Jeffrey Rubin - Handbook of Usability Testing: Howto Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests

Handbook of Usability Testing, Second Edition: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests

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Copyright 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-18548-3

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Dedicated to those for whom usability and user-centered design is a way of life and their work a joyful expression of their genuine concern for others.

Jeff

To my parents, Jan and Duane Chisnell, who believe me when I tell them that I am working for world peace through user research and usability testing.

Dana

About the Authors

Jeff Rubin has more than 30 years experience as a human factors/usability specialist in the technology arena. While at the Bell Laboratories' Human Performance Technology Center, he developed and refined testing methodologies, and conducted research on the usability criteria of software, documentation, and training materials.

During his career, Jeff has provided consulting services and workshops on the planning, design, and evaluation of computer-based products and services for hundreds of companies including Hewlett Packard, Citigroup, Texas Instruments, AT&T, the Ford Motor Company, FedEx, Arbitron, Sprint, and State Farm. He was cofounder and managing partner of The Usability Group from 19992005, a leading usability consulting firm that offered user-centered design and technology adoption strategies. Jeff served on the Board of the Usability Professionals Association from 19992001.

Jeff holds a degree in Experimental Psychology from Lehigh University. His extensive experience in the application of user-centered design principles to customer research, along with his ability to communicate complex principles and techniques in nontechnical language, make him especially qualified to write on the subject of usability testing.

He is currently retired from usability consulting and pursuing other passionate interests in the nonprofit sector.

Dana Chisnell is an independent usability consultant and user researcher operating UsabilityWorks in San Francisco, CA. She has been doing usability research, user interface design, and technical communications consulting and development since 1982.

Dana took part in her first usability test in 1983, while she was working as a research assistant at the Document Design Center. It was on a mainframe office system developed by IBM. She was still very wet behind the ears. Since then, she has worked with hundreds of study participants for dozens of clients to learn about design issues in software, hardware, web sites, online services, games, and ballots (and probably other things that are better forgotten about). She has helped companies like Yahoo!, Intuit, AARP, Wells Fargo, E*TRADE, Sun Microsystems, and RLG (now OCLC) perform usability tests and other user research to inform and improve the designs of their products and services.

Dana's colleagues consider her an expert in usability issues for older adults and plain language. (She says she's still learning.) Lately, she has been working on issues related to ballot design and usability and accessibility in voting.

She has a bachelor's degree in English from Michigan State University. She lives in the best neighborhood in the best city in the world.

Credits

Executive Editor

Bob Elliott

Development Editor

Maureen Spears

Technical Editor

Janice James

Production Editor

Eric Charbonneau

Copy Editor

Foxxe Editorial Services

Editorial Manager

Mary Beth Wakefield

Production Manager

Tim Tate

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher

Joseph B. Wikert

Project Coordinator, Cover

Lynsey Stanford

Proofreader

Nancy Bell

Indexer

Jack Lewis

Cover Image

Getty Images/Photodisc/McMillan Digital Art

Acknowledgments

From Jeff Rubin

From the first edition, I would like to acknowledge:

• Dean Vitello and Roberta Cross, who edited the entire first manuscript.
• Michele Baliestero, administrative assistant extraordinaire.
• John Wilkinson, who reviewed the original outline and several chapters of the manuscript.
• Pamela Adams, who reviewed the original outline and most of the manuscript, and with whom I worked on several usability projects.
• Terri Hudson from Wiley, who initially suggested I write a book on this topic.
• Ellen Mason, who brought me into Hewlett Packard to implement a user-centered design initiative and allowed me to try out new research protocols.

For this second edition, I would like to acknowledge:

• Dave Rinehart, my partner in crime at The Usability Group, and co-developer of many user research strategies.