[IxDA Discuss] advice on usability testing for complex sites

[Meredith Noble]

Can anyone recommend methods for performing usability tests on large,
complex applications with lots of conceptual dependencies?

 

We're running into issues in our design of a test. We want to test
"Section B" of our application, but "Section B" doesn't make a lot of
sense unless you've already been exposed to "Section A". The trouble is,
Section A is pretty complicated in itself. They're definitely too big to
test together in a single 60 minute test.

 

What to do, what to do...! So far I've thought of (with drawbacks in
parentheses):

 

a) Have a facilitator walk them through Section A for 15 minutes before
they do the 60 minute Section B test (perhaps a bit overwhelming, hard
to digest)

 

b) Ensure the participants who test Section A come back and test Section
B (good in theory, but difficult to schedule)

 

c) Test the two back-to-back in a 120-minute-long test (participants
might fade)

 

d) Pretend the dependencies don't exist and have them test Section B
with no background knowledge (not realistic, but hey, maybe the others
are too ambitious)

 

Surely other people have had experience with this sort of thing - any
recommendations on what has and hasn't worked well? Am I approaching it
all wrong?

 

Thanks so much,

Meredith