Sharing the data

If we’re tree testing for a project team, or for a client, we may want to share the raw results with them. By “raw results”, we mean the task scores and click paths that tree-testing tools track for us.

This is a great way of getting others interested in the study, while we take some time to dig deeper into the results and pull out some patterns and findings.

Depending on the tool, there may be several ways to share the data:

• We can use the tool’s “publish results” feature, if it has one. This typically gives us a web address that we can distribute to others; clicking the link shows them a read-only view of the results, without requiring a login.
  
  
• We can share our username/password for the tool, so others can log in and view the results for themselves.
  While this is easy, sharing a login is not ideal, especially if we use that account for other projects.
  
  
• We can download the results (typically to a spreadsheet file) and distribute that to others.
  However, the spreadsheet may not include the graphic visualizations that the tool offers in its web form.
  
  
• For collaborative analysis, we may want to download the spreadsheet and then upload it to a collaboration system (such as Google Drive or Office 365) that allows several users to view and edit the same file at once.
  This is helpful for splitting up work and viewing others’ feedback.
  
  

Next: Reviewing overall results