Unit 4 · Lesson 14 of 20
Write tasks that reveal understanding
Plan a formative study whose tasks and observations answer the clinic's decision.
01 / Learn
Learn the method
Fictional case
The team needs to see how patients use the revised kiosk during confirmed and delayed check-in.
Terms for this lesson
- Formative study
- A study used to improve a design while changes remain possible.
- Task prompt
- A realistic goal and starting situation given to a participant.
- Completion rule
- An observable condition that marks success for the task.
A formative usability study observes people carrying out realistic tasks while a design can still change. Begin with the decision: does the revised flow help patients understand check-in status and move to the right next step? Recruit people who reflect the clinic's patients and the access conditions the team identified.
A task prompt gives the person a goal and a starting situation. 'You have arrived for your appointment. Let the clinic know you are here and show what you would do next' leaves room for a patient to choose an available route. The researcher can then observe whether the kiosk, signs, and reception route make sense together.
Define success in observable terms. The patient completes a check-in through a usable route, explains the receipt or delayed status accurately, and chooses a fitting next action. Record hesitations, repeated entry, staff requests, and privacy behavior. Use a consistent script for the prototype's receipt and delay branches.
Plan the study's boundary. A scripted prototype can reveal interpretation and task behavior. A connected service check can establish live receipt timing. Document the participants and setting so the team can interpret findings within the conditions that produced them.
Use the method
- Choose participants and conditions that reflect the decision question.
- Write a goal-based prompt and consistent prototype branch script.
- List observable success, misunderstanding, help-seeking, and recovery signals.
A believable task and an observable completion rule make a usability study actionable.
- GOV.UK Service Manual: Using moderated usability testing ↗Write believable, neutral tasks that answer a research question.
- Nielsen Norman Group: Writing Tasks for Quantitative and Qualitative Usability Studies ↗Task wording depends on whether the goal is exploratory or measurement.
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative: Stories of Web Users ↗Concrete variation in people, tools, and barriers; pair these illustrations with testing.
02 / See the reasoning
Worked example
The moderator gives Mira an appointment card and says, 'You have arrived for your appointment. Let the clinic know you are here, then show what you would do while waiting.' The facilitator triggers a delayed service response for one round. The observer notes Mira's route, her explanation of the status, and her next action. Afterward the moderator asks what she believed the clinic had received.
Try a decision →03 / Decide
Guided decision
Which task prompt best reveals whether the clinic's full check-in route works?
Feedback on your choice
What could change the answer: A study focused on a specific physical reach issue would use a directed control task alongside the full arrival task.
Use this feedback to examine your choice and written reasoning.
Build your case file →04 / Build the case
Your case file
Fictional case update
The team plans a round with a patient who uses a screen reader and a round during a noisy morning period.
Evidence and constraints
- Fictional research question: can patients distinguish received from delayed check-in?
- Fictional prototype: the receipt and delayed branches use a facilitator script.
- Fictional setting: the lobby includes glare, announcements, a kiosk, and reception staff.
Add the participants, setting, and one observation to the test plan for each round. Keep the patient goal and completion rule consistent.
Create: A one-page study plan with participants, task prompts, branch script, observations, and completion rule.
The tasks represent the patient goal and the observations answer the decision question.
- The prompt gives a goal and starting context.
- Success can be observed in the prototype.
- The plan includes relevant access conditions and study limits.
The study produces observations. The next lesson turns them into usable findings.
Lesson complete
You added to your case file.
You studied the method, practiced a decision, and added an artifact to your case file. Carry that reasoning into the next lesson.
05 / Keep working