Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation

participants were again given the opportunity to take a break. Participants 
were asked whether they had any initial comments on the test. The admin-
istrator did not discuss these comments because the only reason for asking 
this question was to help put participants in an analytical frame of mind 
whereby they look back on the tasks from the point of view of a tester. 
This served to prime them for the QUIS questionnaire which was adminis-
tered next. 
In administering the QUIS questionnaire, the test administrator moved 
to a seat beside the video camera and directly opposite the participant at the 
desk (see Figure 3). Participants were told that a core part of usability test-
ing was to find out how users feel about using a product. They were told 
that just because something is easy to use, it is not necessarily usable if users 
do not like using it. Participants were reminded that there were no right or 
wrong answers. The participants were given the questionnaire and asked to 
complete it. If any questions were unclear or confusing, participants were 
told to ask the test administrator. 
Participants were then thanked for their assistance and the importance of 
their participation was emphasised. At this point, the video camera was 
turned off. During the first and second sessions, however, the camera was 
turned off immediately after the QUIS questionnaire was administered. It 
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unless it was absolutely essential. At all times, they must consult th
e

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Assessing Usability 
soon became apparent, however, that informal comments which sometimes 
continued right up to the point the participant left the room were not re-
corded. For this reason, the camera was left on until each remaining par-
ticipant left the laboratory. 
Session 3: Post Test Survey 
Session 3 involved administering the post test survey. These sessions were 
carried out exactly one week after each participant’s second session. The 
post-test survey involved administering the multiple-choice test sheet (see 
Appendix 5) and took approximately ten minutes. Participants were given 
the opportunity to ask questions about the study as a whole. Participants 
were thanked for their participation which was now at an end.