HCI 670 user testing script benchmark: a planning guide
A script, not an essay — six questions that between them have to produce a document someone could pick up and run a test session from.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 10, 2026
What makes this a testing script rather than an essay?
The word script is the assignment's key instruction and the one most papers ignore. A script is an operational document: it says who is in the room, what they will be asked to do, in what order, what counts as a pass, and what happens when it fails. An essay about the importance of testing, however well written, is not one. Write the six required answers as the sections of a document a colleague could execute without you present, and the paper will satisfy both the rubric and the word script at the same time. The brief also tells you to use the instructor feedback on your Topic 5 assignment, which means the workflow being tested is one you already built and had corrected — so the script has to test that workflow, not an idealised one.
The participants question is more interesting than it looks. Testing the electronic form built for the oncology RN navigator means the primary testers are the people who will use it, and that is not a single role — the navigator, whoever covers when they are absent, and anyone downstream who consumes what the form produces. Add the people who make the test valid rather than convenient: someone unfamiliar with the design, because a designer cannot detect their own ambiguity, and a representative of any group whose work the new workflow changes. Say how many of each and why, since a script that says "users" has not decided anything. Numbers matter less than coverage at this scale: three or four testers spanning the roles will surface most usability problems, and a script that proposes twenty has confused a usability test with a survey.
The elements to test should follow from the workflow rather than from a generic list, and the useful distinction is between the form, the workflow and the integration. Testing the form asks whether fields are understood, whether required entries can be completed with the information available at that moment, and whether anything is ambiguous. Testing the workflow asks whether the task can be completed in the real sequence, under interruption, at the point of care. Testing the integration asks whether what is entered reaches the systems and people that need it. Most failures in health IT implementations sit in the second and third of these, not the first. Include at least one safety element as well — what happens when a required field is left blank, or when two people open the same record — because a form that works perfectly in the happy path is not yet safe.
The three testing types named in the brief are distinct and the paper should keep them apart. Acceptance testing asks whether the delivered system meets the agreed requirements — it is a pass/fail judgement made against a specification by the people who will accept it. Integration testing asks whether the new component works correctly with the systems around it. Testing of system enhancements asks whether a change does what it should and, crucially, has not broken something that previously worked, which is regression testing in all but name. Give the steps for each in order, and note who signs off at the end of each. Sequence matters between them too: integration testing before acceptance testing, because there is no point accepting a component that cannot reach the systems around it.
The rules, expected outcomes and failure plan are where a script becomes usable. Rules covers the conditions of a valid test: use a test environment rather than production, use realistic but not real patient data, do not coach the tester, record the session, define when to intervene. Expected action and outcome should be written per test element as a specific observable result — not "the form works" but "the navigator completes referral entry within the encounter without leaving the chart, and the referral appears in the receiving queue." The failure plan needs a severity classification, because not all failures are equal: a defect that blocks the task stops the go-live, one that slows it enters the fix list, one that is cosmetic is documented and deferred. Say who makes that classification and how quickly a retest happens, since a failure plan that ends with "report to the project team" has stopped one step before the useful part.
On evidence and mechanics: at least two scholarly resources, APA formatting and 750 to 1,000 words, with an 11-criterion benchmark rubric you should read before you start. Human factors work gives you the strongest citations here — usability validation for health records is a documented method rather than an opinion, and implementation reviews consistently identify workflow analysis and training as the recurring gaps. Citing that literature where you justify a testing decision, rather than in a paragraph about why testing matters, is what turns a compliant script into a defended one. Read the rubric's eleven criteria before drafting rather than after; at this word count each criterion is worth roughly one short paragraph, and a script that covers ten of them well and omits one entirely loses more than one that covers all eleven adequately.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Write an operational document rather than a discussion of one.
- 02Distinguish acceptance, integration and enhancement testing by what each one asks.
- 03Express an expected outcome as an observable result rather than a judgement.
- 04Classify defects by severity so a failure plan can be acted on.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
The six questions the script must answer
- 01A 750–1,000 word test script.
- 02Who would be part of the user testing.
- 03The elements to test.
- 04The steps used for acceptance testing, integration testing of new systems and testing of system enhancements.
- 05Any rules involved.
- 06The action or outcome expected.
- 07The action plan if testing does not work.
- 08At least two scholarly resources, in APA format.
Testers, elements, procedures, failure plan
Participants
Name the roles and numbers taking part and justify each, including someone unfamiliar with the design.
Elements to test
Group what is being tested into the form, the workflow and the integrations, derived from the case study.
Procedures for the three testing types
Give ordered steps for acceptance, integration and enhancement testing, each with a sign-off.
Rules, expected outcomes and the failure plan
State the conditions of a valid test, the observable result expected per element, and what happens by severity when a test fails.
Where the health IT testing evidence sits
Recommended databases
- The Integrated Case Study resource and your Topic 5 feedback
- NIST publications on EHR usability
- ONC HealthIT.gov, including the SAFER guides
- PubMed Central and JMIR for health informatics research
Search sequence
- 1.Re-read the Topic 5 workflow and your instructor's feedback first, since the script has to test the workflow you actually built.
- 2.Search usability validation for electronic health records rather than software testing generally; the health-specific method is what the rubric will recognise.
- 3.Look at an implementation review for the recurring failure areas, and make sure your elements list covers them.
- 4.Check the SAFER guides for the safety-related checks a health IT test should include, which most student scripts omit entirely.
Sources on usability validation and implementation
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Technical Evaluation, Testing, and Validation of the Usability of Electronic Health Records: Empirically Based Use Cases for Validating Safety-Enhanced Usability and Guidelines for Standardization
National Institute of Standards and Technology · 2012
The reference protocol for validating EHR usability with a safety emphasis, including how use cases are constructed and evaluated. Cite it when you justify your elements and your expected outcomes; it is a standards document rather than a study, so use it for method.
- 02
Mind the Gap: A systematic review to identify usability and safety challenges and practices during electronic health record implementation
Applied Clinical Informatics · 2016
Six recurring gaps including workflow analysis and training. The evidence for testing the workflow and the integrations rather than the form alone, and for putting training readiness in the failure plan.
- 03
SAFER Guides
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology · 2025
Self-assessment guides for the safe use of health IT, including system interfaces and clinician communication. A source of specific safety checks to include as test elements, which is the dimension most student scripts leave out.
- 04
Involving Health Care Professionals in the Development of Electronic Health Records: Scoping Review
JMIR Human Factors · 2023
Seventy studies finding clinicians typically involved only once in development. Useful for arguing that the testers should include the people whose work changes, and for justifying more than one round of testing.
Before you submit
Common mistakes
- Writing an essay about the importance of testing rather than a script that could be executed.
- Saying "users" without deciding roles or numbers.
- Testing only the form and not the workflow or the integrations, where most implementation failures actually occur.
- Merging acceptance, integration and enhancement testing into one undifferentiated procedure.
- Omitting regression concerns from enhancement testing.
- Writing expected outcomes as judgements rather than as observable results.
- Giving a failure plan with no severity classification, so every defect appears equally blocking.
- Using production systems or real patient data in the described test conditions.
Submission checklist
- Tester roles are named with numbers and a reason for each.
- At least one tester is unfamiliar with the design.
- Elements are grouped into form, workflow and integration.
- Each of the three testing types has its own ordered steps and a sign-off point.
- Rules cover environment, data, coaching and recording.
- Each element has a specific, observable expected outcome.
- Defect severity levels are defined and tied to actions.
- Two or more scholarly sources are cited in APA format.
- Word count sits between 750 and 1,000.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.