A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (Human Computer Interaction) (Hardcover)

by Joseph S. Dumas (Author), Janice C. Redish (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A terrific update to a terrific book. This thoughtful and thorough work will push readers along quickly to successful and effective usability studies." -- Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland

This book has much advice to give...raising a host of issues about digital products that we need to address from our own experience and from our own values. -- Digital Creativity, Vol.10, No.2 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
In this volume, the authors begin by defining usability, advocating and explaining the methods of usability engineering and reviewing many techniques for assessing and assuring usablity throughout the development process. They then follow all the steps in planning and conducting a usability test, analyzing data and using the results to improve both products and processes. Using examples from many types of products and tests, the book discusses the full range of testing options from quick studies with few subjects to more formal tests with carefully designed controls. The authors discuss the place of usability laboratories in testing as well as the skills needed to conduct a test. Included are forms to use or modify to conduct a usability test, as well as layouts of existing labs that should help the reader build his or her own.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ablex Pub (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089391990X
• ISBN-13: 978-0893919900
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,846,657 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, Useful, and Usable - The Best Usability Book, September 3, 2000

By	Gary Perlman "[e-mail]" (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (Paperback)

This is a step-by-step quide with checklists, offering insight into every stage of usability testing. It should help any software development project produce more usable software (assuming the developers are willing to make changes based on the results of testing).

As someone who has done research about usability, taught about usability to over 1000 practitioners, and developed usable systems (some more so than others) for 20 years, I am still impressed every time I open this book. I recommend it as the best practical book on developing usable software (although I also recommend other books, such as Nielsen's "Usablity Engineering" and Rubin's "Handbook of Usability Testing").

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars necessary reading, July 6, 2001

By	K. Mohnkern (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (Paperback)

This is required reading for usability professionals. It's a detailed look at testing, covering everything from test plans and lab construction to data analysis and how to handle unqualified testers who slip through the screening process. It covers lower-budget tests in addition to full-scale ones. It's clear that Dumas and Redish have loads of experience, and they're not shy about sharing it.

The most useful idea I came away with is that testing needs a specific purpose. You can't just test a system's usability; you test, for example, the navigation system or a membership form.

The only flaws here are a couple of omissions. There's no mention of testing web applications, though the principles covered here can be extrapolated to other purposes. And there is no mention of the ultra-cheap guerilla testing tactics. I doubt Dumas and Redish would approve of them, but it would have been very helpful to read about where these alternative methods were effective and not.

This book is a keeper. While my organization will not likely be doing full-blown usability testing for awhile, I'm now more able to evaluate and communicate with third-party testing facilities. And this book will influence all of our other evaluation and assessment testing methods.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic, January 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (Paperback)

This is a classic in the field, written by two highly-respected usability specialists. I was fortunate to read it as one of the textbooks in a class on usability testing taught by Dr. Dumas. It is a very practical book, covering planning, testing, and reporting the results. The strengths and weaknesses of usability testing are discussed, and there is some information about other usability evaluation methods and basic design principles.

This is a republication, with only slight changes, of the 1993 edition, so the technology and costs are not up to date. But it's not hard to think in terms of digital cameras instead of videotape.

Highly recommended.