Grounding the Portable Usability Lab

Elyse Sanchez, Wednesday, June 6, 2007 @ 1:46 pm

Usability studies are experiencing a shift in geography. For some time now, there has been some consensus that a traditional, dedicated usability lab is an unnecessary expenditure for an individual organization. Of course, since we specialize in User Experience Design, including usability testing, it’s a moot point for us. But we’re not exempt from the cost factor, either.

The main driver for this movement is the availability of software such as Morae and Spectator. Even Mac users are getting into the game with a product called VisualMark. These products turn a couple of laptops into a portable usability lab at the fraction of the cost of a full, fixed installation.

Mobile labs have been around for a long time, but they were full control decks that were about as mobile as three large suitcases full of building materials—and harder to assemble and disassemble. Because of the portability of the software-based systems, test participants have been freed from the confines of the lab, like a cageful of bunnies confined for experiments.

The arguments for bringing the test to the participant are persuasive. It’s tough to recruit a half dozen people willing to take time out of their day to come to a lab. Users can be tested in the context of their own environment (although usually not on the hardware they are accustomed to). The software is relatively easy to operate and produces data that can be edited quickly.

But most importantly, the ability to port the system need not preclude its use in a (semi-) fixed lab. The setup simply replaces the need, in a fixed system, for a dedicated control room. We are currently in the process of designing a lab (two-way mirror and all) using Morae on three computers. We believe there are benefits to a lab-based study:

• The application or website being evaluated is accessed from a single location, eliminating network or firewall issues

• Participants can access the product under optimal conditions

• Project stakeholders have the opportunity to observe the sessions without intruding on the process

There’s a rationale for having the flexibility of both approaches; let’s just not toss the idea of the lab environment simply because we’ve been given an easy means to an alternative.

user experience design

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