The budget

The funds available to finance the usability study can influence the following:

• The goal: A small budget might require that the goals are reduced to what can actually be achieved in the frame of that budget.
• The scope: The range of tasks to be completed by the participants determines the time required by them, as well as the effort required by the UX researcher, and subsequently, the necessary funding.
• The test environment: Development effort might be required to provide working prototypes, or to ensure that the test environment is populated with representative data; devices might have to be shipped to the participants. The cost for these study preparation tasks has to be covered by the available budget, too.
• The participants: Elaborate profile requirements for the participants may increase the cost of recruiting suitable candidates. The number of participants is also dependent on the available budget.
• The study methodology: Some methodologies are less cost-intensive than others. The available budget can therefore also determine what methodologies are feasible.
• The deliverables: Lastly, the budget can determine how much effort is put into producing the deliverables. Instead of a comprehensive written report, the budget might only allow for a summary of the most important findings.

We have encountered projects where the budget was tight, and consequently, we had to reduce the scope or simplify the participant profiles, and so on. The bottom line remains that regardless of your available budget, there is always value in running a usability test.