One of the biggest obstacles to embracing and using user testing and research is the time and financial commitment required. As with everything that pulls in your organisation’s resources, this will need buying, and buying takes time. Luckily, you don’t need to go from 0 to 100; in fact, I would strongly advise you not even to try. User researching and testing is an inherently iterative process, so it lends itself to being brought in piecemeal. This allows you to prove the value of a small implementation rather than needing to try and gain buying for a massive initial outlay.
In the following sections, we’ll look at some of the easiest and quickest to implement user research and testing approaches, as well as how they can be helpful to you.
User surveys
User surveys are arguably the lowest point of entry in the research space. They can be conducted remotely or face-to-face and take very little time for the end users to complete. The data you can gather will be a mix of qualitative feedback and quantitative responses, using response options Likert scales. User surveys are a great way of gathering existing opinions regarding things the user has seen or would like to see. You could, for instance, survey your users on how they prefer to access training materials or when and where they use your training content. Anything that can be distilled into clear, concise questions can be asked in a user survey.
The major challenge of user surveys is the inability to follow up and expand to gain a better contextual understanding. To ensure data security, surveys should be anonymous, and therefore you, as the researcher, will not be able to reach out to the users that completed your survey to learn more.1
Overall, user surveys are the easiest and quickest form of user research you can deploy within your organisation. They require comparatively little time to create and very little commitment from the user base and wider organisation. Once you have the data from your first surveys, consider putting together a research pack that you can share not only with your team but with the wider business. If you can demonstrate the value of these insights to others beyond your team, you’ll start to create advocates for future expansions of user testing within the organisation.
Focus groups
Focus groups represent a fantastic opportunity to gather groups of your ideal user base in one place and get their direct feedback. Unlike user surveys, you’re engaged in a conversation and can ask almost as many questions as you need to gain the necessary insights. The additional involvement required in focus groups can also be seen as a positive from within the user base as they’ll feel their view has merit. You are valuing it, your team, and the wider organisation.
Focus groups must be run by a well-prepared facilitator and observed by a researcher. It’s not realistic to expect to be able to simultaneously run a multi-person conversation and take down notes or record critical insights. My advice is to have 1 facilitator per 5 to 8 people and 3 to 4 researchers observing the conversation. This number of researchers will help reduce the impact of bias.
Focus groups, whilst requiring a higher level of input than user surveys, are a valuable process that can be used to gain feedback on content that has been launched or pre-existing services. They allow for further contextual questioning when users bring up something unexpected and clearly demonstrate the value you place on your users’ experiences within the workforce.
User (usability) testing
User or usability testing is about observing real users using the solution you have designed. This approach targets situations where you are creating some form of digital content. In this situation, a user is asked to complete the course or e-learning module, and the researcher observes that process. Throughout the process, the researcher may ask the learner questions about the experience, especially if they see them struggling with something. The focus here is on usability, although this is also an opportunity to spot any potential usefulness issues.
It’s important to note that usability testing does not have to wait until the final, full-fidelity version of the course is created. Usability testing can begin as soon as the user interface is designed and operable, even at the prototype stage. In the product world, this could start as early as a paper prototype and continue through wireframes, low-fidelity to high-fidelity prototypes, and then the production version of the content. In our context, it’s unrealistic to expect this much iteration within the process, at least to begin with. So, consider creating a functional prototype without the final design elements included. By testing this for basic usability, you ensure you don’t waste time and energy making a full-fidelity version of the course that is ultimately going to have to be changed.
One of the most challenging things about usability testing is the temptation for the researcher to help the user. This mustn’t happen, as it completely invalidates the test results. Unless the researcher is going to be there to help every real-world user in the future, they are giving this particular user an unfair advantage in how to navigate or use the content.
User or usability testing can reveal a vast amount of information, such as preferred UIs, platform issues, and even attitudes towards digital learning content within your business. These insights are valuable to everyone, not just you. Because of this, you must share this information after the research is completed and you’ve analysed the data. This is a prime opportunity to deliver additional value to your business beyond your current project and start to generate future buying for user testing.
Card sorting
Organising information into logical chunks and connecting pieces is a key part of creating an effective learning experience. But what the organisation thinks is logical, and what the L&D team think is logical, does not always match what end users experience on the job. Card sorting exercises can give insight into how people who do the job, day in and day out, would organise and arrange information to help them better understand their job.
The basic process of a card sorting exercise is to gather between 5 and 10 individuals and lay out all the pieces of information you want to include in the experience. Each piece of information is headlined on a simple card. The participants should then organise these cards into small groups, with the guidance being that each group should have between 3 and 8 items. Once they’ve done this, ask them to explain their choices.
Next, have them create a heading or title for each group, and again ask them to explain their decisions. Throughout this process, researchers should observe.
Card sorting is an effective and straightforward way of organising information in your experience to best suits your target audience. When you first use this approach, you may discover that your understanding of a process or how information joins together radically differs from those doing the job. If this happens, don’t panic. In most organisations, there’s some form of disconnect between senior leadership, middle management, and those actually working on the ground in how they associate different pieces of information with others.
