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Courses/UX Design Foundations/Usability Testing Protocols/
Exercise #4

The Think-Aloud Protocol: Accessing Cognitive Logic

Introduced to usability by Clayton Lewis in 1982, the Think-Aloud Protocol asks participants to continuously verbalize their thoughts, intentions, and reactions as they perform tasks:

  • 'I'm looking for the pricing tab... I see 'Plans' here, let me check if that's the same thing... I'm clicking here because I expect to see enterprise tiers...'

This provides an uninterrupted window into the user's mental model, exposing exactly where interface cues contradict human expectations.

Topics

Why We Test: The Gap Between Saying and Doing
Moderated vs. Unmoderated Usability Testing
Formulating Objective, Non-Leading Usability Tasks
The Think-Aloud Protocol: Accessing Cognitive Logic
Quantitative Usability Metrics: Task Success, Time, and SUS
Synthesizing Insights: Affinity Mapping and Triage
design
UX Design

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Usability Testing Protocols

Level 6 · Workflows and Deliverables

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