During the Passover Holiday we performed user testing with young children - the target audience of our app.
Before we started the user testing, we changed the procedure. We let the users experience the registration process, while we presented the part of the keyboard through video. The video showed a conversation with offensive content between two fourth graders children. The goal was to keep the children away from the abusive situation, and to prevent unpleasant feelings from arising.
We recruited users through personal connections and through advertising on social media like Instagram and Facebook. As a result, parents of children contacted us requesting that their children will participate in the user study.
So far, we tested the app with 6 kids: 4 boys and 2 girls, ages 8.5-12. During this week, 2 more testing are planned with children ages 9 and 11.
User testing with the children was an interesting experience. At first, we perceived this as a challenge because we were apprehensive about how children would react to the app and from exposing them to offensive content. At this point, we can say that the user testing have been passed successfully, and form an important basis in the application development process.
From the user study, we gained some insights about the feedback and about Bobby's character. For example, whether to add more colors to Bobby. Or whether to perform additional tests in which we will present new characters to the children and check with them which character they would prefer.
