The Remote Facilitator Guide
Drafting the facilitator guide is usually the most time-consuming part of the research setup process. Note that we deliberately call it a “guide” and not a “script”; you will not be mindlessly reading verbatim from this document. The facilitator guide should always be written with flexibility in mind, anticipating the unpredictable things that happen when you do time-aware research. You’re speaking with people who are in their own native environments performing natural tasks, outside a controlled lab setting. Think of the facilitator guide as a document that establishes everything you should expect to encounter over the course of the session but shouldn’t restrict you from exploring new issues that come up.
A facilitator guide divides your study into four main sections, totaling about 40 minutes: Greeting and Introduction, Natural Tasks, Predetermined Tasks, and Wrap-up and Debrief. Since studies tend to run long, we’ve found that 60 minutes is about the upper limit for maintaining a participant’s attention and investment in the study.
Presession Setup (1 Minute)
Set up a screen sharing session and run your recording software. This method will vary depending on what screen sharing and recording tools you’re using.
Cue your observers to join the session. If you have people observing the session, cue them to join the session before contacting the user. (See “Preparing Observers for Testing” later in this chapter for more details.)
Greeting and Introduction (5 Minutes)
The first part of the guide will deal with establishing contact with the participant. This part comes closest to resembling a “script” in the traditional sense; most of what you need to say probably won’t change much from user to user. The introduction in our sample script has been refined over hundreds of sessions and is the most efficient way we’ve found to introduce a study.
We won’t be reprinting a full facilitator guide here (although you’ll be able to find examples on http://remoteusability.com), we want to point out a few of the important things all facilitator guides need to establish. Elements that will vary from study to study are highlighted in yellow, both here and throughout this book:
Contact and self-introduction. Contact users. Right away, introduce yourself with your name, the company or organization you represent, and remind users how you got their name and phone number. If you’re live recruiting (i.e., calling users who just filled out a Web recruiting form, see Chapter 3, “Recruiting for Remote Studies”), you have to do this pretty quickly. Otherwise, they might mistake you for a telemarketer.
Hello, can I speak to Bill Brown? Hi Bill. My name’s Nate, and I’m calling on behalf of ACME about the [usability study we had scheduled for this time] / [survey you filled out at ACME.com a few minutes ago].
Willingness to participate. Confirm that users are available and willing to speak for the duration of the study.
Do you still have time now to talk to me for 40 minutes about the ACME Web site? [If not, ask whether you can reschedule, and then end the call.]
Ability to participate. Confirm that users have the necessary equipment to participate in the study. You’d be surprised how many people aren’t able to talk on the phone and use their browser at the same time.
Will you be able to use Firefox and talk on your phone at the same time? And do you have a high-speed Internet connection? [If not, end the call.] Great!
Obtain consent for screen sharing and recording. This part takes some finesse, because if your users didn’t anticipate the call (which is always the case with live recruiting), they may understandably become suspicious when you, a stranger on the telephone, ask them to download something. Explain in clear, simple language what you’d like them to do, why, and what they’re getting themselves into. If you’re using a Consent Agreement (as described in Chapter 4), direct the users to the consent form here.
So, during this call today, we’d like to follow along with what’s on your screen while we’re talking to you, and to do that, we ask you to visit a Web site that will allow us to see and record whatever you can see on your desktop. The recording is used only for research, and the screen sharing is completely disabled at the end of the session. Does that sound okay? [If not, end the call.] Great!
[If using a Consent Agreement]: I’d like to direct you to a Web site with a consent form that describes what the study will be about, so you can make your participation official. The address to put in your browser’s address bar is: www.acme.com/consent.
Screen sharing setup for the participant. The details of this step depend on the tool used.
Introducing the study. Establish the users’ expectations about what will happen during the study and what kind of mindset they should have entering the study. The most important things to establish are that you want the participants to use the interface like they normally would:
So let me tell you a little bit about what we’ll be doing today. Basically, I’m going to be getting your feedback on ACME.com. Your job today is going to be really easy. Basically, I want you to just be yourself and act as you naturally would on the Web site. Now and then, I may chime in to ask you what you’re thinking, but mostly I’d just like you to show me how you use the site. If there’s a point where you’d normally quit or stop using the Web site, just let us know.
And let them know you’d also like them to think aloud while they’re on the site:
There’s just one thing that I would like you to do differently, which is to “think aloud” as you use the ACME Web site. For example, if you’re reading something, read it aloud, and feel free to comment as you read—for example “that’s interesting” or “what in the world are they talking about?” Let me know what’s going through your mind while you do things, so I can understand exactly what you are thinking and doing (for example, “Now I’m going to try to use the search engine”). If you get to a point where you would naturally leave or stop using the Web site, let me know.
If your interface is a design in progress, you should set those expectations early so that users don’t bother wasting time trying to figure out something that isn’t finished anyway. You should remind them, however, that there’s no need to modify their behavior just because it’s a prototype. Our experience is that most people can’t tell the difference between a black-and-white prototype and a real functioning application anyway.
Also, keep in mind that some things might not be working today on this prototype, which is fine. If you run into something that doesn’t work, I’ll let you know, and you can tell me what you were trying to do.
It’s also nice to set users at ease by reassuring them that you had nothing to do with the design of the interface, so they can be completely honest:
And finally, I want to let you know that I had nothing to do with the design of the Web site. I’m just collecting feedback, so feel free to be candid with your thoughts. No need to worry about hurting my feelings or getting anyone in trouble. Does that sound good? Great! Then let’s move on to the Web site.
Natural Tasks (15–25 Minutes)
If you’re conducting time-aware research, for the most part you won’t have to explicitly assign tasks. For example, if you’re testing the login process for your Web site, you can contact people just at the moment they first arrive at your homepage, when you know they haven’t yet logged in. This is what
