5. Selling remote
research...
• Ease of recruiting
• Recruiting quality
• Participant’s real environment
• No limit to the number of observers
• If real-time recruiting, using actual tasks
6. ... but there are some
caveats
• Limited to only participants with fast
internet access
• Lots of opportunities for tech failure
• Can’t see participant faces
7. ... but there are some
caveats
• Timezones
• Languages
• Mobile
• Secret works in process
• Consent for minors
8. Go remote if:
• You can share what you’re studying
• You don’t have easy access to your target
users
• You’re not working with minors
9. Exercise
• What big questions is your organization
facing?
• How are you addressing those big
questions?
10. How to do remote research
flickr.com/62327186@N00
17. Recruiting
• House ads
• Event websites
• Customer lists
• Recruiting agencies
• Twitter
• Mechanical Turk
18. Screening and
scheduling
• Screen for behavioral and demographic
targets
• Ask for: name, age, internet access, willing to
install plug-in, time zone, email address,
phone number
• Email back with con rmation, proposed times
• Information you can refer back to on the
phone
19. Screen Sharing
• WebEx
• Adobe Connect (don’t need Pro version)
• GoToMeeting
• LiveLook
• Try whatever your company already has!
20. Audio
• Easiest: call landline or mobile via Skype
• Skype-to-Skype quality isn’t great
• Record on your computer
• Use a good quality headset!
• Better quality: use patch to record your
landline
22. Moderation
• Introduce yourself and remind them of the
email you sent
• Help the participant install whatever plug-
in they need to use the screen sharing
software
• Get approval to record
23. Moderation
• “It's a little weird doing this and not being
able to see each other! Could you just tell
me a bit about yourself? Where you live,
how old you are, and the kind of work that
you do?”
24. Moderation
• “We’re testing the website, not you”
• Make it clear that you’re listening
• Stay focused and comfortable
• Respect participant’s time
• Let your colleagues know that you’re in a
testing session
25. Pro Tips
• Keep a timer in the recording frame
• Include your notes in the recording frame
• Edit video to make a “best of” montage
• Give yourself plenty of set up time!
26. Time Aware Research
• “Find the contact information for a roofer.”
• “Imagine that your roof is leaking. It’s
getting pretty bad. You need to nd a
reliable roofer who can work tomorrow
before the next storm rolls in.”
27. Dealing with tech
failure
• Be apologetic
• Reschedule, if possible
• Increase the incentive amount
• Sometimes it just won't work
28. Non-scheduled &
moderated
• Pro: Get real users of your site engaged in
authentic tasks
• Pro: Reduced recruiting time
• Con: Requires access to code
• Con: Need lots of site traffic
29. Ethnio
• Live recruiting tool from Bolt | Peters
• ethnio.com
• (Also check out their book Remote
Research)
30. Non-scheduled &
non-moderated
• Pro: Get real users of your site engaged in
authentic tasks
• Pro: Reduced recruiting time
• Con: No control over moderation sessions
• Con: Can’t adjust sessions on the y
34. Lumos Labs
• Goal: Understand customer behavior
related to daily game playing
• Participants: Current customers
• Recruiting: Twitter, email newsletter, blog
• Why remote: User diversity, ease of
recruiting
35.
36. LendAround
• Goal: Interviews with potential customers
as formative research
• Audio only
• Recruiting: Mechanical Turk
• Why remote: Easier to reach very speci c
user types, contextual ndings
38. Exercise
• Would remote research be useful for your
organization?
• Is there a project that you know about that
would bene t from a remote component?
