Remote Testing

Remote testing is a way to conduct remote research with the usage of certain tools for the participants’ screen and/or voice recording while they are interacting with a product in their current environment.

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Nice to Consider in Several Situations

• When you struggle with a lack of time and conduct the testing remotely will be easier to organize than an offline research;
• When participants are geographically scattered around the world;
• When it is necessary that participants should use a particular machine at the workplace or at home;
• When some participants have accessibility issues and it is important that they use their own device;
• When there is a necessity to maintain several tests at once.

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Benefits

• Diversity of participants, as they can take part in the research from any place;
• Financial gain, as it is less expensive than offline testing;
• Flexible schedule, as you can extend the testing day and accommodate more participants than in an offline lab.

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Challenges

• Lack of security can be an issue if the information you want to get needs to be protected;
• No access to analyze participants’ body language;
• Some technical difficulties can occur, including wi-fi connection or problems with the research software set up.

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Methods‍

Moderated

Usability testing is usually applied when there are complex tasks without a defined structure where more interaction and questioning will benefit the research. ‍

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Unmoderated

Usability testing is an independently completed research without any interaction with the test moderator. Unmoderated testing is the most effective when you have very specific questions about how people operate with a user interface.

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The key step that can be applied to each kind of testing is the analysis of all the results you’ve got. There are few metrics that can be studied:
 

• task-completion rate;
• time on task;
• time on page;
• clickstream paths;
• satisfaction ratings or opinion rankings;
• web analytics data (such as browser, operating system, screen resolution).

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Tips 

Every survey is easier to complete with a little help of some professional tips. Here they are:

• Try to make one session not longer than 15-30 minutes long;
• Include from 3 to 5 tasks for each test;
• Use straightforward tasks in your research and accurately define the end states;
• Provide participants with correct contact information so there won’t be any problem with connection;
• It is always better to ask for minimum system requirements if possible;
• Don’t forget to prepare some introduction materials so the participants would be ready;
• It is also useful to think about all the documentation in advance, such as test agreement forms which should be also prepared;
• Get ready with all the compensations and receipts for them if you choose to pay your participants;
• You may also review any firewall issues that can cause difficulties for your research.