Depending on the size of your institution and available resources, you may take on several or all of these roles yourself or may be able to split the roles up between others. More information about how these roles perform can be found in the Coordinating and Performing a User Testing Study section.
Coordinator
The person responsible for general communications and logistics for the test.
Responsibilities
- Coordinates all internal and external communications
- Leads recruitment
- Administrates test incentives
- Coordinates logistics
Facilitator
The person responsible for guiding and leading test participants through the test.
Responsibilities
- Works most with test participants
- Acquires test participant consent
- Explains the reason for testing and reviews instructions test participants should follow during testing, e.g. the think out loud process
- Answers questions from participants that may occur during testing
Notetaker/Observer
The person who observes and takes notes during the test.
Responsibilities
- Sets up the test for every new participant
- Takes notes about participants’ behaviors, comments, errors, and completion (success or failure) for each task
Results Analyzer
The person who creates a meaningful report about the evaluation based on the testing results.
Responsibilities
- Makes sure testing documentation is complete and organized before results analysis
- Analyzes testing results
- Creates user testing report
Users/Test Participants
The people who will be giving their time to support your testing.
Responsibilities
- Be available for a maximum of one hour of testing