FernpathAcademy

The set-up

Designing your first tree test

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About this course

Over the next handful of lessons you will learn what a tree test actually measures, when it earns its place in a project, and how it differs from the other structure studies in Fernpath. We walk through writing findable task wording, trimming a bloated hierarchy down to something testable, and reading the first-click paths your participants leave behind. Bring a sitemap — you will be editing it by the end.

Course overview

  • Introduction
  • What a tree test tells you that analytics cannot
  • Deciding whether your question needs one
  • Turning a sitemap into a testable hierarchy
  • How deep is too deep?
  • Labels people actually scan for
  • Walkthrough: trimming 240 nodes to 61
  • Writing tasks that don't leak the answer
  • Recruiting: how many people is enough?
  • Reading the pietree without fooling yourself
  • Turning findings into a redraw your team will sign off