But, unless you blatantly bias users by putting words into their mouths, you'll still get reasonably good findings, even from a poorly run study. Most people are poor facilitators and don't run the study exactly according to the proper methodology. It takes about a day to collect data from a handful of users, which is all that's needed for the most important insights. No special equipment is needed you simply sit next to a user and take notes as he or she talks. The thinking aloud method also offers the benefits of being: Even better, you usually learn why users guess wrong about some parts of the UI and why they find others easy to use. In particular, you hear their misconceptions, which usually turn into actionable redesign recommendations: when users misinterpret design elements, you need to change them. Most important, it serves as a window on the soul, letting you discover what users really think about your design. Shut up and let the users do the talking.
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Give them representative tasks to perform.To run a basic thinking aloud usability study, you need to do only 3 things: The test facilitator typically has to prompt users to keep them talking.) ("Simply" ought to be in quotes, because it's not that simple for most people to keep up a running monologue. To define thinking aloud, I'll paraphrase what I said 19 years ago:ĭefinition: In a thinking aloud test, you ask test participants to use the system while continuously thinking out loud - that is, simply verbalizing their thoughts as they move through the user interface. Human behavior changes much more slowly than the technology we all find so fascinating, and the best approaches to studying this behavior hardly change at all. Usability guidelines live for a long time usability methods live even longer.
![thinkin things 1 walkthrough thinkin things 1 walkthrough](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81t4-IqZ-0L._AC_SL1500_.jpg)
The fact that the same method has remained #1 for 19 years is a good indication of the longevity of usability methods.
![thinkin things 1 walkthrough thinkin things 1 walkthrough](https://www.myabandonware.com/media/screenshots/t/thinkin-things-collection-1-nc6/thinkin-things-collection-1_2.png)
"Thinking aloud may be the single most valuable usability engineering method." I wrote this in my 1993 book, Usability Engineering, and I stand by this assessment today.