Four years ago, in 2017, I published an article in UXmatters giving advice about how to handle ten types of difficult usability testing participants, Wrangling Difficult Usability Testing Participants. The ten types of difficult participants were:

• Bad Fits to the User Profile
• Untalkative Participants
• Overly Talkative Participants
• Participants Who Ramble Off Topic
• Inarticulate Participants
• Participants Who Struggle to Think Aloud
• Participants Who Have No Opinions
• Uncritical Participants
• Participants Who Blame Themselves
• Uncooperative Participants

Four years later, I felt I had encountered enough new types of participants to write a part two, Wrangling Difficult Usability Testing Participants, Part 2. These include:

• Happy Clickers
• Talkers, Not Doers
• Givers of Facts, Not Opinions
• Representatives of the Business
• Participants Who Take Prototypes Too Literally
• Professional Research Participants
• Uncomfortable, Nervous Participants
• Participants Who Are Too Relaxed
• Harassers

Of course, most participants are just regular people who are trying to do their best in the unusual situation of participating in a usability test. It’s up to you as the researcher to help them understand what you need them to do.

Image by Rinaldo Wurglitsch under Creative Commons License