In Person Testing - Website Usability Testing Guide

In-person testing

In person testing allows you to see and interact with users in real time, with minimal barriers. If you choose to test your site with in-person testers (where you monitor and your testers share a physical space) there are a few options:

• Hallway testing: Engaging 5-6 randomly selected people to determine if there are issues so large untrained users cannot navigate through them.  Because of this, users should not be familiar with your site.

• Focus groups: Engaging 5-6 participants to participate in a more formalized setting to conduct testing.  Typically these users have more familiarity with your site, and you may conduct different focus groups with different users groups.

Where to Conduct the Test

In-person user testing can be conducted anywhere comfortable to a user.  Many agencies establish formal focus group sessions held in an office or a conference room.  If you choose a formal setting consider factors such as the room configuration (i.e.:a classroom style, or circle/horseshoe).  Just remember in-person testing does not have to be formal- you can engage clients in a waiting room with a staff person and a laptop, so long as you have a script.

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