Appendix 1 – Usability Test Materials

Test Scenario Description for Usability Testers

The following is the exact text of what will be said to the test subjects to prepare them for their tasks.

“Welcome and thank you for volunteering to help us test an exciting new website idea that is currently in development. Thanks to your generous donation of time, this website can be the best it can be and that will benefit not only the users of the website but the global community. First, we would like to describe the purpose of the system we call OffRoads and then we will describe to each of you the type of user that you will be playing.

OffRoads is a website whose target audience is people who currently predominantly use their car to commute regularly to work. The purpose is to show them how much they have to gain by switching to public transportation for one year. They will not only see the annual personal benefits such as monetary savings, health, and time, but also the net effects that their small change can make to the world, a veritable butterfly effect. We will be asking you to carry out typical tasks for certain types of users.

We will have you use the mockup website to carry out a predefined set of tasks that are described on a piece of paper that we will give you. When you are through, there will be a brief test to ask you about your experience with the system as well as some demographic information such as your age, gender, and computer usage. The questions are simple to answer and will only take a few moments. This will help us analyze the data that results from these user tests. Please remember that it is not you who are being tested, but the software. There may be problems with it and we ask that you please ask if you have any questions at any point. Are there any questions now? Thank you again for your time. We will begin now.”

Handout the following hardcopy document to the user. (which is pasted below)

OffRoads Instructions

First, take a few moments to review the main screen of the OffRoads system and to get acquainted with it before performing the tasks listed below. Proceed when you are ready.

The role you will be playing when using this system is that of a middle-aged man named Joe who heard about the OffRoads website from a friend. His friend told him that when he used the system, he was surprised at the savings that he could realize by taking public transportation instead of driving. Because his friend had been affected by this and was seriously considering changing, he thought he would see if the same was true for him. Joe is not very concerned about the environment, but would be interested to know what the effects would be.

Joe lives about a half mile from the Silver Spring, Maryland metro stop and commutes into Washington, D.C. every work day (Monday through Friday, normal rush hour) by car. He drives 25 miles round trip and pays $15 per day for parking. His office is about 3 blocks away from the L’Enfant Metro station. He drives a 2003 Windstar Van. He currently pays $2.50 per gallon of gas. Your task is to find out how much money he could save by switching to public transportation.

Take a moment to see how you could do this with OffRoads. Joe is not interested in entering any more information than has been provided.

Task 1:
Use the information provided above to find the “Gas Savings”
 Task 2:
Find out how much money Joe’s annual commute would cost if he were to take the Metro.
 Task 3:
Find out how much emissions the average person is responsible for annually.
 Task 4:
Find someone who had a commute similar to Joe who used the OffRoads system before.


Survey

1. What is your age? ________
2. What is your gender? ______________
3. About how many hours a week do you use a computer? ________
4. Do you work outside of the home? Yes No
If your answer was no, then you are finished with this questionnaire, thank you.
5. How many days per week do you commute to work? 1 2 3 4 5 days
6. How many days per week on average do you drive to work? 0 1 2 3 4 5 days
7. How many days per week on average do you use public transportation to get to work? 0 1 2 3 4 5 days