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Miss Enger

 
Amber Hayes a ñ Chelsea Wendlandt
ñ Karissa Kuschel ñ Karlie Krieger 
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November 12ñ 2010
 
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Usability Test Report

For our group projectñ we created instructions on how to make homemade bread. In order to
test the effectiveness of our instructionsñ we conducted a usability test where we chose two
individuals who enjoy bakingñ and had them follow our homemade bread recipe without
making any alterations of their own. Since this recipe is intended for individuals of all ages who
enjoy bakingñ we felt our volunteers covered a broad range of our target audience and were
good selections. In the sections to followñ we will be explaining our objectives for our usability
testñ the methods that we usedñ and our results from our tests along with the conclusions we
made as a group to improve our instructions.

 
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As we developed and improved our final instructionsñ we came up with multiple objectives for
our readersñ our groupñ and for our instructions. By developing these objectivesñ we have been
able to come up with and perform an effective usability test to help us improve our instructions
to make them easy to understand. Listed below are the objectives we developed as a group for
our usability test.
  

O The purpose for having our volunteers read our instructions is to gain the ability and
knowledge of how to make homemade bread. By following our instructionsñ we want
them to become more comfortable with the steps on how to make homemade bread
and to be able to help others with the process in the future.
O When our readers use our instructionsñ we want them to look for informative steps that
are clear and easy to follow in a step-by-step process that is in sequential order.
O In order to make our instructions easy to followñ we divided the instructions into two
headings. The first heading lists the mixing instructions and the second heading lists the
baking instructions. We also did this to keep our readers focused.
O Since some of our readers may have little to no experience with making homemade
breadñ we hope by conducting this test that they will feel more confident at taking on
the challenge in the future. We hope by having thorough steps and an easy going
environmentñ 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 hope that by conducting this testñ we will learn if any of our steps are hard to follow
or confusing. By doing thisñ we can make improvements to our instructions and have a
stronger final outcome.
 O We anticipated that our readers would come to the test with a positive attitude toward
baking and towards our group. We wanted them to be excited to learn something new
and have fun while testing our recipe.
O Since we are a group that enjoys bakingñ we wanted to be able to share our positive
attitudes with others and make them enthusiastic about the thought of baking.
O By asking questions during the process of our usability testñ we hoped to gain
knowledge from our participants on how to increase the overall appearance of our
instructions to draw our reader͛s attention to our recipe rather than others.
In order to achieve the above objectivesñ we decided on the best method as described below to
gain information from our participants to help improve the overall effectiveness and
appearance of our instructions.

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The method we chose for our usability test was to have our volunteers read our recipe firstñ and
then 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 points explain the
method we used and the reasoning for choosing this method.
O The first person who agreed to volunteer was Amber͛s momñ Darlañ who is 51 years old
and an avid baker. The second person who agreed to volunteer was Karissa͛s sisterñ
Laurenñ who is a sixteen year old who has little experience baking. We decided that
these individuals are good representations of our target audience because there is a
large age gap between them and one has a lot more baking experience than the other.
O Darla and Lauren performed the test in their own homes in their kitchens. We decided
to have our participants test our recipe in their own kitchens because it resembles the
setting in which they would normally be baking in and they are in a location where they
have all the supplies needed for baking and it is most comfortable for them.
O The draft we gave them to follow was very close to our final instructions. After
performing the usability testñ we went back through the original draft and made
changes to the sections that were unclear or not thorough in explaining a specific
instruction. ‘ur first draft did not include pictures for steps where our participants
thought they were neededñ so once the test was completeñ we revised our instructions
by adding pictures as well. Another thing we did not have in the draft of our
instructions that our participants used were definitions of some baking termsñ so we
needed to add them as well.
O Before the test startedñ we let each participant know that they could ask us any
questions at any time during the test if they were unsure of how to do something or if
there was a step that they weren͛t able to follow because it was unclear.
O For our testñ we provided our participants with the original draft of our instructions and
all the ingredients along with the supplies needed in order to follow them. We then
asked each participant to follow the instructions step-by-step and make no alterations
of their own.
 O As we watched them conduct the test and answered their questions along the wayñ we
made notes about their reactions and uncertainties to our instructions to be sure we
took them into consideration once the tests were complete.
O After the test was completedñ we observed and tested their final product to see if their
outcome was successful. We also allowed the volunteers to keep their final product to
enjoy and share with othersñ hoping it would encourage them to make our recipe again
and to encourage their friends to make it as well.
After conducting our usability testñ we have gathered our results and were able to revise our
instructions to fit the needs of our readers and make our recipe as effective as we can.

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There were only a few sections of our instructions that our volunteers had difficulties
understanding. ‘ne of the major problems our participants had was figuring out what some of
the termsñ such as scalded milk and a flour clothñ meant. In order to eliminate this problemñ we
added a ͞helpful terms͟ section at the bottom of our recipe that described these terms and
made it easier for the reader to understand. The other problem our participants encountered
was trying to understand certain steps where they were not as specific as our participants
would have liked them to be. Another suggestion that both of our participants made was that
we should include images for certain steps such as what the yeast should look like after you let
it foam up and what the loaves should look like after they have risen because less experienced
bakers may want a picture to look at to make sure they are on the right track. Since we
observed them as they made the homemade breadñ we were able to use our observations to
make our instructions more specific and detailed. After discussing the results with our
volunteersñ they brought up the fact that they may not have use for four loaves of breadñ 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 that our participants have encountered
indicate that our instructions still needed more clarification and were not as clear as we
thought they were. After making our revisionsñ 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 they testedñ 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 draftñ they would have been able to complete the recipe
without any questions or help from us.



After conducting our usability testñ we learned very specific places in which our instructions
needed revisions and ways to make our instructions more reader-friendly. We decided to add a
section that defined terms such as scalded milk and what a flour cloth were to make our
readers more comfortable with our recipe. Another section we decided to add to our recipe
was an alternative section explaining another way to utilize this recipe if the baker did not want
to make all four loaves of bread. This alternative not only made our instructions more efficientñ
but also more desirable for those who did not wish to have make bread. We also decided to
add more specific measurements and time frames to our recipe so that our readers will be able
to determine the time they need to set aside for them to make this recipe. Also by adding in
specific time framesñ they will not have to monitor the doughñ but instead check on it after
specific amounts of timeñ allowing them to partake in other tasks at the same time. By adding
more specific measurementsñ we are able to give our readers a better understanding of the
supplies they will need to obtain in order to make our recipe. As requested by our participantsñ
we decided to include images for the steps that may seem confusing to bakers who may not
have a lot of experience. We added an image in the step that explains what the yeast mixture
should look like after it has foamed up. Alsoñ we added images showing what the loaves should
look like after they have risen to make sure our readers know how big the loaves should look.
Another image that we added was where we wanted our readers to add enough flour until the
dough sticks to their fingers slightly. ‘ur participants thought this would be particularly helpful
to show an exact consistency of the dough. By making these changesñ 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
testñ we have improved our instructions and we feel they are the most effective and efficient
instructions possible for this recipe. We can guarantee that our instructions will be successful
in accomplishing our goalñ which is to have people not only make delicious homemade breadñ
but to have fun while doing it and gain a positive attitude toward baking in the process.