Anyone who has done user research is familiar with Murphy's Law  – the participant doesn’t show up on time, the test equipment fails (it was working this morning!) – and the list goes on.

Testing online

For online testing, the main things to cover are:

• Piloting our test to shake out mistakes in the tree and the task wording
  
  
• Providing a contact for participants who encounter problems
  
  
• Alerting our support channels that we’re doing a study, in case participants call to check that it’s legitimate.
  
  

For more on handling problems during a test, see Checking for technical problems in Chapter 10 and Monitoring the test's progress in Chapter 11.

Testing in person

For in-person sessions, the main challenge is getting the right participant in the right room at the right time. Mostly that’s a matter of good recruiting, though life does happen – traffic is heavy, kids get sick, etc.

Here are a few tips that should help:

• When you book someone for a session, make it clear to them that it's a one-on-one study. People are less likely to no-show for these than they are for group sessions.
  
  
• Be clear about the time and place, of course, and send a follow-up email with this info, directions and where to park, and your contact number.
  
  
• Contact them the day before the study to remind them of their upcoming participation. If they can't make it, you might be able to reschedule.
  
  
• When they arrive, make sure they know where to go. Instructions in the email are good, but signs (or meeting them in the lobby) is better.
  
  

For more on planning and running in-person user research, we recommend the excellent and comprehensive Handbook of Usability Testing by Jeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell.

Next: Documenting our plan