[thelist] How long is a usability piece of string?

martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com
Tue Jan 23 09:47:31 CST 2001


Memo from Martin P Burns of PricewaterhouseCoopers

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Yup, I knew that. I've also seen Jakob's suggestions about adding
quant research to the qual of 5 users. I'm trying to get a handle on how
long *I* (as the person implementing a UE workstream) might need to
spend on it.

Cheers
Martin





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Subject:  Re: [thelist] How long is a usability piece of string?



Martin,

Jakob Nielsen, a usability expert (although controversial for his strong
opinions!) says you can do fine with 5 people for user testing. There's an
article about it at his site at http://www.useit.com.

Personally, I try to get as many people as possible, usually at least 5-10
or so, depending on how lucky I get for people to do this. I also try to
get people of varied levels of experience using the Internet to attempt to
get a good cross-section. If it's a specific target, then I tend to tune in
closer to the type of target model.

If we discover bumps to adjust, then I do another round after I've changed
things, too, of course.

I'll be curious to hear what others do. What do you think is reasonable?

Warmly,
Shirley
--
Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A.
SKDesigns  mailto:skaiser at skdesigns.com
Website Development  http://www.skdesigns.com/
Pianist, Composer  http://www.shirleykaiser.com/


At 05:37 AM 01/23/2001, you wrote:

>Here's question for you:
>
>How many person/days would you expect a credible usability
>workstream to take for a reasonably large site (would typically
>include both product and non-product info, and shopping)?
>
>Cheers
>Martin



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