Last Thursday, June 24th, the UX Group met to learn more about the Think Aloud method from Guelph Master’s student, Amy Gill. Amy graciously gave us a presentation on her Master’s work, which has been focussing on learning about the psychology roots of the Think Aloud method, and how it can and should be used by UX practitioners today. We had almost 30 attendees this month, which made the discussions lively and insightful.

• Think Aloud was originally created in the psychology tradition to learn about the thought processes inside of subjects’ heads
• We can gather great quotes to convince others of changes that need to be made
• It can provide us with insight into the mental models and the assumptions of the user
• The method doesn’t alter though patterns if we stick to level 1 and level 2 statements that do not require extra thinking or meta thinking.
• When we ask “Why?” the user has to start thinking about what they should say – altering their thoughts
• Asking “Why?” can also produce inaccurate reports as users tell us what they think we want to hear

• When we ask “Why?”
• How we know when usability testing is being done “correctly” or is having a positive impact
• How people in the community incorporate usability testing, and when

• Amy’s Slides
• Methods for Successful “Thinking Out Loud” Procedure
• Demo of a usability test using Think Aloud from Steve Krug
• Rocket Surgery Made Easy