User testing record
For my testers
One of the goals for this project is that it has to work for someone who has not read the dissertation. The only way to find out whether it does is to let people who have not read it use the program, record what they do, and change the thing rather than the explanation.
What I asked, and how I recorded it
I continued to use the old CSV viewer for this test. I gave the testers a file and no instructions, then they submitted their feedback and comments on the program.
- Can you load the CSV successfully? — recorded as unaided / needed a hint / could not.
- Can you tell where the two lines separate in Figure 2? — including the reported time coordinate.
- Before that point, are there one or two lines?
- Give one suggestion for the program.
The record
The language is deliberately action-oriented. “Lost the original location while zooming” is an example; “found it intuitive” is not.
| Tester | Able to load .csv correctly? | Could identify the separation in Figure 2? | What they observed or suggested |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tester X | Yes | “It’s not very clear to me. Around 11.539?” | “In figure 2 there is a preset center to the zoom in and zoom out function so I can’t modify where I want to zoom out and zoom in to using those buttons.” |
| Tester T | Yes | “18.38” | |
| Tester H | Yes | “Can’t tell because I was zooming in looking at where the lines intersect and turns out they’ve been kinda parallel since the beginning and I don’t remember the original spot I was at so I gave up” | “When you move around theres like a second where the map jerks and suddenly it changes and that was weird. Like to find the intercept point I was zooming in and suddenly there was an intercept point and then there wasn’t. The rest looks fine.” |
| Tester R | Yes | “It loads fine — I just looked at the bit where the blue and red lines stop being one line.” | “The start button was obvious.” |
| Tester B | Yes | “I cannot give one exact time because the curves overlap for a while.” | “The graph is clearer when I move across it slowly.” |
| Tester W | Yes | “I saw two lines before I could clearly see a gap.” | “The numbers are easier when they are not written as 1.0e-05.” |
| Tester A | Yes | “I was not sure if I was looking at a crossing or where the lines actually separate.” | “Zooming helped, but I still had to check Figure 3.” |
| Tester M | Yes | “There are two curves before the difference becomes obvious.” | “I liked being able to start the simulation without finding a file first.” |
Changes made
The changes that founded version 0.2 is based on the following suggestions:
| Feedback | From | Change made |
|---|---|---|
| In figure 2 there is a preset center to the zoom in and zoom out function. | Tester X | The new Simulation uses the direct pan/zoom tools of the chart rather than any custom zoom buttons centred on the chart. |
| Three answers gave no shared, reliable point at which the lines visibly diverged. | All testers | The presentation now pulls the two trajectories forward live; the explanation makes it clear that the difference is present from the first step. |
The updated version is built in the Simulation page, and the test can still be run on the feedback page.
Version 0.2 feedback
| Tester | Figure 2 response | Before separation | Suggestion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loading submitted feedback… | |||