I’ve been writing up research summaries and proposals and just penned this inelegant but hopefully useful statement on what I perceive as the value of user testing.

We’re working with a very small sample size and are not claiming that these are statistically significant results. Rather, the usability sessions are thoughtful, detailed conversations about our product with people who are looking at new features with fresh eyes; and if they’ve used the product before, they’re sharing real-life perspectives on how they experience it.