Usability Testing

Qualitative vs Quantitative Testing

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/quant-vs-qual/

Qualitative Research

• This gives a direct insight into the usability of a product by observing users interacting with the design.
• After this, researchers will follow up on questions and explore the user issues more in depth.
• Qualitative research helps identify why users struggle with the design and what changes might help the design
• This is used anytime during the redesign or in the final design
• Quantitative design has a few different participants, this will have the study conditions that can be adjusted according to the team's needs
• This research is done by the user talking aloud protocol and collecting feedback

Quantitative research

• This offers indirect usability insights through different tasks, like task completion rates, errors and satisfaction scores.
• This type of research is useful for comparing performance against the previous design or a starting point.
• This doesn't explain why the problems occur and the need to be paired with qualitative research for a deeper understanding of the task.
• Quantitative testing is at the start of the working product, at the end, or at the beginning of the cycle
• There are many participants, this is done in strictly controlled study conditions
• Users do not think aloud

Thinking Aloud

The thinking aloud test will be when the participants use the system while continuously thinking out loud - verbally discussing what they think and are doing through the movement through the interface.