| Applies to | Usability tests |
Task questions ask participants to complete an action using a live website, prototype, or app. Maybe you want to see how easily users can find a specific page or how intuitive your newly designed search functionality is. With task questions, you can find out directly from your participants.
When building a task question, you can add as much (or as little!) guidance as you want depending on what you’re trying to learn. You can also add URLs that will take participants directly to the website or prototype where you want them to complete the task.
Task question usage varies depending on your mission’s device type:
| Desktop missions | Mobile missions |
|---|---|
|
|
Task question settings
When adding a task question to your mission, you’ll customize your question in the center of the builder:
Here’s a breakdown of each option:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Task |
The prompt or instructions participants see as part of this task. Here, enter guidance they should follow or any context they should know before beginning the task. For example, if they should complete the task using your company’s app, you should tell them that here. You can format your text in the following ways:
However, only include links here that are supplementary. To link participants to a specific page or prototype related to the task, enter that under Task URL.
Tip: For inspiration writing task questions,
see
Become a Task Writing Pro
from Dscout’s People Nerds.
|
| Task URL (optional) |
A link to the website or prototype where participants should complete this task. This URL will open automatically when participants reach this task and will automatically close when they finish the task. (To stop displaying the URL after the task question, see Close task URL in the table below.)
Note: If you're using a Figma Make
prototype, first
publish
your prototype in Figma Make. Then, add the provided
URL
as a Website to your task question.
Heat maps are not generated for Figma Make prototypes.
For more details on configuring a Figma prototype in Dscout, see Add a Figma prototype to a usability mission.
Tip: Try managing your task URLs from
at
the mission level rather than on a question-by-question
basis.
For more information, see
Task URLs.
|
| Set success URL (website only) |
The URL participants should land on when successfully completing the task. Dscout will report success for this task during analysis based on whether participants visit the URL entered here.
Tip: Use an asterisk (*) to create a
wildcard
URL if the place where participants land upon completion
can vary. For example,
https://www.sneakers.com/running/* will
consider any URL beginning with
https://www.sneakers.com/running/ a
success
regardless of what else is in the URL.
|
| Task flow (prototype only) |
Defines where participants should start and end the task in your Figma prototype. This is useful if you are using the same prototype for multiple tasks because it lets you override the default start screen set by Figma. Hover over the following and click Edit to make your selections: Starting screen: Where participants will be directed when the task begins. Success screen (optional): Where you expect participants to end upon successful completion. Dscout will report success for this task during analysis based on whether participants land on the screen chosen here. |
Task questions also offer options related to follow-ups, task URLs, and privacy. You’ll access these in the right sidebar:
Here’s a breakdown of each option:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Self-reported completion (optional) |
Adds an additional follow-up question to your mission immediately after the task asking participants if they successfully completed the task. When enabled, participants will see a Yes or No question asking if they were able to complete the task. In analysis, you’ll see a percentage completion rate. |
| Single Ease Question (SEQ) (optional) |
Adds an additional follow-up question to your mission immediately after the task asking participants how easy or difficult they found the task. When enabled, participants will see a scale question asking them how they felt about the task, with options ranging from 1 - Very difficult to 7 - Very easy. In analysis, you’ll see an effort rating distribution for this task. |
| SEQ Difficulty (optional) |
Adds an additional follow-up question to your mission immediately after the Single Ease follow-up asking participants to explain why they found the task difficult. When enabled, participants who rate task difficulty 1, 2, 3, or 4 will see an open-ended typed response question asking them to elaborate. |
| Close task URL (optional) |
Stops displaying the provided task URL after participants complete this task question. By default, URLs remain open after participants complete a task. When enabled, the following behavior applies for each device and recording type:
Note: Close task URL is enabled by default on task questions added to multi-variate sets. For more information, see Multi-variate testing. |
| Privacy blur (optional) |
Blurs the participant’s screen during the task. This protects participants’ personally identifiable information (PII) during missions. When enabled, participant audio is recorded during the task, but their screen will not be visible to you during analysis. For more information, see Privacy blur. |
Add a task question to a usability test
You’ll add task questions on the Usability test tab of your mission.
To add a task question to a usability test:
- Navigate to the Usability test tab of your mission.
- Click + Add in the center of the builder or in the left sidebar.
- Under Usability, select Task.
- Enter the Task prompt or instructions.
- (Optional) Click Add beside Task URL to add a website or prototype. The applicable fields will display. For help completing these fields, see Task question settings.
-
Enable power follow-ups, close task URL, or privacy blur in the right sidebar. For more information on each, see Task question settings.
Tip: Remember to enable Close task URL if you want the website or prototype to close after this task question. - Click Done.
Now, you’ve successfully added a task question to your usability test. When participants reach this question, they’ll see the provided instructions for the task. And if you’ve included a URL or prototype, it will open for participants automatically when they begin the task.
Manage task URLs
Your usability test might use a number of task URLs, some of which might apply to multiple task questions. While you can manage URLs from within each task question, you can also manage them at the mission level. Click the Task URLs button at the top of the builder to access all URLs included in your mission:
Here, you can add, refresh, and delete URLs as needed:
Analyze a task question
From the Responses tab of a usability test, you can access specific metrics for each task question in your mission:
Here, you’ll find the following details:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Success | Percentage of participants who reached your designated success URL or prototype success screen. (Only visible if a Success URL or Success screen is set when building your mission.) |
| Self-reported completion | Percentage of participants who indicated they successfully completed the task. (Only visible if the Self-reported completion follow-up question is enabled when building your mission.) |
| Average time on task |
Average response time for the task. Here, you can also hover over the box plot to see the following statistics:
|
| Average ease rating | Average of how participants rated the effort required by the task. (Only visible if the Single-Ease Question follow-up is enabled when building your mission.) |
To view details from individual responses, navigate to the Participants tab while on the Responses tab of your mission.