Incorporating Stress Into User Testing

T. Grant Leffingwell, principal usability researcher for human centric design at Battelle

Imagine you are manufacturing a handheld combination product, designed to be used in a very rare “rescue” type of scenario. You need to test this product with users, but you don’t know how to do it in a way that provides insight into how it will be used once it’s on the market. How do you design a usability test that mimics the panicked, stressful situation that a user may be in when he or she is using your device in the real world?