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Miss Enger

 
Amber Hayes, Chelsea Wendlandt, Karissa Kuschel, Karlie Krieger

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November 12, 2010

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Usability Test Memo

For our group project, we created instructions on how to make homemade bread. In order to
test the effectiveness of our instructions, we conducted a usability test where we chose two
individuals who enjoy baking, and had them follow our homemade bread recipe without
making any alterations. Since our target audience is individuals of all ages who enjoy baking,
we felt our volunteers covered a broad range of it and were good selections. In the sections to
follow, we will be explaining our objectives for our usability test, the methods that we used,
and our results from our tests and the conclusions we made as a group to improve our
instructions.

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As we developed and improved our final instructions, we came up multiple objectives for our
reader, our group, and our instructions. By developing these objectives, we have been able to
come up with and perform an effective usability test while improving our instructions as a
whole. Listed below are the objectives we developed as a group for our test.


O The purpose for having our volunteers read our instructions is to gain the ability and
knowledge on how to make homemade bread. By following our instructions, we want
them to become more comfortable in the process of making homemade bread and in
the future be able to help others with the process.
O When our readers use our instructions, we want them to look for informative steps that
are clear and easy to follow step-by-step in sequential order. 
O In order to make our instructions easy to follow, we divided the instructions into two
headings. The first heading lists the mixing instructions and the second heading lists the
baking instructions. 
O Since our readers have little to no experience with making homemade bread, we hope
by conducting this test, they will feel more confident at taking on the challenge in the
future. We hope by having thorough steps and an easy going environment they will feel
comfortable to ask questions about our instructions while helping us improve our
project.
O ‘ur instructions will potentially persuade our readers to try other recipes that are as
challenging as this one and change their attitude towards baking.


O We are conducting a usability test for our homemade bread recipe in order to ensure
the thoroughness of our instructions and learn what may need to be improved.
O We are hoping by conducting this test, we will learn if any of our steps are hard to
follow or confusing. By doing this, we can make improvements to our instructions and
have a stronger final outcome.
 O We hoped our readers would come to the test with a positive attitude toward baking
and our group. We wanted them to be excited to learn something new and fun.
O As a group who enjoys baking, we hope we can share our positive attitudes with others
and make them enthusiastic about the thought of baking.

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The method we chose for our usability test was to have our volunteers make the homemade
bread recipe for us. We observed as they read the instructions and followed them without
making any alterations of their own. The following bullets explain the method we used and the
reasoning we chose this method.
O The first person who agreed to volunteer was Amber͛s mom, Darla, who is fifty-one
years old and an avid baker. The second person who agreed to volunteer was Karissa͛s
sister, Lauren, who is a sixteen year old who has little to none experience baking. These
individuals are a good representatives of our target audience because there is a wide
age gap between them and one has a lot more baking experience than the other.
O Darla and Lauren performed the test at their homes in their kitchens. This resembles
the setting in which they would be baking bread identically because they are in a
location in which they have all the supplies needed for baking and is most comfortable
for them.
O The draft we gave them to follow was very close to our final instructions. After
performing the usability test, we went back through the original draft and made
changes to the sections that were unclear or not thorough in explaining a specific
instruction.
O For our test, we provided them with the original draft of our instructions and all the
supplies needed in order to follow them. We then asked the reader to follow the
instructions step-by-step and to make no alterations of their own.
O Before the test, we told them they could ask us any questions during the test if there
was a step they didn͛t understand completely or was unclear to them.
O As we watched them conduct the test and answered their questions along the way, we
made notes about their reactions and uncertainties to our instructions.
O After the test was completed, we observed and tested their final product to see if their
outcome we successful. We also allowed the volunteers to keep the remaining final
product to enjoy and share with others, in hopes of them encouraging others to try the
recipe for themselves and trying it again by themselves.

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There were only a few sections of our instructions that our volunteers had difficulties
understanding. ‘ne of the major problems was with some of the terms, such as scalded milk
and a flour cloth. In order to eliminate this problem, we added in a ͞helpful terms͟ sections
that described these terms and made it easier for the reader to understand. The other problem
we encountered was sections where the instructions were not as specific as our reader would
have liked them to be. Since we observed them as they made the homemade bread, we were
able to use our observations in making the instructions more specific and detailed. After
discussing the results with our volunteers, they brought up the fact that they may not have use
for four loaves of bread, which made us come up with the idea of including an alteration in our
instructions. This alterations section discusses how the baker could choose to make only three
loaves of bread and use the remaining dough to make buns. These problems have indicated
that our instructions still needed more clarification and were not as clear as we thought they
were. After making our revisions, we asked our volunteers to read through our instructions and
interpret if they were more understandable. We also asked them if they felt if these revisions
had been in the original draft we asked them to test, if the instructions would have been clearer
and if they would have still had questions. They both agreed that if these revisions would have
been included in the first draft, they would have been able to complete the recipe without any
questions or help from us.

   
Through our usability test we learned very specific places in which our instructions needed
revisions and ways to make our instructions more reader-friendly. The decided to add in a
section that defined terms which were unclear to our reader and a section explaining an
alternative for our recipe. This alternative not only made it more efficient and desirable for
those who did not wish to have to only have bread, but may also want buns. We also decided
to add more specific measurements and time constraints to our recipe, so that readers will be
able to determine the time frame in which this recipe will take for them to conduct. Also by
adding in specific time constraints, they will not have to monitor the dough, but instead check
on it after specific amounts of time, allowing them to partake in other tasks at the same time.
By adding more specific measurements, we are able to give our readers a better understanding
of the supplies they will need to obtain in order to make our recipe. By making these changes,
we feel we have made our instructions the most effective we can. We also feel the revisions
we made have made our instructions more reader-friendly for all areas of our target audience.
Through our usability test we have improved our instructions and now feel they are the most
effective and efficient instructions possible for our recipe. We can guarantee that our
instructions will be successful in accomplishing our goal, which is to have people not only make
delicious homemade bread, but to have fun while doing it and gain a positive attitude toward
baking in the process.