The Test
Introduction
Testing Process
The Results
Overview
The test consisted of asking volunteer users to find the answers to specific questions by locating certain pages on our site while being observed by someone on the library staff. See "overview" for information about who was tested.
Each observer made an individual appointment with a volunteer to conduct the test. There were 2 sets of 8 questions. See "testing materials." Half the volunteers were given test A and half test B. Each test consisted of easy, medium, and difficult questions. Volunteers were asked to think out loud about what they were clicking on and why. Detailed notes were taken on how they went about finding the answers.
Two items were measured:
See "success rate" for the results.
- how many answers were found successfully
- how long it took to find each answer (given a 3-minute limit per question)
We also gathered a large amount of qualitative data on how users were navigating the site. See the section: "observed problems."
A very brief survey was included at the end of each observed test. See "user survey."
webgroup-lib@mit.edu
2 April 99