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Subject:Usability Testing From:"George F. Hayhoe" <george -at- GHAYHOE -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 23 Jun 1998 09:40:36 -0400
Rowena Hart said:
<<We do perform some usability testing, in the form of beta testing.>>
Beta testing is NOT usability testing. In a beta test, a product is released
to a group of users or potential users to determine whether it operates
according to specifications under typical user conditions. The point of beta
testing is to see whether there are any operational problems that haven't
surfaced in the limited testing that is built into most development
processes. Along with reports of operational problems, a beta test might
turn up comments that reveal usability issues, but such comments are purely
serendipitous, and eliciting them is not the focus of a beta test.
Usability testing measures the fit between users and specific features of
the user interface. Many usability tests attempt to determine how well the
interface reflects users' mental models of a task or situation. In most
usability tests, the testers are looking over users' shoulders (literally or
through video cameras) to observe how they perform specific tasks, and they
usually ask test participants to verbalize their thoughts to reveal their
mental processes. Most importantly, a usability test sets out to find the
answers to specific questions about how users operate a product. In most
usability tests, the testers elicit comments about participants' preferences
regarding specific product features. Usability tests are painstakingly
designed, carefully scripted, and elaborately choreographed. Along with
providing information about how well the product fits the users, a usability
test may identify operational problems, but such information is not the
point of the usability test.
A beta test MAY reveal usability problems, but it isn't usability testing.
(Neither is QA testing, by the way.)
