Usability Test

Date of Report:

November 3, 2015

Date of Test:
Location of Test:

November 3, 2015
Boston, Massachusetts

Prepared for:
Phone Number:

Timothy Bickmore
Unknown

Email:

is4300f15@ccs.neu.edu

Prepared by:
Phone Number:
Email:

Mallory Loomis, Aekta Shah, Jeremy Stern, Yulia Zileeva, and Sean Holahan
Unknown
loomis.m@husky.neu.edu, shah.ae@husky.neu.edu, stern.je@husky.neu.edu,
zileeva.y@husky.neu.edu, holahan.s@husky.neu.edu

Executive Summary
The main goal of this study was to determine how the Dog Dating App user experience was
overall. The team had several users test the paper prototype application and see how long it
took for each user to complete three main tasks. We then asked several questions about how
the overall experience was and if there were ways we could improve our application. We also
verified that users were able to complete all tasks without having to ask for help or further
explanation. We had the users test our paper prototype in the library which allowed us to find
participants who were dog owners and varied in major/age. Aekta played the role of the
computer while Sean and Mallory spectated and took notes. All testers were able to complete
the three tasks assigned to them. One user had more questions than the others and the overall
trend was that finding the other dog owner on the map was the hardest task.

Methodology
Before the Experiment: Informed Consent and Briefing
Hi, were designing a new dog dating app, that will help you meet other dog owners, plan dog
related events, and ask for dog advice. We are conducting a study to find out what people think
about this. We will not record or publish any information with your name. This is for a course
were taking in Human-Computer Interaction from Prof. Bickmore in the College of Computer
and Information Science. Your participation is voluntary and you can stop anytime and ask that
your data not be used. It should take about 20 minutes... Can you help us out with this?
Great. As I mentioned, were working on a new dog dating app. The purpose of todays session
is for you to help us figure out how to make this web interface more user-friendly before we
finish developing it. But believe it or not, we arent going to use a computer. As youll see, weve
actually created paper versions of the screens, and our team member, here, will be playing the
computer.

Well give you some tasks that we think are representative of what people might do with our app
in real life, such as planning an event, request a dog play date, and ask for advice. Your job is to
tell us what makes sense, whats confusing, and whether it works the way youd expect it to.
The other members of the team will just be watching and quietly taking notes.
Keep in mind that were testing the interface--were not testing youso if you run into any
problems its not your fault and it means that theres something we need to change. Ill be sitting
next to you, and I can help you if you want.
The prototype still has some rough edgeswere still thinking through how it should work and
some parts of it are incomplete. Before we cast it in concrete, we want to get some feedback
about how well this design works.
Our team member, here, will be playing the computer. He/she may seem like a pretty smart
computer, but he/she has no speech recognition and no artificial intelligence. Since machines
cant talk, hes/shes not allowed to explain anything. If you want to do something, youll need to
interact with the prototype just as you would on a smartphone. Use your finger to click on
buttons. These labels indicate places where you can type something in, and heres your
keyboard (give pen). Its OK to write on this.
Please tell us what makes sense to you, whats confusing, and any other questions that come to
mind. Your questions are especially valuable, but I may not answer them right away because
our goal is to change the interface so it answers them.
Remember that were testing the interfacewere not testing you. Are you ready to start?
OK, heres the first thing wed like you to do. Take a minute to read this and let me know if it
makes sense. If so, then whenever youre ready please show us what you would do first.
Who We Tested (Demographics)
Three participants, having the following characteristics, evaluated the Dod Dating App in Snell
Library between 1:30 and 3pm on a desk using the paper prototypes we created.
Dog Owner

Technology Level

1-5 years

Lower Level

5-10 years

Average

10+ years

Advanced

TOTAL
(participants)

TOTAL
(participants)

Age

Gender

18-25

Women

26-39

Men

40-59

60-74

TOTAL
(participants)

TOTAL
(participants)

Use Social Media

Never

Few times a Year

Few times a Week

Everyday

TOTAL
(participants)

How Often Dog Exposed to Dogs

Everyday

Few times a week

Few times a month

Few times a year

TOTAL
(participants)

How Many Dogs Own

House or Apt

House

1-5

Apt

5+

TOTAL
(participants)

TOTAL
(participants)

Suburbs or City

Suburbs

City

TOTAL
(participants)

What Participants Did: Scenario Tasks

Participants met with the study facilitators for about fifteen minutes. They first answered a series
of survey questions before interacting with the paper prototype. Then they were read a
debriefing instruction. They then were asked to perform the three tasks explained to them on
note cards. After the three tasks were completed, they were asked a few follow up questions in
order to asses the overall function of the interface.
What Data We Collected
Sean took notes about issues the participants were running into while completing the tasks. He
wrote down major errors the user had including clicking on the wrong buttons or overall
confusion with how to move forward given the next step in the task. He also recorded the time it
took each participant to complete a task.

Major Findings and Recommendations

Major Issues

Post button on the feed hard to recognize

Clicked private instead of public
Share location button hard to locate
Trouble inviting friends and locating them
Overall map was the most challenging to understand

Solutions

Redesign the look of the locate friend icons on the map

Possibly make the post button on the feed larger
Include friends names below where they are located
Make share location button a pop up when you enter the map mode

Detailed Findings and Recommendations

Introductory Questions & Tasks
Sociodemographic Measures
- Age?
- All respondents were between the ages of 18 and 25
- Are you advanced, average, or lower level with technology?
- All respondents considered themselves to be advanced
- How long have you been a dog owner?
- Most participants have been owners for 5-10 years
- How often is your dog exposed to other dogs?
- Most participants dogs were fairly solitary or didnt get along well
with other dogs
- How much do you use/post on social media?
- Most participants actively posted on social media
- How many dogs do you have?!

- All participants had only one dog

House or apartment?
- 66% of participants lived in a house while the other 33 were in
apartments
Suburb or City?
- All participants lived in suburbs

Statistical Measures
Age: Mean (20), standard deviation
Gender: Mode (female) & percent (66% girls)
Major: Mode (computer science)
Number of pets : Mode (1)
Number of Participants: 3
For each individual test case, % completed: 100%

Task One: Plan an Event

Youll find yourself on the app, already logged in as Dan. Your goal is to create an event post
with the following information: Midweek BBQ!
10/28
3:15pm
Northwest
Park Description: b.y.o.bones
The event must be public for all your DDA friends. Once you have created the event, post it!
All done!

Number of Participants

Success Rate

100%

Notes
-

Plus button works well

Date and time scroll works well, recall
Thought byob was funny
Post button took a little long to recognize
Clicked private by accident
A little confused at everything
this is fancy I like this

Clicked on the homepage button first instead

Went to profile
Dead end

Task Two: Ask for Advice

Youll find yourself already logged into the app as Dan. You saw an ad in Pet Vogue about this
new leash called Lazer Leash and you want to know if your DDA friends have tried it. Your goal
is to post an advice question: Has anyone tried out the new Lazer Leash? Next, post it. All
done!

Number of Participants

Success Rate

100%

Notes
-

Maybe add an example as a first time user

Utilize greying things out
Two participants quickly completed task without errors

Task Three: Find a Dog Playdate

Youll find yourself already logged into DDA as Dan. Your goal is to switch to map mode from the
current feed mode, share your location, find Molly P., and send her an invite that says: Want to
meet up at North Park?. Once you have sent the invitation, you have completed this task. All
done!

Number of Participants

Success Rate

100%

Notes
- It seems share location is too hard to see
- He got confused as to what he was supposed to do when he should have invited
Mollie
- Should see people

Generally lots of excess clicking

- Clicked on a different dda user and it did nothing
- Clicked on the park
- Clicked on the circle
- Assumed its a different page so clicked the right page option
button
Excited
Another user found share location much quicker than first participant
Understood to click on the other user

Exit Questions/User Impressions

What were you overall impressions?
Very nice, Very cool, easy to use, I really like it, cool idea
How did you like using the prototype for the app?
Yes, It is simple and three main things to interact with
Do you find something like this relevant to your life?
Seems like it would would be easy to use for scheduling
If I was around my dog more
Would be cool to be able to communicate [with]
Maybe not with people she doesnt know
Would you use this app if it was launched?
Sure, Yeah, Probably
How would you use this app?
Scheduling, Advice, Seeing friends and their dogs
Which feature seemed most useful?
Scheduling, Advice, Feed
Create an Event
Is there anything that would make this task easier?

Incorporate locations around you to select would be

helpful

Need to distinguish between public and private

How was the overall experience?
Easy, Cool, Good, colors would be helpful
Was it easy to understand the input event options?
Yes, Yeah, it was straightforward
Was it easy to invite friends?
Yes

Ask for Advice

Is there anything that would make this task easier?
Nope
How was the overall experience?
Great, Easy,
Was the feed easy to understand?
Yes
Are there any options you wish you could add to the posting
page?
Maybe an example as a first time user
Greyed out sections
Enjoys the comments
Maybe add an option to like posts
Meet up with a friend
Is there anything that would make this task easier?
Thought that the share location was a part of the
drawn map
Look at app FLARE
If the dog print had a name on it
How was the overall experience?
Should have a pop up that tells you to share your
location first
You can see other peoples location but you cannot
click, it should respond
Make the share location more obvious
Share location looks like part of the key
Was the map easy to navigate?
Got a little lost
A little challenging to find people
Did you have any trouble locating people/parks on the map?
Yes, No