Beyond the Usability Lab: Conducting Large-scale Online User Experience Studies

Usability testing and user experience research typically take place in a controlled lab with small groups. While this type of testing is essential to user experience design, more companies are also looking to test large sample sizes to be able compare data according to specific user populations and see how their experiences differ across user groups. But few usability professionals have experience in setting up these studies, analyzing the data, and presenting it in effective ways. Online usability testing offers the solution by allowing testers to elicit feedback simultaneously from 1,000s of users. Beyond the Usability Lab offers tried and tested methodologies for conducting online usability studies. It gives practitioners the guidance they need to collect a wealth of data through cost-effective, efficient, and reliable practices. The reader will develop a solid understanding of the capabilities of online usability testing, when it’s appropriate to use and not use, and will learn about the various types of online usability testing techniques.

• The first guide for conducting large-scale user experience research using the internet
• Presents how-to conduct online tests with 1000s of participants – from start to finish
• Outlines essential tips for online studies to ensure cost-efficient and reliable results

Bill Albert is Executive Director of the Design and Usability Center at Bentley University. Prior to joining Bentley, Bill was Director of User Experience at Fidelity Investments, Senior User Interface Researcher at Lycos, and Post-Doctoral Research Scientist at Nissan Cambridge Basic Research. Bill is an Adjunct Professor in Human Factors in Information Design at Bentley University. Bill has published and presented his research at more than thirty national and international conferences. He is coauthor (with Tom Tullis) of Measuring the User Experience and Beyond the Usability Lab. He is on the editorial board for the Journal of Usability Studies.Tom Tullis is Vice President of Usability and User Insight at Fidelity Investments and Adjunct Professor at Bentley University in the Human Factors in Information Design program. He joined Fidelity in 1993 and was instrumental in the development of the company's usability department, including a state-of-the-art Usability Lab. Prior to joining Fidelity, he held positions at Canon Information Systems, McDonnell Douglas, Unisys Corporation, and Bell Laboratories. He and Fidelity's usability team have been featured in a number of publications, including Newsweek , Business 2.0 , Money , The Boston Globe , The Wall Street Journal , and The New York Times.
Donna Tedesco is a Senior Usability Specialist in the Usability and User Insight team at Fidelity Investments. Among other research methodologies, she has conducted numerous online user experience studies over the last several years. Donna received a BS in Engineering Psychology from Tufts University and an MS in Human Factors in Information Design from Bentley University. She has published and presented multiple papers at national and international conferences, including the Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) and the conference on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI).