Template: Usability Testing Research Plan

Use this template as an outline to create your research/testing plan at the beginning of your research cycle. This template is inspired by the research plan template from the Digital Service at CMS (DSAC).

Background

Why are we doing this research? What context is needed for anyone who wants to understand this research plan?

Assumptions

What do we think we know, based on past experiences and existing surveys/research?

• [XYZ]

Goals

What do we want to learn/understand/achieve? Can be broken down into numerated goals or topics.

Success Criteria

What does success look like for this research?

It might be helpful to lay out success criteria for the testing session, including criteria for post-test survey responses if collected:

• Task completion rate > 80% (not including confidence score)
• System Usability Score (SUS) > 68 (to be considered above average in usability). A SUS score of 80.3 is “A” report
• Confidence score (<=4)
• No critical issues preventing core tasks
• Users can confidently determine [the offering] that best suits their needs.

Timeline

What does the timeline for this work look like?

Methodology

How do we plan to answer our research questions and check our assumptions?

This section should mention observation-based usability testing as the main tool of investigation.

Artifacts

What kinds of artifacts will you develop and include in this plan?

Common artifacts include:

• Recruitment plan

• Usability testing interview script

• Post-test survey

• Synthesis report of feedback

  As they are developed, artifacts can be linked to or included in following pages of the research plan as appendices.

Risks and mitigation measures

What are the risks associated with this research and its completion? What are the risks that may present themselves to potential participants? How do we plan to mitigate them as they arise?

Participants and recruitment plan

How will we do outreach with possible research participants? Are there specific characteristics of participants we are seeking?

Other resources

Add resources as needed.