Overview
Taking the time to know your users is key to user-centered content. The user-research methods found on this page provide a variety of options to better understand a user.
Usability sessions
Usability sessions or usability testing has participants test either existing Alberta.ca services or prototypes of Alberta.ca services. Participants go through a set of scenarios to complete tasks within a product or service.
All sessions are one-on-on with a researcher and last 45 to 60 minutes.
The goal is to improve user experience by identifying problems, discovering opportunities and learning about user-behaviour.
User stories
User stories describe a need your user is trying to fulfil and provide a good way of getting in the mindset of your user. It helps focus on a user who interacts with a government service.
A user story template looks like this:
‘As a [person in a particular role],
I want to [perform an action or find something out],
So that [I can achieve my goal of…].’
User journeys
User journeys provide a roadmap of how users interact with content and services. From basic fact finding to a complicated application process, every person who uses Alberta.ca has a specific goal in mind that needs to be fulfilled. By understanding the goal and the path it takes to get to the goal, you can create better content and services.
User journeys can be divided into 4 main phases:
Discovery meetings
These meetings give us information-rich feedback on experiences from both users and service staff. People we conduct interviews with include:
- program area staff
- call centres
- users, if possible
Some examples of questions include:
- What is your main role?
- Who are your typical users?
- What are common themes or feedback from users?
- What is the emotional/mental state of the typical user?
- What do you receive the most calls, letters and emails about?
- What do you think users need most from the web pages?
- How do users get to your page?
- How often do your users use the website?
- What improvements would you like to see?
Sitemaps
Sitemaps show the overall structure of a section on Alberta.ca. This part of the process helps you step back and get a high-level view of the section.
The goal is to set up the ‘skeleton’ of the new sitemap before getting into specific content decisions.
Card sort
In this process, all the main headings in a section are gathered, usually H2s and some H3s, and sorted to find common themes and fit them into the sitemap.
This process is helpful because it helps to identify information gaps. Sometimes we will notice a few headings that do not fit anywhere, and perhaps require their own page, or some headings that work better on different pages.
Prototype
Prototypes give a very close depiction of how the final pages will look in the Alberta.ca environment, and we can easily make changes to the layout and structure. Prototypes incorporate the pages, main headers, basic navigation and content, but not the final content, which is added later.
Was this page helpful
Every page on Alberta.ca has the ‘Was this page helpful’ widget at the bottom of the page. This widget generates a user feedback report showing ‘Yes’ responses without a comment and ‘No’ responses with the option to explain why the page was not helpful.
This information is valuable when examining the main issue and determining which direction to take for a possible solution.
Percentage between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’
The percentage formula can be used to show the difference between users who find the page helpful and those who do not.
- (Value/Total value) × 100 = Percentage formula
Example:
- 83 Yes/150 = 0.55 x 100 = 55% Yes
- 67 No/150 = .45 x 100 = 45% No
User profile
A user profile (sometimes called a persona) is an overview of a typical user. User profiles should be based as much as possible on actual user research. We find this information by:
- speaking with government service areas and call staff
- speaking with users
- reviewing online forums related to the topic
- reviewing analytics
Elements included in a user profile include:
- point of entry
- actions
- emotions
- needs