ISSUE OF USING STUDENTS AS TEST USERS – SOME FINDINGS IN VE TESTING
DS 77: Proceedings of the DESIGN 2014 13th International Design Conference
Year: 2014
Editor: Marjanovic Dorian, Storga Mario, Pavkovic Neven, Bojcetic Nenad
Author: Tiainen, T.; Ellman ,A.
Series: DESIGN
Section: HUMAN BEHAVIOUR AND DESIGN
Page(s): 615-622
Abstract
In designing prototypes in virtual environments (VE) it is common practise to use students as test users. This paper outlines if this approach gives relevant information. The issue is analysed through three alternative test cases by comparing student’s and other test user’s behaviour. The first case compares user’s evaluation of the sizes of physical and virtual products. The second case studies user’s locomotion in VE. The third case focuses on operating a virtual mobile work machine. This paper outlines the issues and possibilities on using students as test users.
Keywords: user testing, virtual environment, virtual prototypes, students