Micro-usability Test Assignment Instructions

Micro-Usability Test Assignment Overview

Your first major assignment in this course will be to conduct and report on a micro-usability test.
This assignment has two parts: Planning and Reporting.

Assignment Overview

PLANNING
For this test, you will be evaluating the site Doodle.com. Doodle allows users to create meetings
by setting up “scheduling polls” to find times for multiple people to meet. You will test three
functions of Doodle:
1. Creating a poll
2. Participating in a poll
3. Reviewing the results of a poll (note that the term “poll” would be too leading before
someone has interacted with Doodle, since that is terminology specific to
Doodle).

You will recruit 2 people who have never used Doodle before and ask them to meet with you for a
30 minute test session. This test should ideally be conducted in person, but could be conducted
remotely using screen sharing, if you know how to set up such a connection. The test should be
conducted using the participants’ own device (laptop, desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone).
The Doodle site will be accessed via web browser, and as far as we know any reasonably modern
browser should work fine.

REPORTING 
You will conduct the test sessions. It is strongly recommended that you not wait until the last
minute to conduct these sessions, as sometimes rescheduling or replacing a participant is
necessary (things happen). 

During each session, follow your Test Script (template provided to you) and pay particular
attention to any problems, small or large, that participants encounter when conducting the tasks.
Don’t worry too much about writing things down or recording the test in any way. This is a “Micro-
usability” test, which means that we aren’t going to put as much effort into documenting the test as
we would for a more formal test. It is critical, however, to take 10-15 minutes after each test
session and write down your observations while the test is still fresh. Going back through the tasks
yourself might be helpful for jogging your memory about what the participant did during the tasks.

Finally, after both sessions, you will write a brief report, using a  provided Test Report template
(provided), communicating what you found. In particular, you will identify any problems that you
saw participants encounter, the aspects of Doodle design that contributed to those problems, and
any ideas you have about what Doodle ought to do to address the problems. 

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 Micro-usability Test Assignment Instructions

Micro-usability Test Planning

In the first phase of this assignment, you will prepare the test script and recruit participants. 

Preparing the Test Script

Copy the test script into your preferred word processing software (e.g., Google Docs, Microsoft
Word) and make the changes indicated.You will want to make two versions of the script:
• One for your own reference, which can contain the Moderator Notes
• One containing only the task instructions to share with the participant
As noted in the Test Script, the tasks should be printed one per page so that they can be given to
the participant one at a time (not all at once). If you don’t have access to a printer, the tasks can be
handwritten or presented on separate slides, or different pages of a digital document, but, again,
they should be shown to the participant one at a time.

Recruiting Participants
Contact your two participants and set up a time to conduct the test.

Micro-usability Test Report

For the second phase of this assignment, you will complete the two test sessions and write a
report describing your participants and your findings. 

Participants:
Without revealing names or identifying details, describe the users who participated in the test.
Information about their experience online and with group scheduling are important to include.

Basic Results:
Write a few paragraphs about your key observations. First, describe how the test went overall. Did
your participants succeed at all of the tasks? Were there any partial or complete failures?

Findings and Recommendations:

Next, report on problems that you observed and try to diagnose the causes of those problems.
Focus on a few (2-4) significant observations instead of generating a long list of minor things. Here
are some possible things to cover: What worked well? What didn’t? What were the most confusing
or frustrating aspects of the interface? What errors or misunderstandings occurred? What did
users think about the interface? What would they like to see improved?

Be sure to present the problems with evidence. That is, indicate which participant had the problem
(you can use IDs rather than names, such as “Participant 1” or “P1”) and what you observed. Then,
go on to diagnose the problem--what was it about the design of Doodle that contributed to the
problems you observed? If you feel so inspired, briefly suggest changes the developers could make
that would address the problems you observed.

Self-Reflection
How did your micro-usability test go?
What went well and what would you do differently next time?

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 Micro-usability Test Assignment Instructions

Submission Instructions
Please submit a pdf file with the name format : UXE-Spring2020-Assignment01-YourSection-
YourRollNo.pdf
Note: Only the placeholders in red will be replaced with your respective ones.
RollNo must be of the format: 00-0000.
The pdf must be submitted on google classroom.
A hardcopy of your assignment must be submitted in the next class after the submission deadline
or as mentioned on the classroom instructions.

Failure to meet Submission Guidelines or Deadlines

If your file is not named correctly, it will NOT be graded.

Both hardcopy and soft copy submissions must be made before the given deadline for the
submission to be considered as complete. Any missing component will render the entire
assignment missing, and will not be graded as a result.

A note on Academic Honesty

All work that you submit is considered to be yours unless otherwise stated or referenced. If you
consult any resources or individuals, make sure to cite them sufficiently and adequately in your
submitted work. If there is any element of intentional or unintentional dishonesty e.g. Plagiarism
etc found in your work, it is liable to cost you an F in the course.

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