Competency Group: Business
Type: Marketing
Description: Field Testing, also known as Field Trials, refers to user testing of a product within the real-world conditions that will be encountered during normal use. This may involve testing in various settings, such as the home, or a hospital. Or, it may involve testing in various geographic regions, where the product may be subject to different forms of extreme weather, or even cultural differences among users.
Citation for Description: Described by authors.
Advantages: Identifies the likelihood of usability within a sample of the desired target market population. The resulting information can be used to tweak the product prior to production.
Limitations: Can lead to faulty marketing decisions based on improperly analyzed data and can create unrealistic financial projections if information is interpreted incorrectly.
Target Audience: Marketing
Relevant to Universal Design: Yes
Stages and Steps: 6.3
Free Resource: Userfit Tools. (n.d.) Field trials. Retrieved from: http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/lecturenotes/UFTfieldtrial.pdf
Purchase Resource: Helm, J.W. & Holly, D. H. (2000). Conducting successful new product field trials. Retrieved from IEEE Xplore Digital Library: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/872478/