This document discusses how to conduct effective user research remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides guidance on how to recruit and schedule remote participants, choose appropriate remote technologies, conduct remote interviews and diary studies, and synthesize findings without being co-located. Key recommendations include using video conferencing platforms with screensharing and recording capabilities, minimizing technology requirements for participants, obtaining clear consent from remote participants, and utilizing asynchronous tools like diaries for longitudinal studies. Remote research requires additional time for tasks like recruiting, synthesis, and revising research questions in light of changed circumstances due to the pandemic.

1. Rich Research
at a distance
Cyd HarrellAEA Online Together

2. How can we keep good research
going when the world has
shifted?

3. 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

4. We owe our participants more
& have less capacity ourselves.

5. 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

6. Participant journey
See
invitation
Sign up Be selected Schedule Participate Be paid
Whatever task they were doing Benefit of research
Participate

7. Participant journey
See
invitation
Sign up Be selected Schedule Participate Be paid
Whatever task they were doing
Participate
Benefit of research

8. Remote Interview Care
Making it easy to join
Disclosures & consent
Comfort for your participant
Participate Be paid

9. If you don’t have a ...
- receptionist
- waiting area
- observation room
- envelope with
payment

10. 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

12. If you don’t have a ...
- receptionist
- waiting area
- observation room
- envelope with
payment
- Do your sessions in a
“locked room”

15. Consent to record

16. 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

17. Seeing the important part

18. 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

19. Warm neutral
An interaction style characterized by
- Receptivity
- Interest
- Friendliness
- Appropriateness
Participate

20. Don’t...
- compliment views
about your product
- ask leading
questions
- compliment kids, pets
- acknowledge hard times
- praise detail
- express sympathy &
appreciation
Do...

21. mm-hmm
oh interesting
right
huh
wow
ohhhh...
MM...
I see that...
Yeah

22. 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?”

23. 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”

24. Finding Users
There’s more to recruiting & scheduling
when you won’t share space.
Sign up
See
invitation
Schedule

25. Where are the people with the
problem you want to solve?

26. 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

27. 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

28. Recruiting from your properties
logo
logo

29. Snowball recruiting:
Who else do you know who needs to deal with this issue?
[ neighbor ]
[ friend ]
[ family member ]

30. Cluster recruiting:
Who else in the organization had an important role in this
moving forward (or not)?
[ sponsor ]
[ project lead ]
[ hands-on staff ]

31. 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

33. Choosing Remote Tech
- What do you need to see?
- How many kajillion options arethere?
- Which ones really work?
Participate

34. Easy ~Doable~ Hard Science
fiction
desktop
screensharing
video
recording
mobile
screensharing
phone call
recording
back-camera
sharing
body-camera
sharing
drone
research
video
conferencing

35. The world of conferencing

36. Common features
- video conference (always)
- easy screensharing (often one-click)
- recording (in paid plans)
- dial out to participant (sometimes)

37. Mobile screensharing too*
*Fair warning: it’s not that easy
to walk a participant through setup

38. Alternate mobile screensharing
Photo by
Jenn Downs

39. Alternate mobile broadcasting?
private account + live + screen recorder = ?!

40. easy for your
participant
available to you
captures what
you need
the
right
tech

41. 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

42. Notes, Audio, & Video
- Observers may be harder to host
- Prioritize what you’ll need to show
your findings
- Respect your participant’s bandwidth

43. 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

44. Time-stamping notes allows easy video clipping
Watch column D

45. Spreadsheet formulas for timestamping (1)
=IF(B2="","",IF(C2="",NOW(),C2))

46. Spreadsheet formulas for timestamping (2)
=IF(ISERROR(C2-$C$2),"",C2-$C$2)

47. Spreadsheet setting for timestamping

48. Beyond Interviews
Asynchronous tools for long-term studies
Participate

49. Diary studies:
A research method used to collect qualitative data
about user behaviors, activities, and experiences
over time.
-Nielsen Norman Group

50. Commercial
- enhanced forms
- SMS or email reminders
- regular calls to check in
Roll your own

51. A story aboutgetcalfresh.org

52. Synthesis without Walls
How to make inferences & extract
insights without sharing space

53. 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

54. Write/draw, then share

55. Getting the Resources
- What to pitch to stakeholders
- How to ask for more time

56. 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

57. Something has changed
for everyone
who touches your product

58. Before-times research could explain
- oddities in analytics
- weird feedback from customers
- unexpected uses of products
- strange hunches

59. 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

60. We can honor our users’ needs
& support each other as researchers
even at a distance.

61. Thank you!
See you right now for questions &
@cydharrell any time you want to
talk about this