Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Remote User Research: Dos and Don'ts from the Virtual Field
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Remote research suits digital product validation, early concept testing, and asynchronous methods best.
-
•
Contextual inquiry and ethnography lose critical richness when conducted remotely and are often not worth the effort.
-
•
Recruitment for remote studies risks biasing samples toward participants with tech access and literacy.
-
•
Detailed participant screening and pre-interview phone calls help assess vulnerability and stressors during crises like COVID-19.
-
•
Over recruiting by about 50% compensates well for remote no-shows and tech dropouts.
-
•
Remote sessions require significantly more preparation time and energy than in-person research.
-
•
Having formal backup tools and contingency plans is critical to handle inevitable tech failures in remote sessions.
-
•
Clear rules about stakeholder observers reduce interruptions and emotional impact on participants.
-
•
Video inclusion in remote interviews builds trust and helps interpret participants’ non-verbal cues.
-
•
Remote research is not always the best option; sometimes waiting for in-person research is the right call given context and participant conditions.
Notable Quotes
"Remote research is not a silver bullet."
"The best way to understand something is to become part of it."
"If the research question requires deep context, remote probably won’t do."
"It really pays off to prepare way more for remote than for in-person research."
"We recruited 50% more than we needed because no-shows are incredible in remote sessions."
"Video conveys trust and lets you see those purposeful pauses."
"Observers interrupting sessions was a weird behavior we had to manage with clear rules."
"Having a recruitment team that does pre-session phone screenings was a luxury that helped a lot."
"Don’t do remote contextual inquiry just because you can; you lose so much context."
"Remote is a design constraint, but what else can we do with it to improve practice?"
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Our one metric that mattered was maximizing the number of VOС-tagged tickets solved – showing customer feedback made it to the roadmap."
Shipra KayanHow we Built a VoC (Voice of the Customer) Practice at Upwork from the Ground Up
September 30, 2021
"When you’re in a culture that celebrates complexity, making things simple is still a very hard thing to do."
Peter MorvilleThe Architecture of Understanding
May 13, 2015
"Let me just take you along this journey, where it began."
Renee ReidBecoming a ResearchH.E.R (Highly Enterprise Ready)
June 3, 2019
"The computer metaphor of mind does not do a very good job of explaining what we see people do with their bodies."
Dane DeSutterKeeping the Body in Mind: What Gestures and Embodied Actions Tell You That Users May Not
March 26, 2024
"Avoid strictly timed interactions because they stress everyone, especially people using screen readers or with cognitive disabilities."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
October 3, 2023
"Younger visitors are nearly twice as likely to engage with digital chat or help but are less satisfied afterward."
Andrew Custage Michael MallettThe Digital Journey: Research on Consumer Frustration and Loyalty
March 29, 2023
"The nitty gritty is a space to become resources for each other so people know who to talk to when they have questions."
Shelby SwitzerMaking Space for Community Knowledge-sharing in a Distributed World
December 10, 2021
"Prompting is a specialized skill, just like statistics or in-depth interviewing; the wrong wording can bias your results."
Llewyn PaineCoexisting with AI: A practical guide for researchers to navigate tools, ethics, and integration
March 11, 2025
"The machine lens gave us hierarchy, bureaucracy, and a focus on efficiency and control, but it sidelines holistic thinking."
Robin BeersNavigating organizational systems: Rethinking researcher’s role in driving change
March 13, 2025
