you in their
written comments. The problem with that is that most people are not
very good writers. And you can't ask them follow-up questions if the
test is remote and unmoderated.
If what you're working on is a mature design with a very large user
base and you want to learn whether subtle changes have an effect, then
that's where to go with A-B testing. Amazon does this. They make a
small change, release it to 5,000 people, and then turn it off and go
look at the data. They keep doing this until they get the effect they
want. But they also have millions of people using their site every day.
Dana
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
Dana Chisnell
415.519.1148
dana AT usabilityworks DOT net
www.usabilityworks.net
http://usabilitytestinghowto.blogspot.com/
On Oct 7, 2009, at 5:34 AM, Harry wrote:
Dana,
I'm interested in a point you made earlier in this thread: *"**Doing
remote,
unmoderated tests of an early design or a prototype of any sizable
design is
dangerous. If your customer pool is large enough to do remote,
unmoderated
tests, you probably need to be doing A-B testing."*
Why dangerous? I'm intrigued...
thanks
Harry
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