What is User Testing and how does one earn more money by becoming a reliable participant?
Getting better at user testing helps you earn more money and provides you with credibility for future surveys and tests. Let’s talk about the different kinds of testing and how to become a reliable user test taker.
What is user testing? Usability testing is when researchers have people(users) perform specific tasks on a product or service. These products and services can be either virtual or physical. While you, as a user, test said product, the researcher observes how you interact, explore, and experience the product.
Companies oftentimes test their commodities for multiple reasons. Sometimes they want to test out new unreleased products, or just ones that have been recently modified. Other times they want to test multiple versions of the same product to see which one does better. The goal of the studies is to record behavior and understand if there is any complexity in using the product. Fortunately for the market, improvements can be made from progressive and successful testing. The users who revealed unexpected issues directly prompt companies to work on fixing the issues so the rest of the users of the product can have a better experience.
Why is user testing important? Companies use real people to test their products and services. This helps provide an understanding as to how people interact with the products/services since users are interacting with them for the first time. This helps the company change or improve their product based on what users struggle with and what they tend to like or dislike about the product/service. It’s really important as you, the user, be sincere and honest with how you approach the test. When you’re compliant with the rules and procedure, not only do you accommodate with providing helpful insight, you also become a more reliable user that companies will reach out to in the future. Although it may seem small to you, you are directly improving products and services, some of which you have used or will use in the future! How many instances have there been when you had problems using a service or online product?
Taking surveys and participating in user testing is generally a great way to make extra money at home. Usually, users take tests on-site in research labs, academic settings, or usability labs. Although the recent virus has paused all testing for the past year, sometimes companies can’t afford to host in-person research. Even though this is a disadvantage in some cases, it does provide many people to test in the comfort of their own homes. Along with that, users who participate in user testing can choose when to work and for however long they want, assuming that they finish what they started.
How do we know if the testing is helping? Researchers across different disciplines won't know if a user is happy with a product until they can collect evidence on how users are experiencing the product. With qualitative data, they’re able to get insight from the customer's feedback and understand why customers behave a certain way when interacting with products. This is done through interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Another reason why it’s important to be honest and open when reviewing products or services as a participant. Either indirectly or directly, you are changing the development cycle of a product in some way.
Let’s get more in-depth with the types of testing that are done to gauge a good understanding of how each one works.
Usability tests are either qualitative or quantitative. The former focuses on discovering problems in the experience of using products. The latter focuses more on numbers and is data-driven. Sometimes researchers use a mixed methodology approach to get a broader and in-depth analysis of their findings.
What are the goals of a test? It depends on many things. Researchers test for different purposes. As a user, it’s not important to know what they’re trying to figure out. All that is asked of a user is to follow directions so that the tests can minimize any influences that could potentially change the outcome.
What are the types of usability tests? There are three main ones.
- Remote vs. in person
- Moderated vs unmoderated
- Explorative vs. comparative vs assessment
As mentioned previously, tests can be taken either in person or remotely via an internet connection or over the phone. Moderated and unmoderated tests can both be completed remotely or in person. Explorative vs comparative are ways of testing different kinds of things at different sections of the development process.
Moderated exams are administered by someone where the test has clear directions and instructions to complete. While or after the exam, the researcher can ask questions to the user.
Unmoderated tests are completed without direct supervision, and because of this, users have more responsibility to pay close attention to directions and steps. Although it seems more low maintenance to complete unmoderated tests, it’s important that the user take it seriously and answer as if they were in person. Many times there are trick questions to see if the participant is paying attention to the directions. As a user, if you don’t pay attention and take the tests lightly, you might be disqualified from the test you began. Some websites take these seriously and you might be flagged as an unreliable test taker. This can prevent you from receiving surveys and tests in the future.
Explorative tests are slow development-style exams as they take the longest. They’re usually done during the beginning stages of the development of a product. Depending on how iterative the process is, these kinds of tests can last for a while. This is to minimize concerns in the future and create a good product. Users constantly have to use and talk about the product while the team continues to design and develop the product. Usability and experience are always priorities when it comes to creating valuable products.
Assessment-based testing can be done in different settings and is used to determine how satisfied and content a customer is with usability and overall experience.
Comparative-style tests can be different. Usually, it’s used to compare two(usually competitor) products, services, or websites with each other. Participants choose which they prefer based on preference, experience, and usability. Another aspect of comparative testing is A/B Testing; showing users different alternatives of the same page or product from the same company. This kind of research helps companies know how to get better traffic to their websites.
In qualitative comparative testing, participants are introduced to the products during the early stages in the design cycle to help minimize iterations. This way, there is more useful feedback and more direct contact with which way a product is headed. Participants can quickly have an effect on how the product or service will be designed or modified.
A nice and concise summary of different ways of user testing. Where should you get started?
If you plan to do remote testing, that’s great! There are tons of websites that gather users from all over the world to test.
Before heading on signing up, it’s useful to have a Paypal account to get paid directly through that as it is universally accepted. Many websites will pay with their currency, and through Paypal, you’ll be able to have those funds exchanged easily.
Check out these websites for remote user testing:
- https://www.usertesting.com/get-paid-to-test
- https://www.testingtime.com/en/become-a-paid-testuser/
- https://app.prolific.co/register/participant
- https://app.usercrowd.com/users/sign_up
- https://app.hellopingpong.com/accounts/register/
- https://www.userfeel.com/tester-faq
- https://app.respondent.io/signup?r=annabarker-011e004ebaa8&signupAs=participant
It is usually harder now to find in-person testing. If you’re a university student, you might get emails from your psychology, statistics, or computer science departments to take tests or surveys. Reach out to these departments or professors in these departments. In academia, there is always research being done. You might not be directly doing usability testing but you can be participating in important research that might include surveys or focus groups. Many times you will be doing in-depth surveys. In some cases, you will be reimbursed for your time. If you’re a part of Facebook, check out groups that host research, whether that be in User Experience or Marketing.
Happy Testing!
