When conducting accessibility research, we’re often confronted with a choice of whether to conduct this work in-person or remote. There are advantages and disadvantages to consider with each approach.
In-Person Research
- Is often preferred by clients that wish to build empathy across their team or company.
- We often need to allow for time for the participant to get comfortable with the computer setup in a lab setting.
- Participants can struggle to make it to a facility due to location, lack of public transportation, etc.
- If the research needs to take place in the participant’s home, there can be liability issues that your client may not want to bother with.
Remote Research:
- Provides us with a more authentic experience since the participant is using their own hardware and software that has already been customized to their liking.
- With the recent pandemic, many participants are very used to joining web conferences with their assistive technology.
- Typically lower cost since incentives don’t need to include transportation.
While there is no “perfect” approach, we’ve found that remote research meets most of our needs. In addition, remote research often yields a better show rate since the transportation issue is taken out of the equation.
Summary
Author
Richard Douglass