{"id":13538,"date":"2019-08-16T13:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.testingtime.com\/?p=13538"},"modified":"2025-03-10T17:57:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T15:57:29","slug":"the-lab-is-different-from-real-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.testingtime.com\/en\/blog\/the-lab-is-different-from-real-life\/","title":{"rendered":"3 ways the lab is different from real life (with tried-and-true workarounds)"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are very good reasons to get out of the lab to do user research. For one thing, users don\u2019t hang out in labs. To make it easy for people with time, transport, or mobility constraints to take part in research, we often meet them where they are.<\/p>\n

For another, we stand to gain a lot from visiting people at home, work, and other places where they live their lives. This is where they do the things our products help them do. So these places are filled with useful evidence of what they really need.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

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UX Testing Kit<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The TestingTime User Testing Kit contains everything you need to successfully conduct user research: a test script template with helpful tips for each phase of the user test, an observation record template, and an analysis spreadsheet template for user tests.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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As user researchers, it is our job to gather all this evidence. This is how we inform the design of products and services that work well for people. But just as importantly, we are here to give our teams direct exposure to users<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Making it possible for designers, product owners, developers, and other decision-makers to observe users firsthand is a very good reason to do research in the lab. The trouble is that the lab is just so different from real life.<\/p>\n

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  1. In real life, people often stop using a service when they reach an impasse. But in the lab, they trudge on.<\/li>\n
  2. In real life, there\u2019s no user researcher hanging about. But there certainly is in the lab.<\/li>\n
  3. In real life, people get help or find novel ways to work around problems. In the lab, they tend to look to a moderator when things get tricky.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This post delves into each of these 3 ways that the lab is different from real life and how user researchers can work around these differences by inviting bits of real-life-like behavior into the lab.<\/p>\n

    1. In real life, people give up<\/h2>\n

    Once a service is live, our performance measurement tools show us points in a digital journey where people give up or stop using the service. If only we could know in advance where and why people quit, we could probably do something to preempt it. The trouble is that research participants don\u2019t tend to say \u201cI\u2019ve had enough of this, I\u2019m giving up\u201d in the lab. Why not? Because they want to be helpful. They’ve reserved the time to be with us and removed the usual distractions. So they power through.<\/p>\n

    Make giving up an explicit option in the lab.<\/h3>\n

    We can invite research participants to give up in the lab if they feel they would in real life. Tangible reminders can help them feel comfortable about exercising this option like this easy-to-assemble \u2018give up\u2019 flag. Hand it to the participant and ask them to raise the flag whenever they feel that in real life, they’d probably drop this and get on with something else.<\/p>\n

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    A ‘give up’ flag helps to remind participants that they don’t need to power through.<\/p><\/div>\n

    I used this on a government service that required users to input a lot of information (but also brought them life-changing benefits.) Some participants waved it, others simply mentioned when they got to a point where they would probably give up. For them, the flag functioned as a visual reminder that giving up was an option.<\/p>\n

    Each time a participant gave up (by waving the flag or simply saying ‘I’d probably stop here’), I recorded at which point in the journey and why. I then charted these likely drop-off points and reasons for them to make them visible to my team. Together, we discussed what changes might help and prototyped helpful alternatives. After testing them again, we found reports of likely drop-off decreased or disappeared.<\/p>\n

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    Each time a participant waves the flag, record the point in the journey as well as the reason for giving up.<\/p><\/div>\n

    2. In real life, people don’t have an expert looking over their shoulder<\/h2>\n

    Another thing that makes the lab different from real life is the presence of a researcher. Observer effects<\/a> include all sorts of behavior that wouldn\u2019t happen in real life. One of the most noticeable is when participants turn to us for a steer.<\/p>\n

    Because we structure research sessions and know a thing or two about how a product works, participants may view us as authorities. No matter how neutral we claim to be! Having a supposed expert in the room makes it very tempting for them to ask us whether they\u2019re on the right track and what to do next. As decent human beings, we may be tempted to help them out.<\/p>\n

    Of course, once we answer their questions explicitly or give even subtle cues of how things work, we\u2019re no longer really observing people interact with the service. We\u2019re observing them interact with the service plus us. And the trouble with that, of course, is that we won\u2019t be there in real life.<\/p>\n

    Avoid steering participants in a particular direction.<\/h3>\n

    So how can we be decent human beings and decent researchers when participants ask us \u201cIs this right?\u201d or \u201cHow does this work?\u201d. We can take inspiration from Tom Stoppard\u2019s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead:<\/p>\n

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