[Sigia-l] testing profiles, personas, scenarios against users

[Eric Scheid]

I wrote:
>What's the point of devloping personas and scenarios otherwise if they 
>aren't going to be used in testing? At the very least, the usability 
>testing protocol should include screening the recruited candidates against 
>the user profiles and user personas, and a sanity check of the user 
>scenarios.

Does anyone actually test their user personas (et al) against actual 
users, or do we assume we've got it right and then just rely on testing 
the prototypes which are developed from those personas? Afterall, if the 
personas and scenarios are off base, then any prototype developed from 
them will also be off base, but the testing of the website prototype is 
usually interpreted as meaning that the development went askew, not that 
the input data is actually wrong.

I imagine the testing could be as simple as presenting some recruits with 
the personas and asking "which do you most identify with", "in what way 
do you see yourself as different", and so on. Testing scenarios might be 
a little more complicated, as most people don't act the way they think 
they will, let alone the self-reporting issues (like downplaying any 
embarrasing difficulties or limitations).

To test, or not to test, that is the question.

e.

______________________________________________________________________
eric at ironclad.net.au                 i r o n c l a d   n e t w o r k s
information architect                      http://www.ironclad.net.au/