As I said in my previous post on process, it’s important to test your work early and often. This means getting in front of your users and collecting feedback, aka UX testing.

When you’re starting out with user testing it can be quite intimidating, but with a few tips and a bit of preparation, it can be very valuable. There are a few basic things to consider when carrying out tests.

Asking the right questions

Just rolling up to your user and asking questions may provide some value, but it may also give you some bias or low-value results. To avoid this it pays to prepare your questions in advance of the interview. When formulating the questions themselves make sure you avoid both leading and dead-end questions.

Leading questions

An example of a leading question is “do you find the mood of the scene magical?”. By asking a question in this way you’re influencing your user to think of the scene in a magical context. This may affect their answers, reducing the value of the feedback. A better question to ask would be “can you describe the mood of the scene?”. It’s more open-ended, leaving the user to describe the mood without bias.

Dead end questions

Likewise asking dead-end questions also provides little value. Dead end questions are questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. An example would be “did you enjoy the experience?”. A better option would be “tell me about the experience?”.

If need be, you can always ask any follow-up questions to clarify anything you feel isn’t clearly communicated in the users’ answers.

Sample size

On the surface, you’d think you’d need dozens and dozens of users to test on, and in the past, many UX practitioners have done just that. As it turns out, that really isn’t needed. In fact according to a study by the Norman Nelson Group you’re actually wasting your time with big sample sizes. You’re actually far better served by performing multiple small tests on 3-5 people. Not only is it cheaper and easier to do, but it’s actually more effective.