Ask Eric: Questions & Answers

March 15, 2010 – submitted by Vinay Marisetty of Reno, NV

Question: Is Recommendation a part of usability testing, can a group of recommendations can be similar to usability testing.
1. What is the "recommendation"?
2. When does the "recommendation" happen?
3. Can the "recommendation" cause lots of changes to the design?
4. How to collect the "recommendation"?
5. What are the ways to find inspiration and get design experiences?

Eric's response: There are two types of usability tests.

A summative test evaluates the design against a set of human performance and preference objectives. This type of test does not provide recommendations. It just indicates if you meet your goals.

But a formative test is all about recommendations. So formative testing is a way of identifying problems with the design. It is rather like a dentist who has you grind down on a piece of carbon paper to see where your teeth are hitting. You get to see where a user gets stuck. The recommendation is first to fix the places people are getting stuck. Of course the exact recommendation requires a UX practitioner who understands principles of design.