User Guide

CHAPTER 1
Newton and Its Users
Involve Users in the Design Process 1-17
5. Explain that you will not provide help.
It is very important that you allow participants to work with your product
without any interference or extra help. This is the best way to see how
people really interact with the product. For example, if you see a participant
begin to have difficulty and you immediately provide an answer, you will
lose the most valuable information you can gain from user observation—
where users have trouble and how they figure out what to do.
Of course, there may be situations in which you will have to step in and
provide assistance, but you should decide what those situations will be
before you begin testing. For example, you may decide that you will allow
someone to struggle for at least three minutes before you provide
assistance. Or you may decide that there is a distinct set of problems on
which you will provide help. However, if a participant becomes very
frustrated, it’s better to intervene than have the participant give up
completely.
As a rule of thumb, try not to give your test participants any more infor-
mation than the true users of your product will have. Here are some
things you can say to the participant:
“As you’re working through the exercises, I won’t be able to provide
help or answer questions. This is because we want to create the most
realistic situation possible.”
“Even though I won’t be able to answer your questions, please ask
them anyway. It’s very important that I capture all your questions and
comments. When you’ve finished all the exercises, I’ll answer any
questions you still have.”
6. Describe in general terms what the participant will be doing.
Explain what all the materials are (such as the set of tasks, disks, and a
questionnaire) and the sequence in which the participant will use them.
Give the participant written instructions for the tasks.
If you need to demonstrate your product before the user observation
begins, be sure you don’t demonstrate something you’re trying to test.
For example, if you want to know whether users can figure out how to
use certain controls, don’t show them how to use the controls before the
session. Don’t demonstrate what you want to find out.