Compared to traditional in-lab usability testing, remote usability testing is an alternative to get rid of those on-site limitations, such as the lack of representative end-users, the expense of testing, time management problem, and the lack of a proper simulation of the users‘ true environment settings. Remoste usability testing can be usually categorized into synchronous (moderated) and asynchronous (un-moderated) testing.
Synchronous remote usability testing is operated in real time, with the evaluator being spatially detached from the participants. Synchronous testing is also called „live“ or „collaborative“ remote evaluation, is a usability evaluation method that possesses a great deal of similarity to traditional in-lab usability evaluation. This testing enables actual users to take part in the process from their natural environments, using their personal computers to keep the test conditions natural. The benefits of synchronous remote testing are the ability to obtain data from actual users in their normal environment, and reducing inconvenience for participants as there is no need for them to travel to a lab or test centre. Limitations related to the Internet and telecommunications (poor bandwidth/delays) represent some of the disadvantages of this method. Typical synchronous remote usability testing forms may include video call, screen sharing etc.
Asynchronous remote testing is done by detaching the evaluators both temporally and spatially from the participants, it splits the user from the evaluator in terms of location and time. Compared to synchronous testing, asynchronous testing may reach a larger user sample sizes, which would offer a true representation of the users. A more natural test surroundings could offset the testing bias that may occur from a lab, which often leads to participants feeling pressured that can affect the accuracy of usability results. However, this testing is narrow in scope as it doesn’t include observational data and recordings of sudden verbal data. This lack of testing data scope may limit the validity and accuracy of the results, which will lessen the chances of discovering usability problems. Typical asynchronous remote usability testing forms may include Auto-logging, user-reported critical incidents (UCI), unstructured problem reporting, etc.
References:
- Alghamdi, AHMED S., et al. „A comparative study of synchronous and asynchronous remote usability testing methods.“ International Review of Basic and Applied Sciences 1.3 (2013): 61-97.
- https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/01/unmoderated-remote-usability-testing-good-or-evil.php
