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Usability tests with 30 observers (cont)

Jared Spool first published an article on conducting usability tests with 30 observers. To quote:

Because there's a large number of design agents and stake holders involved and often a small number of available tests to observe, we can find ourselves in a situation where we need to have many observers in one session. It's not unusual to have 30 or more observers sitting in a single usability test. Here's how we pull it off.

He then followed this up with another post answering some questions:

The last time I did this was for a top-10 e-commerce site (who averages approximately $1.2 billion in sales each year). We observed 24 users this way, collecting the data from each one. Each session was filled with 30 folks (we had to put together an elaborate signup and waiting-list system to handle it), often with senior executives -- directors, VPs, and even the CEO. Most observers came to more than one session and would cancel other meetings to attend.

Posted by jamesr on September 24, 2007 05:51 PM
Categories: Usability & user-centered design