Usability Testing Lab in India

Usability Testing in India

Usability testing is a technique used to evaluate the usefulness and usablity of a product by testing it with actual users. During a usability test, participants are asked to perform real-world tasks while the researchers observe user behavior and understand where the problems are.

Here are a few questions that you may have about usability testing:

When is usability testing conducted?

User testing can be carried out any time during the design process. Formative testing during early product development stages gives you clear goals your product should successfully achieve. Summative testing after the product has been designed tell you how users actually behave with the product and where the key usage roadblocks are.

Kern works with clients to test their products at various stages of development:

During product conceptualization
With low-fidelity prototypes
With high-fidelity prototypes
Choosing design alternatives
With sale-able product
With other completive products - comparative testing

Does Kern have a research team or Kern is just an individual?

Kern has qualified and seasoned professionals who constitute a dynamic user research team.

Kern researchers have masters' degrees in Human Factors, User Interface Design, Industrial Design, or Psychology from leading universities.
Researchers have experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Kern does not have students or fresh out-of-school research assistants running the studies.
Unlike other companies, Kern does not work with unrealiable contractors or part-time consultants.
With our experience in ethnographic research and usability testing, Kern's team has developed, customized and perfected the art of eliciting relevant user information.
Though Kern has competitive processes in place, Kern's team is constantly looking to better its methodology.

How does Kern recruit participants?

Kern does its own recruiting! Our experience tells us that recruiting firms fail to understand the intended profile of participants and the nature of the research.

Before we begin recruiting, we fully understand how the participant profiles match the testing goals.
Apart from designing good motivators, we provide excellent compensation to participants.
We then adopt innovative offline and online techniques to recruit people.
We talk in detail with short-listed participants and see whether they are a clear fit for the goal of the test.
We ensure that participants turn up. We also hire enought backups in case a couple of participants do not turn up!
As a process, Kern shares participant profiles with clients 3 days before the tests.
On top of that, Kern guarantees recruitment according to implicit user profiles (not just explicit user profiles)!

How does Kern report usability testing results?

Reporting is usually done as per client's reporting specifications.

We give you a complete cultural understanding of the 'whys' behind the research findings.
We provide a report that is an intelligent mix of qualitative and quantitative analyses.
At Kern, we understand that the interpretation behind the numbers is the crux of the research; plain numbers may not give you the true picture.
Kern provides a 2-hour debriefing to clients immediately after the research is over.
Kern always provides design suggestions for key usability issues.

Does Kern's have a usability testing lab in India?

Kern has a state-of-the-art and fully-digital usability testing lab in Hyderabad (where we run most of our studies). Kern also runs user studies in Bangalore, Mumbai or in any city, town, or village in India.

An air-conditioned testing room
An air-conditioned observation room for 3 observers
Observation room with a large one way mirror
A portable usability testing lab for field tests
Fully digital lab specifically designed for testing devices and software interfaces
Capture mobile interfaces through software or digital camera mounted on the mobile phone
32" LCD monitors for observing picture-in-picture
PIP videos in WMV or AVI format
8 Mbps internet connectivity
Professional audio equipment with separate audio channel for translator
Uninterrupted power supply (with UPS and backup generator)
Data backup on network storage
Live video streaming on Internet for observers at remote locations

The observation room

What facilities are there for visiting clients?

Wireless internet connection for observers
Snacks, bottled water, beverages, and food on the house
Kern helps in visas, hotel recommendations, airport pickup, sightseeing, food, shopping, and cultural understanding (visit website)
Any other concierge services!

How quickly can you do usability testing in India and provide results?

For 5-10 users, Kern takes about 2 weeks
for 11-20 users, Kern takes about 3 weeks
for 21-40 users, Kern takes between 3-6 weeks

The turnaround time includes:

Project briefing
Designing / localizing protocol
Set-up, familiarization
Recruitment
Pilots and tests
Project and Cultural Debriefing
Reporting

Who are Kern's clients for usability testing?

Kern works with many clients and other usability companies around the world for conducting user research and usability testing in India.

Kern works with these usability consulting companies:

Adage Usability, Finland
Axance, France
Change Sciences, Inc., USA
HumanCentric Technologies, Inc., USA
SirValuse Consulting GmBH, Germany
Xperience Consulting, Spain

In past, Kern has designed and run user research for these companies:

Large Mobile Phone Maker
Dell
Finnair
Vodafone
Samsung Mobile
BP (earlier British Petroleum)

What are the 10 dos and don'ts of running a usability test in India?

Work with a local usability consulting company as trusted partner
Discuss research goals
Explain each participants' profile
Ask local partner to guide you with user profiles
Do not assume the language of the study
Do not force a location for the study
Collaborate to localize
Be present for the study
Ask for cultural insights
Discuss possible solutions to the problems found

Detailed explanation of dos, don'ts, and why's of usability testing in India

Can Kern run international usability testing?

Kern designs and runs studies across the world. Kern is a member of International Usability Partners (IUP), an alliance of leading usability companies across the globe.

IUP members have state of the art equipment, experienced people, and tools that facilitate in-house and mobile user research. Facilities are conveniently located around the world in 14 cities including: Chicago, Helsinki, Hyderabad, London, Paris, Torino, Munich, and Beijing. The alliance also works closely with companies in other parts of the world.

I have usability testing planned in India, how do I contact Kern?

Contact us today with a brief description about your study and its goals. We will get back to you in a couple of working days with a detailed proposal and a quote.

Ripul Kumar
+91 98 663 42166 (GMT +5:30), All Days, 9 AM to 8 PM
ripul@kern-comm.com