Apple 2 manual Newton and Its Users

C H A P T E R 1

Newton and Its Users

Be sure to schedule time between your sessions to make notes and review the session. Jot down any significant points. If you used videotape or audio cassette tape, mark in your notes the specific parts of the tape that you may want to review.

To get the most out of your test results, review all your data carefully and thoroughly (your notes, the videotape or cassette tape, the tasks, and so on). Look for places where participants had trouble and see if you can determine how your product could be changed to alleviate the problems. Look for patterns in the participants’ behavior that might tell you whether the product was understood correctly.

It’s a good idea to keep a record of what you found out during the test. You don’t need elaborate video equipment; a hand-held video camera will work. In fact, you don’t even have to use video equipment. You can use a tape recorder to record what is spoken during the session. The important point is that you create some kind of objective, factual record of the session that you refer to later. That way, you’ll have documentation to support your design decisions and you’ll be able to see trends in users’ behavior. You might want to write a report that documents the process you used and the results you found. After you’ve examined the results and summarized the important findings, fix the problems you found and test the product again. By testing your product more than once, you’ll see how your changes affect users’ performance.

Involve Users in the Design Process 1-19