High fidelity user testing
Preparation before participant arrives: We will set up our team’s prototype before the participant arrives so that the participant would not have to wait.
Introduction: We will introduce our team and explain our course project to the participant. We will also tell the participant what a user testing is, what it is for, how the process works, and what the participant’s role is.
Instructions: We will tell the participant that we are going to begin the testing session. We will ask them to browse the website randomly and feel free to ask any questions if they want.
Tasks for each member: We have 4 members in our team. One member will be responsible for taking pictures and videos. One member will give prototype for users and observe their facial expressions to see if they are confused or relaxed. One other member will observe the participants and take notes when needed for the future analysis. The last one will give survey and interviews for the users and record the users’ respond.
Interview: After the participant finishes the testing, we will ask the participant a few interview questions. If any interesting or valuable responses and feedbacks popped up during the interview, we will ask additional questions to help us clarify and gather more data.
Closing: If there are no other questions, we will tell the participant that this testing session is officially ended, and we are thankful for the participant’s participation.
- What do you know about this website? Can you guess its purpose or function?
- Would you use this website to search for information before you go to another country?
- Do you think this website help you know the differences between your culture and other countries’? Why or why not?
- What feature would you change/add/delete to this website?
- How well do you understand the gestures based on the website?
Participant 1
- I think the website allows us to know different cultures in different countries.
- Yes, the language is not only thing mattered when I go traveling. This website introduces me language differences which I cannot find on the other website.
- Yes, but I think you can add videos to show more clearly explanation
- I think you can add a searching bar or allow users to type, rather than looking for the items one by one
- The layout is clear, I can understand it easily.
Participant 2
- Is it a cultural learning website?
- Definitely, I always use this kind of applications before traveling. I saw some interesting post on your website.
- Yes, there are many things of culture we cannot realize in daily life. It is very great you list that on the site.
- I think you can combine it with that kind of language learning site or social application. Allowing people to make friends around the world would be a good opportunity.
- I can understand. However, I am a little confused about the flows. Are we supposed to browse randomly or with a specific order?
Participant 3
- A cultural comparison website, including countries, body gestures, and etiquettes.
- Yes, I would. The information could be helpful to avoid conflict situations.
- I think the word "culture" is too big. I can improve the communication with people from other countries on this website. However, I cannot acquire other parts of culture such as heritage.
- I recommend adding more information related to traveling spots, cultural heritage, food introduction, and so on.
- I can understand it very well. It has a good design.
At this user evaluation session, we got a number of feedback from users. All the users gave positive answers to our prototype. They can understand the website easily, which proves the success of the usability of our website. As to the suggestion, one user mentioned adding video to the site so that the audience can get more specific explanations. We also get this feedback from the professor, however, due to the time limitation, we cannot achieve this excellent idea. Also, there is a user suggested us add more information related to traveling spots, and cultural heritage. This is a good idea but not match our domain. We are intended to provide a platform for breaking down cultural barriers, not introducing a place for tourists. The other users suggested adding social function for people making friends. Actually, we already achieved this feature which can be found at vote page or click comment below each content. The user did not notice this function, which might because of the misunderstanding of the word "vote" or did not notice the comment bar. The future opportunities can be improve the social interaction and add video to give meaning.
