Remote User Experience Research: Look Ma, No Lab!
Lab-based user testing for Web site usability is one of most useful tools in the User Experience (UX) methodological toolbox. But is it always the best choice for researching Web sites? I will discuss how user research tools have changed over the last few years in response to the maturation of new facilitation technologies like browser-based screensharing and large sample remote methods. Then we will look at some comparisons between lab studies and remote studies we have conducted. The spoiler is that remote testing has developed into a strong alternative to traditional lab research for virtually all research questions about Web, software, and vide game experiences: it is all about accuracy, cost, speed, and logistics, and the mighty native environment factor. I will be detailing our methodology at a successful (and lab-less) UX research firm, along with a breakdown of the new internet-savvy tools that make remote research such a joy.
Nate Bolt specializes in making technology easy to use for regular people. After pioneering and directing the User Experience department at Clear Ink in 1999, which included the construction of Natural Environment and Remote Observation laboratories, Nate co-founded Bolt | Peters. He now serves as president and CEO where he has overseen hundreds of user research studies for Hallmark, Oracle, Time Warner, Levi's, Restoration Hardware, and others. Beginning in 2003, he led the creation of the first moderated remote usability software, Ethnio, which is being used around the world to increase the ease-of-use of software, web applications, and web sites.
Nate regularly gives presentations on remote user-research methods in both commercial and academic settings. Working with faculty at the University of California, San Diego, he created a degree titled "Digital Technology and Society," which focused on the intersection of technology and mass population usage. He also completed a year of communications studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he was jailed briefly for playing drums in public without a license.