Field versus laboratory usability testing: a first comparison

Whilst testing the usability of a product in a usab ility laboratory, usability researchers generally try to extract usability info rmation from a representation of ‘context in use’. However, there might be cases whe re it is difficult to simulate the real-world usage due to lack of contextual informat ion (e.g. lack of information on low-socio-economic status, users’ living conditions , etc.), or physical limitations (e.g. difficulty in representing the actual physica l environment, etc.). This set of facts requires testing in natural settings. Discussion is focused on the relative advantages and disadvantages of each setting, along with the t echnical infrastructure. Gaining insight and experience in remote testing ra ther than searching for statistical significance was the major goal of this study. Even though this was an initial inquiry of an exploratory study, it was found that usabilit y testing and evaluation of a product, with users’ own tasks and goals, in actual use context, reveals implicit usability problems in the interface.