Let's talk about remote moderated testing. These days because we're trying to do so much in such a short time-frame, people are doing a lot more remote research in general. You can use remote moderated testing to answer a lot of questions that you would typically answer in the lab. The best use of remote moderated testing is in situations where you don't have a lot of time or money. When you want to be able to dig deeply into a question around what's happening with concepts, prototypes, or usability questions, and you want to probe more deeply or be able to direct people through something that may not be fully fleshed out. Then finally, in situations when it's really important to get a sense of users digital contexts, it's wonderful to be able to watch them do something on their home computer with their own set up. Some of the pros of remote moderated testing. You can actually do more testing because you aren't doing all of that travel. Additionally, finding just the right participants is at least a little bit easier because you don't have to ask people to come into your office to meet with you and take time off of work. So for people like doctors or lawyers who don't have a lot of time being able to do a one-hour conference call in front of their computer is a lot easier than asking them to drive an hour across town to come and meet with you. Finally, doing remote moderated testing enables you to redirect people if they go feel to where it is you would like for them to be, or to probe more deeply when you need to. Similar to lab testing, you're going to need to have a script in hand before you start remote testing. So, you need to be thinking about how you're going to build rapport which is a little bit more challenging because you aren't in the same room. That often happens during technical setup because you're both having the challenge of trying to navigate, getting your computers, or your phones set up. Also, you need to be enthusiastic. In the same way that you would be enthusiastic in a lab setting, you need to also be enthusiastic over the phone and maybe even a little bit more so that people feel that connection with you that is a lot harder to build sometimes during a phone conversation. So, think about how you want to introduce yourself, set expectations about what's going to happen during the test, and what your role is going to be, and those of observers. Typically, as you would have observers in a lab setting, you would also have observers in a remote unmoderated test setting. One additional consideration is how and if you want to include observers as part of the conversation. One really great way to include observers is to actually set aside some time for them at the very end of the test so that they can ask any questions that they might have based on what they have observed during the test. So, you need to think about what will you do if you have observers who are watching from multiple locations? You also want to make sure that you're letting the participant know that there are others watching. Just as you would do in a lab tests, you want to ensure that people understand that this is a voluntary experience. They can stop, and that if they make a mistake, it's okay. It's not a test of their ability. So, you really do need to think about how you would manage frustration, or issues, or somebody runs into a roadblock where they just can't get any further. You need to be mindful of what tasks and questions, just the same way as you would be for an in-person study. So, do you want to front load some of the tasks because they're important? Or do you want to make sure that they are set up in really linear fashion because there's some dependencies that you need to build in terms of forms for example. So, at the end of the test, you want to make sure that you have a sense for how it is that you want to close out that interaction. Do you plan to have a survey? How is that going to be administered? Or are you going to have an interview? So, the follow-up interview or a survey is an opportunity for you to get a sense of how people thought about the entire process, and to also dig deeper into some of the things that they may not have had that time or inclination to think about during the actual study. So think about how you want to capture those post-test impressions. Whether it's going to be a survey or an interview to help you to get a good understanding of what it is that people thought and felt through that test. Just as you would for an in-lab test, you need to think about what are the things that people are going to be encountering as they're doing a test? So what are the tasks that they're going to be completing? What are the common paths to those tasks? Then finally, what errors might they encounter? Because you need to plan for what are you going to do to respond to those things. You also need to think about where and how you're going to probe, and also how you're going to redirect people if necessary. So, if for example they get stuck in a loop and a task and they can't complete it, how much time you're going to give them before you say let's move on to the next task? Then, how are you going to get them there depending on where it is that you are? A few tips and tricks to help you be successful doing remote moderated tests. The first is, you need to practice with your technology. You need to be very confident around how it is that you guide people through setting up their computer or their telecommunications technologies so that you can confidently capture what it is that you would like to capture. You need to be sure that you are online at least 10 to 15 minutes early so that at least your setup is complete. Then also you want to make sure that you're there when your participant joins the call. Then finally, just as in a lab setting, sometimes people don't show up. So make sure that you're over recruiting to get all of the participants that you will need. Remote moderated testing doesn't have to just be limited to usability testing. You can do anything from interviews to card sorting and tree testing. So, think about how it is that you want to structure a time where you can interact with someone using your product in their own setting, and whether that means you're doing a combination of usability testing and interviews, or something completely different. You can get great answers for your stakeholders in a really short period of time.
