Usability Test Draft

Goals: 

• To learn if my draft is clear and concise or confusing and unclear. 
• Will an undergraduate student that has never taken a microbiology course be able to understand the directions?
• Is the core structure of a lab report and what each component requires comprehendible?  

Audience:

• Undergraduate students who are taking a microbiology course (who also have to create handwritten lab reports in a lab notebook)
• I would ideally like to have two testers and maybe three readers. I will have one or two testers from outside of this class (individuals who will be taking microbiology or are taking microbiology)

Type of Test:

• I believe an understandability test would give me the best feedback.
• I can ask questions to see if readers can apply the information I presented in similar situations 
• These instructions are written for a broad range of experiments therefore seeing if individuals can apply this knowledge in different instances would be great
• The key challenge is going to be constructing effective questions that will help me asses the understandability of an individual and to interpret the data 

Draft:

• Scope 
• Testing: How to Write A Microbiology Lab Report on WikiHow
• Testing Draft as of Thursday 2/19/15 
• Purpose
• The goal of this test is to determine the effectiveness and clearness of the set of instructions provided in the "How to Create a Microbiology Lab Report" WikiHow. When undergraduate students who are taking microbiology read the instructions, will it be clear and precise enough for the student to create an effective lab report?   
• Schedule & Location
• Thursday the 19th of Feb at State Hall Room 335
• Sessions
• One session of about 15 minutes  
• Equipment
• Computer 
• Participants
• Undergraduate students
• Taken Microbiology
• Note Taken Microbiology 
• Scenarios
• 15 Minutes
• Background Questions 
• Reading the dialogue (WikiHow)
• Answering questions about dialogue    
• Metrics
• Background Questions
• What is your major and class ranking (sophomore, junior, etc)? 
• Have you taken microbiology before?
• If not are you planning on taking microbiology?
• Ease of Use Questions 
• Would you recommend this WikiHow to a friend that is taking microbiology?
• Would it benefit so that they can construct an effective lab report?
• Would they be able to easily follow the directions?
• Rate the ease of understandability for each part on a scale of 1-10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best)
• Rate the ease of understandability for each core component (1-10) 
• Understandability Questions  
• True or False
• The first step to create an effective lab report is to take detailed notes during the experiment.
• It is not essential to gain background information before lab if your institution doesn't require you to do so. 
• It is highly important that you take detailed notes about the results.
• If your results are not consistent with your neighbors, you may use their results as your own.  
• If your instructor wants an expanded introduction section you do not have to follow your instructors wish.
• It is important to describe standardized tests and their meaning in the discussion section.  
• If I find a method/procedure in my lab manual it is okay for me to summarize it in my lab report.   
• It is okay for me to discuss my results in detail in the observation section. 
• Quantitative Metrics
• I will have ease of use/understandability rankings at the end of each part
• Under the core structure of the lab report I will have a ease of use ranking for each core component 
• Roles 
• I will be the observer & note taker