[Sigia-l] Questioning common test scripting

[donna at maadmob.net]

What an interesting question.

Something interesting I noticed today, which may or may not be 
relevant...

I sent out a request for volunteers for a usability test. I didn't include 
much info about what would be involved - just that they would be 
looking for some information on a new Intranet.

What was interesting was that many people, in their answer, made 
comments about their own abilities. Many of them implied that I would 
be testing their ability to find things, not the other way around (ie that 
things can be found).

So, how is this relevant? I usually include the "we are not testing you" 
thing in my script (and usually say something like "so today you can't 
do anything wrong" which usually makes them laugh). I do need to do 
something to reinforce that I want to know about the application, not 
the individual's abilities.

Now I have to think more about how to do this...

Donna