Ask HN: UX/Usability Lab Software & Equipment Recommendations

#1

Post by hknozcan » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 9:42 PM UTC

I am strongly considering starting an UX lab to conduct website & interface usability studies. I am currently trying to decide what hardware and software to invest in.

I already met with some of the larger players in the industry and tested some of the products in the market. I will be leaning more towards more remote testing but will definitely have eye tracking equipment as well. Eye tracking is expensive but helps make a good sales pitch and is interesting.

I want to invest in a set of tools that will help in collecting meaningful data and will help in creating actionable and accurate reports.

How would you set up this lab? What software & equipment would you invest in?

Re: Ask HN: UX/Usability Lab Software & Equipment Recommendations

#2

Post by ibstudios » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 9:55 PM UTC

Why not go remote from the get go? My first reaction was amazon's mechanical turk (https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome) would be good for this. You use a webcam to track eyes. (http://sourceforge.net/projects/opengazer/)

Best of luck!

Re: Ask HN: UX/Usability Lab Software & Equipment Recommendations

#3

Post by hknozcan » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 10:00 PM UTC

ibstudios wrote: post #2

Why not go remote from the get go? My first reaction was amazon's mechanical turk ( https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome ) would be good for this. You use a webcam to track eyes. ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/opengazer/ ) Best of luck!

Thanks. A webcam will probably not be accurate enough and still need software to analyze and report the data. Tobii seems to be the best option for the eyetracker even tohugh it is expensive. For remote tracking, there are several options such as userzoom, eyetracking.com's eyeworks, Morae, loop11, etc..

But, still I am not sure what the ideal setting will be in terms of quality and price.

Re: Ask HN: UX/Usability Lab Software & Equipment Recommendations

#4

Post by yshekster » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 10:14 PM UTC

All you need is GoToMeeting, really. $50/month. Once you have that, you can do remote usability testing. You can share the participant's screen and it syncs up the audio conversation with what is going on on the screen. Eye tracking is mostly unnecessary (and not available via GTM). GTM will even allow the session to be recorded. I also have my clients sit in and mute their line while watching. If you have a rich talk-while-clicking protocol and you are probing at the right times, it is pretty clear where people are having trouble and what they are looking at. When you are done, you can edit in iMovie or most editing software. If you want to do an exit survey, use SurveyMonkey.