[Sigia-l] Questioning common test scripting

[Listera]

"Mitchell Gass" wrote:

>> At what point do you cross the Pavlovian line?...If you're very nice to
>> me, I might overlook (consciously or subconsciously) problems...
> 
> As part of making participants feel comfortable, I encourage them to be
> comfortable being critical.

That's a lot of coaching. You have actually invited them to be critical,
thereby, perhaps artificially, increasing the rate of "problem" detection.

> "The goal is to find ways to make this more useful for you. Please be frank
> and speak your mind; we want to know what works and what doesn't for you."

You've already framed the process to be about the participant, by shifting
the focus from the product to the person.

>> Hopefully, you're not putting a patina of "oh-so-scientific, white-coat
>> usability engineering" stuff on all this.
> 
> Ziya, I've said in an earlier response to you on this list that usability
> testing is not science, but rather a practical technique for improving
> designs. Can we stick to original subject of this thread, which is how best
> to conduct a usability test?

Part of that is: coach less, observe more.

Ziya
Nullius in Verba