A usability test study of a General Electric Microwave ( Model : JES1460DSWW )
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HCDE 210 Usability Process Blog
In my second studio session at my mock internship in HCDE 210 I was teamed with Matthew Tillenburg and Ziyue Li. During the session we were taught the inside outs of usability testing and were then tasked with preparing a usability test of a microwave we would be testing over the upcoming weekend.
To help us prepare for the usability test we would be conducting we were shown an actual example of how a usability test was conducted. In this case it was a Medical Device Usability video. This video was rather helpful as it taught us how to conduct ourselves during the testing process.
The Prompt
Plan a microwave usability test in which three participants will complete three tasks. During testing collect 3 different types of data for each task to help with your evaluation of the product. Prepare a 3 minute presentation summarizing the project and presenting the results and findings of the test.
In the Studio
As a team we decided to conduct our usability test with a sample of three college students as they are a large user group and frequently use microwaves during their college life due to the convenience factor. The three college students would be residents of Alder Hall, a dorm in the University of Washington.
Since we were not sure of the specifications and functionality of the microwave we were unable to create a set of three specific tasks for the user to complete during studio. Because of this we were unable to finalize our three data measures as well.
However we brainstormed over what tasks we could ask the user to complete. We did this by making a list of the some tasks with a microwave with which we have suffered some difficulty in the past.
Prepping for the test
Before we conducted our test, we went to the Alder kitchen and played with the microwave and tried to perform the tasks with which we have generally had difficulty with. After doing so we came to a consensus to ask the user to perform the following three tasks :
- Set the microwave to cook something for a time of 2 minutes and 30 seconds. This was the most common task people performed when using a microwave and hence we felt that it was important to test the primary use case of the microwave.
- Pause the microwave cooking process that has already started. A common step taken by many during the heating process when users wish to end it early or add. However between ourselves in the team we had faced difficulty figuring out sometimes how to pause a heating process without cancelling it.
- Set the power level to a a level of P — 50. Many ready to eat meals and foods which we microwave need to be cooked at a specific heat for them to be completely cooked.
After this we decided our three data measures for our three tasks which were:
- Time taken to complete the task
- Number of steps taken to complete the task
- Difficulty Level in completing the test (1- easy, 5 — difficult)
To ensure the user did not feel uncomfortable or overly conscious of their decision during the test we created a script which told them to not worry. Here is a copy of it:
Dear User, Thank you for taking your time out to help us. Today we are conducting a Microwave usability test and would appreciate to get your feedback on our product. We will be providing you with a few tasks to role play as you use the microwave. Please think out loud as you use the microwave. We are in no way testing you. This is all about the Microwave and what works and what doesn’t. All the best.
To help aid us with our data collection process we created a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel where we had created a table to collect our data.
Conducting the test
We assumed that a participants ability to complete the tasks should be gender independent. There is a possibility that our assumption may be wrong. However since this was a small test it would not really matter.
Hence our test could be conducted with any possible gender ratio:
- 2 Females : 1 Male
- 1 Female : 2 Male
- 3 Female : 0 Male
- 0 Female : 3 Male (Since we were able to only collect male participants we conducted our test with 3 male however this should have not impacted our data)
Before each test, Ziyue introduced the user to what the test was about. During the test, Matthew and I recorded the data using the iPhone stopwatch in the clock app and our laptop on which the spreadsheet was open.
During the usability testing process, users were successful in completing Task 1 and Task 2 but were unsuccessful in Task 3 as can be seen from the pictures below.
During “Task 3: Set the power level to a level of P-50" participants failed to identify that they had to first set a time and then set a power level. Instead they kept directly trying to set a power level. One participants felt the microwave was not working and opened the microwave door.
Our Final Presentation
To ensure we were able to give a quick insight into our usability test we prepared a short video summarizing our preparation process and the data we collected with suggestions to improve the microwave.
Reflection into the entire process
SO WHAT?
The usability test though conducted with a small sample of college students was still successful in establishing the fact that there was room for improvement in the microwave design.
Though I have conducted many usability tests in my last two years as a UI/UX student I had never had the opportunity to test a product which was not a mobile application. Hence I found this usability test to be a rather unique experience as it helped me reflect on how important it is to consider UI/UX outside the field of mobile phones.
From the data we collected, Task 3 (to set the power level to P — 50) seemed to have caused the most confusion amongst users. The amount of time and amount of steps taken to complete the process were indefinite as all three participants gave up on trying to complete the task. A recommendation for the design, based on this data, would be to let a user directly set a power level and then set a time rather than the other way around.
It is also important to reflect over the power level value units. Microwave food packets I purchase usually only specify power level from high to medium. However the microwave presented us with numeric units for power level. This could lead to the user getting confused as to which numeric value would be high and low. Hence the options presented to the user for power level could be: high, medium and low.
NOW WHAT?
To continue my research into the usability of the microwave I would first interact with the microwave more and learn its functionality from the manual and note down all the functions. I would then make a list of use cases for each function. After which I would distribute a survey amongst different user groups for a microwave asking them to highlight the tasks they most commonly perform as well the tasks they face most difficulty with. It is important to record the user group they belong to as some difficulties and use cases may be specific to only one user group.
After collecting this data I would identify and select the top 5 functions which had the most number of uses and difficulties for each user group and conduct a usability test with each user group. This would help me observe breakdowns in person. I would also increase my sample size to 20 users per user group to collect more data from which a more accurate and representative summary could be made.
