Originally delivered at An Event Apart Online Together in June 2020, a talk about how to do remote research, keeping ourselves and our participants safe and well
How can we keep good research
going when the world has
shifted?
40+ million out of work in the USA
100,000+ lost to COVID-19
Pandemic lockdowns
Protest movement & repression
Tech company layoffs
Government budget cuts
We owe our participants more
& have less capacity ourselves.
What we need to do research
- Find participants
- Obtain consent
- Provide the prompt
- Collect the response
- Offer compensation
- Bring home evidence
- Take care of ourselves
- Be good citizens
If you don’t have a ...
- receptionist
- waiting area
- observation room
- envelope with
payment
If you don’t have a ...
- receptionist
- waiting area
- observation room
- envelope with
payment
- Take on the memory
burden
- Create a landing page
- Use it to set the tone &
obtain consent
If you don’t have a ...
- receptionist
- waiting area
- observation room
- envelope with
payment
- Do your sessions in a
“locked room”
If you don’t have a ...
- receptionist
- waiting area
- observation room
- envelope with
payment
- Turn off observers’ video
- Turn off your video
- Consider turning off
participants’ face video
If you don’t have a ...
- receptionist
- waiting area
- observation room
- envelope with
payment
- Pay right away if you can
- Be flexible about means
- PayPal, Venmo,
Ca$hApp, Square, gift
cards
Warm neutral
An interaction style characterized by
- Receptivity
- Interest
- Friendliness
- Appropriateness
Participate
Don’t...
- compliment views
about your product
- ask leading
questions
- compliment kids, pets
- acknowledge hard times
- praise detail
- express sympathy &
appreciation
Do...
If your participant breaks into tears
- “It’s ok, feelings are just fine here”
- “Take your time”
- “I wish I could offer you a hand to hold”
- “Do you want to continue?”
If you need a moment
- “I need to pause for a moment”
- “Let me just catch up on my notes here”
- “That’s a powerful story”
Finding Users
There’s more to recruiting & scheduling
when you won’t share space.
Sign up
See
invitation
Schedule
Where are the people with the
problem you want to solve?
Research Participants
- team members.
- friends, not on your team.
- target customers.
- real users with recent experience.
- real users with current needs.
- real users with a need this hour.
MoreReliableResults
In Person
Are you available for a
1-hour interview at the
downtown facility June
22-24?
Parking is free.
Are you available for a
1-hour call June 22-24?
You’ll need to have your
device & be somewhere
with good wi-fi service.
Remote
Cluster recruiting:
Who else in the organization had an important role in this
moving forward (or not)?
[ sponsor ]
[ project lead ]
[ hands-on staff ]
Closing the deal
- send an invitation with clear details
- mention where they signed up
- explain the required tech setup in plain
language
- send a calendar invite if they use a calendar app
- send a reminder one day before
Choosing Remote Tech
- What do you need to see?
- How many kajillion options arethere?
- Which ones really work?
Participate
Easy ~Doable~ Hard Science
fiction
desktop
screensharing
video
recording
mobile
screensharing
phone call
recording
back-camera
sharing
body-camera
sharing
drone
research
video
conferencing
Minimal-tech research
- send your prototype or prompt
- speak on the phone while your participant
uses it
- follow along with your own copy & ask for
description as needed
- use a call recorder if you can
Notes, Audio, & Video
- Observers may be harder to host
- Prioritize what you’ll need to show
your findings
- Respect your participant’s bandwidth
Video platforms
- integrated recording
- higher bandwidth
demand
- easy for you to call the
participant
- may be more
comfortable
- less likely to cut off
- recording is harder
Plain old telephone
In-person
- at least 2 hours
- post-its
- whiteboards
- everyone together
- prompts for pre-work
- less than 90 minutes
- write/draw, then show
- online tool options
- less than 5 people
Remote
40+ million out of work in the USA
100,000+ lost to COVID-19
Pandemic lockdowns
Protest movement & repression
Tech company layoffs
Government budget cuts
Before-times research could explain
- oddities in analytics
- weird feedback from customers
- unexpected uses of products
- strange hunches
What you must have
- conference software with recording (pro plan)
- budget for incentives if at all possible
- extra time for recruiting
- extra time for synthesis
- permission to reflect & revise your research
questions
We can honor our users’ needs
& support each other as researchers
even at a distance.
Thank you!
See you right now for questions &
@cydharrell any time you want to
talk about this