Mitch DeRidder, 11-29-2005

Before we get started, I have some instructions to read to you.  You're one of several people who will be helping us out with this study, and it's important that I cover all the same points with you.  First, I want to give you some information about this room and our session today.

Members of the product team may be observing our session through this video camera (point).  I'll keep the camera pointed at the screens we'll be working with, so that's what any observers will see.  The video camera also feeds into a recorder.  I sometimes need to look back at the video recordings if my notes are too sketchy.  With this camera being here, the room may seem kind of like a fishbowl, but I want to emphasize that we are trying to improve our software, and not evaluating your performance. 

You can take a break at any time during this study if you need to use the restroom or get a drink.  You may also end the session at any time.  Just let me know if you would like to stop.  The session should take about an hour and a half.

At this point, I'd like to review the consent form that we'll both need to sign.  The form describes the general procedure for the usability studies we do here.  For confidentiality, the observations from this session will be tabulated and reported without identifying you.  Also, the video recording of this session will be erased or destroyed within two years.  Do you have any questions at this point? 

(Turn on the video recorder.)

I'd like to start by asking you a few background questions.

(Preliminary interview goes here.)

At this point, I have a few tasks that we'd like you to try.  If you really get stuck on something, I'll let you work through the problem yourself first.  After a couple of tries, if you're still not sure how to proceed, we'll talk about it and go from there. 

During this exercise, we're interested in what you think about as you work through the tasks.  To learn more about this, I'm going to ask you to think aloud as you work.  What I mean by think aloud is that I want you to tell me everything you're thinking from the time we start until the end of the study.  Try to talk constantly.  Just repeat everything that goes through your mind as you view each screen and proceed through each task.  It even helps if you tell me what you're selecting or typing on the screen because I might otherwise miss what you're doing.  If you become quiet, I'll remind you to think aloud.  OK?  (If appropriate, ask that the tasks be read aloud.)

As we go through these tasks today, please remember that if you have difficulty, it's because we haven't designed the software well enough.  We're evaluating the product here -- not evaluating you.  Any questions so far?