Task Analysis
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Why Task Analysis?
A task analysis complements what you have learned about your user. It uncovers your users' goals, what they want to do on your website and how work with your site.
Task analysis can also show you the specific task users must do to meet their goals and what steps they take to accomplish those tasks.
User and task analysis focuses on understanding:
- Users’ goals and how they achieve them
- Personal, social, and cultural characteristics users bring to their tasks
- Physical environment’s influence on users
- The influence of previous knowledge and experience on:
- How users think about their work
- The workflow users follow to perform their tasks
Benefits of Task Analysis
Tasks analysis can help you:
- Understand tasks your website must support
- Determine appropriate content scope
- Refine or re-define your site’s navigation or search to better support users' goals
- Build pages and applications that match users' goals, tasks, and steps
How to Conduct a Task Analysis
Your task analysis may have several levels of inquiry, from general to very specific. You can ask users what overall tasks they are trying to accomplish or how they currently accomplish the task.
Examples
What overall tasks are users trying to accomplish on our website?
- Trying to find a nursing home near you for an elderly relative.
- Trying to get information about options for treatment for skin cancer.
- Trying to sign up to receive an email notice when a payment is due.
How are users currently completing the task? People are completing that task using:
- Something other than the web
- Using a search engine
- Using your site
- Using another site
