User testing techniques in plain English

This article was written for user experience professionals to encourage them to cut out the jargon. But actually, it's also a great outline of the most common techniques for everyone in plain English.


A really useful article to reference if you're looking to appraise or plan your website and you're not sure how. Or if you need to justify undertaking some user research to the boss...

David Sherwin takes us through these techniques:

• Questionnaires 
• Contextual enquiry (watching people do everyday things) 
• Diary studies (longer term, users self reporting on use) 
• Task analysis (how people take part in an enquiry) 
• Card sorting 
• Prototyping 
• Usability testing 

And for each he breaks it down:

• A Plain English explanation 
• An example 
• The business value 
• Where the technique can contribute 

Can You Say That in English? Explaining UX Research to Clients - article by David Sherwin for A List Apart