Benefits of conducting remote usability research
Currently, I am designing an online tool for informal caregivers (i.e., people taking care of
their loved ones in case of any illness or disability), this online tool will help them in taking
control of their emotions and well-being in different caregiving situations. For my research,
soon I will be starting with a usability testing of the online tool i.e., evaluation of this tool with
the actual participants, informal caregivers. Considering the COVID-19, I may have to resort
to remote usability testing , keeping this in mind let’s reflect on the pros of conducting
research at a distance:
Home is ‘COMFORT’
With remote usability testing, users have the familiarity and comfort of their own setup, with
respect to their:
a. home environment: Firstly, participants, especially informal caregivers who have to
be with their loved ones most of the time, may feel at ease in taking any research
activities at their home. This implies they can participate in the study as well as be
with their care-recipient in case of any emergency. Secondly, people change their
typical behavior when they know they are being observed. This is called the
“Hawthorne effect”. With remote testing, where the researcher is nowhere close,
the participants can express themselves in a natural way without suppressing their
typical behavior.
b. study set-up: As researchers, we always want to be prepared for our study with all
the recent technology, fast speed laptops, and fancy systems. However, it is the
question of whether the participant is comfortable with using these systems for the
first time.
From my past usability testing experience, I have heard a lot from the participants
saying:
● I use a (mac, desktop, pc)
● My keyboard is slower/ faster or smaller/bigger
● I use a different mouse
Thus, remote testing gives participants the opportunity to use their own systems for
the study, making them feel comfortable and at ease with the study set-up.
Make your research ‘GLOBAL’
Pervasive Computing specialists Velda Bartek and Deane Cheatham from IBM quote that
“The obvious, and greatest, the advantage to conducting usability tests remotely is that it
makes a larger and more diverse pool of participants accessible”.
Therefore, allowing your
product or services to be evaluated with the worldwide audience.
Nowadays, a lot of online platforms are available especially for conducting usability remote
testing, such as GoToMeeting (
https://www.gotomeeting.com/), ZoomUser
(
https://www.userzoom.com/), which allows the researcher to efficiently conduct usability
testing by:
a. easily connecting to the participants online
b. sharing the tool to be tested with the participants and giving them the control to
navigate through the tool easily
c. capturing their online activities by recording their screen with explicit consent
d. smoothening the analysis process for the researcher by summarizing the collected
data
You ‘SAVE’ time
Imagine after the tough phase of recruitment, you arrange a time slot with two participants
on the same day. As you want your participants to feel comfortable in their home settings,
you plan to visit their place for conducting the study. “BOOM”, now you spend 2-3 hours
traveling to conduct 1 hour of study.
On the contrary, if the same study had been planned online, you would have saved an
insane amount of time. Now, I leave it up to you to make a judgment for your own study,
whether taking the study at a distance could have been equally efficient?