Interacting with diverse populations

This chapter provides guidelines for interacting with a several populations, such as people with physical disabilities, the elderly, people with cognitive disabilities or low literacy skills, children and teens and people from cultures different from the moderator's. Usability professionals, have the responsibility to design and evaluate products for the widest possible market. User interfaces should be intuitive for all their users, not just the computer-literate and able-bodied ones. Moderating usability tests with some populations, however, requires additional knowledge, training, and preparation. This chapter provides general guidelines, such as: treat each participant as an individual, ask for feedback, ask before you help, learn about the population, make instructions and explanations simple and clear, be sure participants understand and sign the informed consent form, and many more. The chapter provides a brief discussion on people with physical disabilities. A number of usability practitioners have extensive experience moderating tests with participants who have physical disabilities. There are some guidelines that a moderator must keep in mind while interacting, such as providing accessible facilities and restrooms and providing accessible snacks. When interacting with a blind participant, one must include questions such as the following: Will you have an escort? Do you need transportation to and from the facility? Do you need assistance getting from public transportation or from a taxicab? Will you bring a service animal? If so, does the animal have special needs? What is its name? Do you read Braille? Do you use assistive technology? That and many more concepts are explained in this chapter.