Mobile Usability for Teens Who Are Going Mobile

What We Learned from Teens During Our Field Studies

How do kids really use their devices?

• A healthy minority of kids in our study had more than one mobile device. If they’re having a poor experience using one device, they might try using the other—meaning you might need to develop your application for multiple platforms.
• While some teens said they liked particular features of an application, being out in the field provided more insights about the uptake from “like” to adoption.
• Kids blur boundaries between mobile and the Web and are experimental—so you might find them trying to use your application in ways you hadn’t previously considered.

How much influence do kids’ peers have in their device and application use?

• Teens are greatly influenced by their peers. In isolation, teens might profess one opinion, but when with friends, might express entirely different opinions based on their peers’ reactions.
• When with peers, teens’ use of their mobile devices can change dramatically from the ways they use them when they are alone.
• In some demographic groups, mobile device use is a shared activity—offering up more learning opportunities.
• Kids in different socioeconomic groups sometimes use their mobile devices differently among their peers.

How Field Studies Differ from Traditional Usability Studies

Working in a mobile environment makes doing a usability study more challenging:

• Following a specific task order, or workflow, can be more of a challenge—making it harder to build quantitative results.
• Achieving full completion of tasks might not be possible, because participants’ physical surroundings or social situations can distract them or hinder their focus.
• Managing time effectively can be difficult—so it might be hard to get the full range of tasks completed.
• Controlling the participants’ environment and minimizing distractions are constant challenges.
• Recording scenarios and capturing the moment is more challenging.
• Getting participants to think aloud can require more prompting.

Though not being in control of the study environment can also afford insights:

• You learn more about the usability of an application or device in its natural realm.
• You gain knowledge of participants’ relationship to a device or application in their daily lives, beyond the scope of a traditional usability study.
• You gain insight into how other people’s responses can influence device or application use.
• You can do research that extends beyond the scope of a single participant.

Here are some things we learned at Molecular from our post-study evaluations after doing mobile usability studies with teens:

• Make sure the tasks you ask participants to complete make sense to them or that you involve them in the task-selection process.
• If you’re doing one-on-one sessions, make them as informal as possible.
• Do group sessions, with 2–3 kids. Their conversations with their peers usually reveal more than what they’ll tell you directly.
• During debriefing sessions, probe to make sure participants haven’t hidden their true opinions, because they want to please you or don’t want to be wrong.

In Conclusion

Teens are in a phase of their lives when they are constantly interacting socially—whether they are in school, at home, or with friends. The way they integrate mobile devices into their lives is a vital part of their social lives. While getting outside the lab and into this social world might not be your primary focus when doing usability studies, doing field studies should be part of your overall mobile usability toolkit. In short, get out of the box, get into the teens’ world, and you will discover a rich trove of useful information that can help you create great products young people want.