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Feb 24

Page history last edited by Jared 9 years, 1 month ago

Tuesday Feb 24

On Deck:

  • General discussion about (and immediate nostalgia for) the usability tests 
  • Review Project 2 C prompt (the memo/report on your usability testing)
  • Writing Workshop

Due Next Class:

  • Read Chapters 24, 25, and 26 (p. 483-559)
  • Be prepared to discuss these generally and figure out how to apply these 3 report genres to community, organizational, or technical problems

 


The Usability Tests!


 

 

 

 

 

User Test Memo Stage 2 - Composing

Introduction / Rationale:

 

In the workplace, user test reports are often presented in memo form. Using the data you collected in the earlier stage of this project, compose a User Test Memo of approximately 2-3 pages, and append your data collection artifacts. 

 

Assignment Prompt (with annotations):

 

Analyze your user test data, and compose a 2-3 page memo per the following guidelines.

 

Format.  Your user report should be written in memo format.   Your memo should follow the organization of an empirical report of your user test, with an introduction, objectives, method, results/discussion, and conclusion.  Each section should be organized to move from general statements to specific descriptions and details; this maintains a descending order of priority throughout.  Your sections of the memo/report might look like this:

 

  • Introduction.  Remind your readers of the topic and target audience of the technical instructions you are testing.

    • Also include (see p. 535 of Anderson) an introduction that:  

      • Announces the topic of research presented in the report

        • i.e. your introduction states briefly (in a few words) the goals for your usability tests + the range of users you tested + why

      • Persuades readers that this research is important to them (i.e. briefly state the value of your testing and briefly previews some of your key conclusions and recommendations for revision drawn from the tests).    

      •  Explains the relevance of the research to WikiHow's goals (possibly citing some of these) and, if appropriate, the relevance of your site to the existing knowledge on the topic on WikiHow (i.e. you explain how the subject you're testing fits into/contributes to WikiHow's knowledge database)

    • See page 535 for other ideas... 

  • Objectives.  Identify the objectives of your user test.  

    • Note in more detail the specific/particular goals of your test, reiterating these from your plan 

    • Note any new goals that came up during or after your first in-class test 

  • Method.  Describe your test readers and why you chose them.  Describe the type of user test you designed as well as your procedure and instrument for gathering information from your readers.  Remember that the purpose of the method section is to persuade your readers that you have carefully and effectively tested your set of instructions; therefore, the more thorough and detailed your method section, the more persuasive it will be.

    • Describe in more detail your different users/readers and why you chose them.

    • State clearly the type of test you did (citing something about 'performance', 'location', or 'understanding' tests from the text to help you define it with credibility/ethos),

    • Spend a paragraph (or two) describing your test procedure/script, focusing mainly on what you were thinking about acheiving in drafting the formal sections 
    • Persuade your readers that the above method (or methodological issues) were designed to produce reliable results 

  • Results and Discussion.  Report the results your test produced.  Be quite specific in this section.  This will be the most lengthy and detailed section of the memo/report and should contain such information as where your testers had difficulties and what your testers said about the instructions.

    • Present a significant finding (exclude anything irrelevant) from your usability testing, and discuss (1) how this impacted your wikihow design and revision plans

    • REPEAT for each significant finding... 

  • Conclusion.  Tell what you learned overall from your test and indicate the specific revisions you will make as a result of what you learned.

    • Explain (or re-state) the significance of your test.  (Re)State conclusions plainly/concisely for your readers

    • Note why your conclusions matter to your readers for the memo (your instructor, and your WikiHow users or co-collaborators online) 

 

Supporting texts. Anderson, Chapter 16, 383-385, pp. 288-290, and pp. 535-536

 

Learning Objective:

 

You will be able to report test findings in professional memo format.

 

Minimum Requirements:

 

  • One memorandum of 2-3 pages, plus appended user test data.

 

Due Date (for everything project 2 related):  Friday, anytime


In addition to the above structural prompt for writing your memo/report, focus on:

  1. Continuing to work with solid text design by starting your draft with consideration of several of the six design principles on p. 335 -- specifically by:
    1. Including at least one image or graphic (and upwards of three, but no more than one per page)
      1. include an image on your first page
      2. potentially include a table of results,
      3. potentially include a screenshot of a particular problem with the website
      4. ... 
    2. Using the above sections in the assignment description as Headings, but (you may) add brief descriptive phrases to these as titles, such as:
      1. Method: Full Performance Tests on Three Users with Diverse Experience
      2. or Objectives: Test Usability on Three Levels
      3.  or Conclusion: Major Revisions Required
      4. Appendix:  Report on Usability Testing X (for your main title...) 
  2. Including this Memo/Report as an Appendix on your WikiHow site -- see p. 288. 
  3.  

 

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