A practical approach to evaluating test results

The author describes the procedure used at NCR Corporation to evaluate the data collected during usability tests. He points out that it can be overwhelming to face a mass of data to be compiled, categorized, analyzed, and evaluated at the end of a test, with limited time available for producing a report. This situation is avoided by defining, before a test, the tools that will be used to collect the test data and the process by which the results will be evaluated, and then performing the preliminary evaluation of data in a process parallel with the test itself. At the end of the test, an evaluation meeting is held at which the cumulative results are reviewed and solutions to the problems that have been identified are defined.<>