Blue Topping Usability Report

Usability

Usability refers to the ease of use of a product or process. Usability testing is the means of gathering data on the usability of a product or process. Typically feedback on these tests will pertain to the learn-ability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction of a design.

• Learn-ability- how easy it was to understand the design?
• Efficiency- how quickly can the design be followed once it is learned?
• Memorability- are the steps easy to remember or relearn?
• Errors- how frequently do errors occur and how significant are they?
• Satisfaction- was the design pleasant to use?

Blue Topping

For my usability test, I wrote instructions on how to blue top. Following the completion of the curb on both sides, the gravel base of the road is graded to the correct slope and elevation. Blue topping is the process of setting wooden hubs into the ground at the elevation of the crown of the gravel base. I wrote four usability questions based on what I thought were the most vital points of blue topping.

• Were the instructions for the calculations easily comprehended?
• The calculations are the most important part of blue topping. If done incorrectly, the entire process would need to be redone.
• Should I go more into the purpose of blue topping or why it is helpful?
• I covered it only briefly since the purpose of the video will be the process itself, but if it would help it can be added.
• Was my explanation regarding when blue topping occur clear enough?
• For someone without construction or surveying experience, it might be difficult to understand what phase the road is in when blue topping occurs.
• Do you have any other questions or comments?
• It would be easy for someone with experience on a topic to miss a concept that might be essential to a person who is just learning it. 

Usability Test Report

Introduction

My topic is blue topping. My target audience will be my class mates and perhaps novice surveyors. 

Objectives

I want to present the methods and calculations required for blue topping in a manner that someone with little to no experience would be able to understand.

Method

This draft of my instructions will hopefully be close to what my final product will look like. My test users will be two civil engineering students, one with surveying experience and one without. My third user will be a management information systems major with no prior knowledge of the topic. 

The users will be presented with a cross sectional drawing of a road and will be asked to calculate the elevation of the crown of the gravel base of the road relative to the curb. Then they will be given two curb elevations and will be asked to find the crown elevations relative to the laser level. It will be a written test and calculators are allowed. There is no time limit. 

Results

As I expected the civil engineering student with surveying experience had zero problems with the instructions. The civil student without surveying experience was also able to complete the test with minor difficulty. Unfortunately the MIS major got hung up on the computation. After giving him a slight nudge in the right direction he understood what he had done incorrectly.

Fortunately I included my fourth usability question. All three said I needed to include instructions on how to read a grade rod while using a laser level. After doing it for two years in a row, reading the rod never crossed my mind as an important detail to add. The reason it can be a tad tricky is due to the fact the small numbers mean higher elevations on a grade rod, whereas most people would logically think the opposite. 

Conclusion

Aside from the oversight of the grade rod, the rest of the instructions were rated well by my users. I plan to add a section about reading the grade rod right after the step discussing the calculations. In my video I also hope to find graphic aids to help show the operation of a laser level and grade rod.