December 17, 2020
December 17, 2020
Mixed method user researchers know the value of synchronicity in their work. Being with a person, in their environment, offers an exclusive opportunity to glean the right, contextual insights.
In our current moment, however, fieldwork isn't tenable. As a result, many have turned to remote approaches to moderated research, finding that the modality can augment—and even extend—their practice. Below are some guidelines for building a stronger remote moderated research practice, and some advantages to leverage when moving remote.
Broaden your backyard
Human-centered thinkers want to improve an experience or product for all folks, not some. Diverse, variegated samples help make sure more voices are heard. This is challenging when one only conducts fieldwork in one's backyard (so to speak).
Remote fieldwork can enable equal representation in research samples. A recommendation based on a theme, generated from all four corners of a country, induces much more confidence than one based on a single state (or even a single city). Searching for and weaving in those voices on the margin is achievable when remote modalities are harnessed—many participants only need a smartphone or computer to get started.
Adaptability matters
In the field, the whims of logistics and uncertainty often play an outsized role on data collection. The stakes are high—travel costs, scheduling, location availability—and the moments with folks are precious. Remote tools offer flexibility for both researcher and participant for those inevitable unexpectancies. The research becomes less precious, and small hiccups (a missed appointment, traffic) don't derail the whole project. Purpose-build remote tools offer a host of backstops to keep you on-track while respecting the time of the folks working with you.
There are also plenty of topics that, even with the most affable, other-oriented moderator, are challenging to discuss in-person. The physical distance afforded by remote modalities can present a safer, more invitational space for participants to open up, explore, and disclose their authentic perceptions and beliefs. Furthermore, remote lets you go where you might not have been invited (or allowed) previously. Dinner tables, bathrooms, those micro-moments in the car before entering a retail location...all these are nearly impossible to plan for in-person, but with the right research design are feasible with remote.
Translating designs for the remote “field"
Regardless of the activity type, research goals, or sample size, some considerations should be made before kicking off any remote moderated user research study. These will help respect the time of your participant as well as make the most of your sessions.
Many of these considerations are accounted for in purpose-built remote tools like dscout Live, which allows you to stop kludging together platforms and instead focus on the participant. Recruiting, transcription, even extra consent documents are all options with tools like dscout Live.
No-brainer use cases and applications
Remote moderated tools are very flexible, supporting the classic 1:1 interview or conversation and a host of product, innovation, and experience project types. The access and candor, as well as the perspective offered makes this approach perfect for:
This is by no means exhaustive. With remote (smartphone) mobile research, you can capture POVs from stores, aisles, and corners of folks' life that are integral to how, when, and why they engage with your experience.
(A note on remote focus groups vs. remote 1:1s: Given the potential distraction and increased chance of technical mishaps, focusing sessions on one person at a time goes a long way to ensuring higher-quality data. Folks can still show other people during their session—if that's of interest to your questions—but keeping the attention on one person helps the participant and you.)
Pre-session:
In-session:
Post-Session
Data from moderated remote sessions can be overwhelming at first, but start with your driving questions, hypotheses, or thesis: What motivated the sessions in the first place. Then, inventory your available data (e.g., screenshares, front-facing video, transcripts, collaborator notes) and determine what will fit with your deliverable needs (and timeline!). Here are two pathways to consider:
Analysis capabilities are constrained by the platform of choice, but in general starting with primary questions to answer, inventorying data streams, and then moving to themes works well.
Homebound UXRs have more options than ever to augment their fieldwork. Remote moderated approaches (and platforms) offer the opportunity to view exclusive moments and capture candid feedback from the humans who make brand experiences possible. Engagement during the current moment hasn't stopped—it's shifting in important (and lasting) ways that UXRs need to be aware of, and remote modalities offer a way to react.
Ben has a doctorate in communication studies from Arizona State University, studying “nonverbal courtship signals”, a.k.a. flirting. No, he doesn’t have dating advice for you.