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Establishing a timeline.

Time to allot for the process.

Three tests rounds with 5 users each. ¹

Example Schedule: Test Round #1
"First Test Your Old Site"

Type of Test: Exploratory.
- Conducted early in development cycle.
- Conducted on the current live site.
- Sets the benchmark.
- Used to “get a feel for” the user’s mental model of the old site. (What's good and bad. Keep the good throw out the bad.)

Activity	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9
Design test	x	x
Recruit participants		x	x
Prepare test materials			x	x
Administer the test					x
Report results						x	x
CWC implements recommended design changes								x	x

Example Schedule: Test Round #2
New Page Templates.

Type of Test: Assessment.
- Conducted early or halfway through development cycle.
- Conducted on a HTML prototype.
- Most common sort of testing, used to expand upon exploratory testing.

Activity	Week 9	Week 10	Week 11	Week 12	Week 13	Week 14	Week 15
Recruit participants	x	x
Prepare test materials	x	x
Administer the test			x
Report results				x	x
CWC implements recommended design changes						x	x

Example Schedule: Test Round #3
Revised New Page Templates.

Type of Test: Validation.
- Done late in the testing cycle.
- Conducted on a HTML prototype.
- Tests to see how site performs against predetermined benchmark.
- Example: can all users accomplish the following task with 100% accuracy in under two minutes?

Activity	Week 15	Week 16	Week 17	Week 18	Week 19	Week 20	Week 21	Week 22
Recruit participants	x	x
Prepare test materials	x	x
Administer the test			x
Report results				x	x
CWC implements recommended design changes						x	x
Site goes live								x

Time breakdown for test process activities.

Example Time breakdown
Activity	Working time
Design test	20-40 hours.
Participant recruiting	1-3 hours per final participant.
Prepare test materials	20-40 hours
Session administration	Number of participants times the session length, plus time for pilot test, breaks between sessions and material modification.
Results reporting	40-80 hours (depending on test complexity, number of participants, session length and level of detail required in final report/presentation. Additional time for "highlights" tape.

Hours per target audience example.

Example (Setup and tear-down of equipment not included.)
Target audience	Number of Participants per Test	* Time Testing	= Number of Hours Per Target Audience	* 3 Rounds of Tests	= Total Number of Hours Per Target Audience
Prospective student	1	1.5 hours	= 1.5 hours	3	= 4.5 hours
Current student	1	1.5 hours	= 1.5 hours	3	= 4.5 hours
Faculty	1	1.5 hours	= 1.5 hours	3	= 4.5 hours
Staff	1	1.5 hours	= 1.5 hours	3	= 4.5 hours
Alumni	1	1.5 hours	= 1.5 hours	3	= 4.5 hours
Totals	5 Participants		= 7.5 hours	15	= 22.5 hours

Typical Test Day.

Two participants per day.

8:30 - 9:30.
- Prepare room.
- Prepare equipment.
9:30 - 9:50.
- Greet participant.
- Offer refreshments.
- Start video recording.
- Adjust camera angles if needed.
- Read script and ask the participant to complete pre-test materials.
9:50 - 10:20.
- Run set of tasks.
10:20 - 10:30.
- Break.
- Stop recording.
10:30 - 11:00.
- Start recording.
- Ask the participant to complete post-test materials.
- Conduct the post-test interview.
- Stop recording.
- Thank the participant.
- Give participant the parting incentive/gift.
- Escort participant out.
11:00 - 11:30.
- Put all the forms in the participant's folder.
- Rewind the tape.
- Make sure the tape is properly labeled.
- Review the log form to make sure it is accurate. Correct typos.
- Elaborate on your notes while they are fresh in your mind.
- Set up for the next participant.
11:30 - 12:30.
- Lunch.
12:30 - 1:00
- Prepare room.
- Prepare equipment.
1:00 - 1:20
- Greet participant.
- Offer refreshments.
- Start video recording.
- Adjust camera angles if needed.
- Read script and ask the participant to complete pre-test materials.
1:20 - 1:50.
- Run set of tasks.
1:50 - 2:00.
- Break.
- Stop recording.
2:00 - 2:30.
- Start recording.
- Ask the participant to complete post-test materials.
- Conduct the post-test interview.
- Stop recording.
- Thank the participant.
- Give participant the parting incentive/gift.
- Escort participant out.
2:30 - 3:30.
- Put all the forms in the participant's folder.
- Rewind the tape.
- Make sure the tape is properly labeled.
- Review the log form to make sure it is accurate. Correct typos.
- Elaborate on your notes while they are fresh in your mind.
- Clean up the room.
- Shutdown the equipment.
- Discuss observations with test team.

Testing Schedule

Example test schedule form.

Adapted From:

Barnum, Carol M. Usability Testing and Research (Part of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical Communication), Longman, 2001.
Dumas and Redish. A Practical Guide to Usability Testing, Intellect, 1999.
Pearrow, Mark. Web Site Usability Handbook, Charles River Media, 2000.
Rubin, Jeffrey;. Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests, John Wiley & Sons, 1994.

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© 1998-2025 Laura L. Carlson
Email: lcarlson@d.umn.edu
Department: Information Technology Systems and Services, University of Minnesota Duluth
Document Last Modified: 2002
Page URL: http:// www.d.umn.edu /~lcarlson/testing/planning/timeline.html

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.