Transcript Tips for Conducting Usability Studies with Older Adults

Tips for Conducting Usability
Studies with Older Adults
Thomas S. Tullis, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President
Human Interface Design
Fidelity Investments
[email protected]
Seminar on Older
Users and the Web
GSA & AARP
Washington, DC
July 20, 2004
Usability Lab at Fidelity
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Usability Tests with Older Adults
Over the past 3 years,
we’ve conducted
usability sessions with
about 150 people 50 or
older.
Oldest participant: 85
Wide range of Web skills
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Tips for Testing with Older Users
• Recruiting
• Planning and Preparation
• Testing
• Participatory design (FIDO)
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Recruiting Tips
• If you care about level of web expertise,
may need to develop better screening
criteria:
• Frequency of web use
• How long they’ve been using the web
• Variety of sites visited
• Variety of tasks performed (email, purchasing, etc)
• How they learned to use the web
– Those who retired before the web was common
in the workplace will tend to have less web
expertise, even if they use it every day.
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Recruiting Tips
• Consider networking for recruiting
– e.g., “family and friends”, contacts, etc
– Older adults seem less likely to respond to “cold
call” requests to participate
• Logistics of getting to the test:
– Consider conducting it at a Senior Center.
– Consider special arrangements for getting to a
Usability Lab.
– Let them bring their spouse or a friend.
• Make sure all aspects of the test are
described before-hand (e.g., videotaping).
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Planning and Preparation Tips
• Consider using co-discovery (paired users)
– Especially appropriate for husband and wife
• Be prepared for them to show up for the
test early!
• Schedule more time for a session than you
would with younger users.
– For pre-test briefing
– For actual testing
– For post-test debriefing
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Planning and Preparation Tips
• Learn as much about their normal computer
environment as possible and try to replicate
it, e.g.:
– Operating system
– Browser
– Monitor size
– Screen resolution
– Special keyboard characteristics (e.g., larger
keys)
– Mouse type (e.g., scroll wheel or not)
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Testing Tips
• If you normally moderate the study from
another room, consider moderating from
the same room as the user.
– Puts the user more at ease.
– Works better for users with hearing
impairments.
• Some older users have an even greater
tendency to attribute difficulties they
encounter to themselves.
– Watch for this and be prepared to deal with it.
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Testing Tips
• Be particularly careful about using web or
technical jargon in your:
– Task descriptions
– Interaction with the user
• Some terms you might not think of as
jargon:
– Home
– Login
– Window
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Participatory Design Tips
• A technique that has worked well for us to
involve older adults in the user-centered
design process:
– FIDO: Freehand Interactive Design Offline
• For details, see paper presented at UPA
2004:
– Donna Tedesco, Ann Chadwick-Dias, & Tom
Tullis (2004). Freehand Interactive Design
Offline (FIDO): A New Methodology for
Participatory Design.
– Contact: [email protected].
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The FIDO Technique
• Give users a set of web-page components, or
building blocks, printed on magnetic paper.
• Ask them to build their own page(s).
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Our Study Using FIDO
• Took screen shots of the home pages of
Fidelity.com plus five of our competitors.
• “Anonymized” them (removed references to
company names, etc).
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Our Study Using FIDO
• Printed the screen-shots (in grayscale) on
magnetic-backed paper.
• Laminated them.
• Cut them into their components (abt 130).
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Presented the Elements to Users
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Simulated Browser Window
Asked users to
“build” their ideal
financial services
homepage.
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A Sample Session
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Data Collection
Took digital photos of
the pages built.
Also took digital photos
under “black light” to
facilitate documenting
the element IDs!
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Sample Pages Built
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Advantages of FIDO
• Less anxiety-producing than interacting with
a real system, especially for older adults.
• Fun and interactive!
• Use as much space as you need.
• Can be done as a group exercise.
• Users could be allowed to add their own
content.
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