Participation Consent Form Usability Testing - PDF

							WEB USABILITY STUDY

Consent Form / Information Letter: Participant
This study is being undertaken by Christie Schultz (University      As a thank-you for participating in this study, you will be
of Alberta Creative Services unit of the Office of External         given an honorarium of a $10 gift certificate for the University
Relations), and by Lisa Given (Assistant Professor, School of       Bookstore. The honorarium will be awarded even if you
Library & Information Studies). The purpose of this research        withdraw from the study.
is to improve student interaction with University of Alberta
websites by increasing the usability of the websites for            If you have any questions or concerns about this study please
students. Feedback, behavioural data, and other results will        contact:
be used to propose changes or enhancements to University
of Alberta websites. That is, research results will be provided     Christie Schultz, MA
to the campus community as a whole and individual units             Web Content Coordinator, Creative Services
will have the opportunity to use the research to implement          Office of External Relations
changes or enhancements to their sites.                             University of Alberta
                                                                    Phone: 492-6326
As a participant in this study, you will be asked to complete       Email: christie.schultz@ualberta.ca
a talk aloud usability test. This is the most common form of
usability evaluation. You will carry out a specified set of tasks   Lisa M. Given, PhD
while thinking out loud about what you are doing. You will          Assistant Professor
be seated at a computer with a test facilitator. The session        School of Library & Information Studies
will be recorded. You will also be asked to complete one brief      University of Alberta
questionnaire before and one after the tasks are given.             Phone: 492-2033
It is expected that the study will take 1 hour of your time.        Email: lisa.given@ualberta.ca

All information that you are providing will be held in              I have read and understand the above information, and agree
confidence and you will not be identified in any way in the         to participate in this study.
final report. There will be no way to link your name on this
consent form with any of the other information gathered
during your participation in this study. All data will be held
securely for the minimum 5 years in the offices of Creative         PARTICIPANT’S NAME        (PLEASE PRINT)
Services at the University of Alberta. After 5 years, all data
collected and stored will be destroyed.

An observer will be present in the room for the period of           PARTICIPANT’S SIGNATURE
testing and will take notes. The observer/ note taker will not
reveal any information about individual participants. The
observer will not be allowed to be present for the sessions
unless he or she signs the Research Assistant/Transcriber           DATE
Confidentiality Agreement and agrees to abide by the
University of Alberta Standards for the Protection of Human
Research Participants. The researcher will be the only person       This study has been reviewed and approved by the Research
with access to the cassettes. Certain comments may be               Ethics Board of the Faculties of Education and Extension at
quoted or paraphrased in the final report, but no identifying       the University of Alberta. For questions regarding participants
information will be given beyond selected demographic               rights and ethical conduct of research, contact the Chair of the
characteristics. You can withdraw from this study at any time       Research Ethics Board at (780) 492-3751.
for any reason without explanation and any collected data will
be withdrawn and not included in the study.