Can you still do field studies if everyone is remote?
Field studies are still one of the best ways to get to know what people are doing and what else is going on around them. We can use field studies for a number of reasons from how you might streamline a process to assessing new ideas on the fly or even clarifying domain knowledge around an existing product or service.
Some additional examples include:
- Better understand user behaviors in the context of your product
- Improve a process of workflow
- Evaluate a concept that you’ve launched
- Test usability in the field
- Refine your value proposition
In the remote world, you might only get particual context of the user environment
Because of this, you’ll want to be sure to purposefully address blind areas. One supplement that I’ve had success with is asking for screenshots of the computer environment and a photo of the user environment like their desk area. What this allows you to do remotely is gain a better understanding for a more accurate empathy map.
If you’re struggling in a remote world to perform field studies, check out the full video from the NN Group below.
Thanks for reading! Get in touch 👉🏻 joshua@jshmllr.com
