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10.5 The process of user-based testing 287

interfaces, you may not submit fake information, without the express approval of and
collaboration with the government agency (Wentz et al., 2014). Third, people with
cognitive disabilities may find it confusing to use test accounts or fake names (see
Chapter 16 for more information).
Generally, while the moderators may need to have information about how old
the users are, their level of education, and their home address (for example, to mail
payment for participation), this information is not used as a part of the testing tasks.
Furthermore, if a task involves purchasing an item on an e-commerce site, partici-
pants should not be required to use their own credit or debit card. Rather, a separate
credit card should be provided for their use, so that participants are not charged, and
they do not need to provide any personal data. Zazelenchuk et al. (2008) describe
how users’ real personal data could potentially be used to get a more realistic us-
ability test for financial interfaces, where users are familiar with their own data,
emotionally engaged by their own data, and have no trouble understanding the mean-
ing of it. While this may be more realistic from a testing point of view, there are
many challenges and logistical concerns to using actual user data, regarding permis-
sion to use the data, disposal of the data, and permission from the users themselves.
Zazelenchuk et al. even noted that when participants were asked to bring their own
financial data to a usability testing session, a number of participants dropped out; to
compensate and recruit more people, participants had to be paid a higher amount of
money for the extra work and concern. Furthermore, if the usability testing needs to
be approved by some sort of institutional review board (see Chapter 15), it is possible
that this type of usability testing plan would be rejected. This would be especially
likely if the usability testing involved user health care information, as many countries
have specific laws relating to the privacy and security of health care information.
When creating the task list, it is important to provide direction on how to navi-
gate the task list itself. Must participants go through tasks in the order listed? Can
they skip tasks or start at the last task? Do certain tasks require that other tasks be
completed first? How should participants respond if they get stuck and are unable to
complete one task? Should they skip that task and move onto the next task? Is there
a time limit per task? Is there an overall time limit for the usability testing session?
While there might be research reasons for having a time limit per task or per session,
there might also be practical reasons. For instance, the supervisor at the workplace
may have said that participants can spend no more than 30 minutes on this outside
activity or the moderators may only have use of the usability lab space (or another
space) for a limited amount of time.
The moderators also need to decide, in advance, whether interventions will be
allowed. Interventions are when there is an interface barrier that users are presented
with, which does not allow the participant to continue in the interface. The modera-
tor can intervene, if the user gets totally stuck and indicates that they are unable to
move on. For instance, if a login screen or an introductory screen is very hard to use,
users may not be able to access the rest of the web site or application. If the modera-
tor helps the user move onto the next step, it is still possible to get useful feedback.
Interventions specific to people with disabilities and accessibility are described in