Remote Research

Over the years, Anagram Research has mindfully recommended and used a remote research approach on a number of projects.

Our recommendations to use a remote research approach have been made in response to varied factors:

• To match research objectives…
• To meet challenges in logistics or scale…
• To accommodate participant preferences or profiles…
• To enable a time pressed client team to observe research with a range of users in a short span of time…
• To help global researchers gain cultural context during research planning…
• To ‘prime’ participants or to gain context prior to in-context interactions…
• To validate or build on insights emerging from in-context research…

Here’s a glimpse into some of Anagram Research’s experiences and approaches to remote research:

• Longitudinal Research
  
  A client wanted to understand the positive and negative experiences that target users faced on their app and on competing apps.
  In addition, they wanted to gain an in-depth understanding about user behaviors, attitudes and expectations.
  
  Since app usage typically varied over time and across contexts, Anagram Research recommended a longitudinal research approach.
  A Diary Study with 48 participants was conducted across 4 Indian metros, over a period of 7 days.
  
  As the target audience was tech savvy, the study was designed to be conducted remotely. In the past, we have used proprietary user research software like Hatch Tank and Revelation for remote Diary Studies.
  For this project, we used a bootstrapped approach – Interacting with participants over WhatsApp and phone calls.
  
  On each day, participants were asked to explore the app they were using and answer a few questions from the researchers.
  Responses were in the form of text messages, images (screen captures) or short video clips.
  
  

  

  

  In order to explore emerging themes and potentially interesting threads from the initial research, we followed the Diary Study with Triads, attended by the same set of participants.
  
  While the Diary Study method is well suited to a remote format, group discussions are better done face-to-face.
  The Triads were held at centrally located, professional research facilities.
  
  The output of this research was an insights presentation that included a set of overarching insights and themes, supported by detailed slides and concise written recommendations.
  Our report also included a section on usability / experience issues faced by users.
  
  
• Direct Interviews
  
  Over the years, Anagram Research has conducted remote one-on-one interviews for several different projects.
  These interviews are conducted over the phone or through a web conferencing platform.
  
  

  

  

  The pros and cons of remote research are well-documented in numerous articles and blog posts across research and design forums.
  
  The value that a remote format can bring in certain circumstances was nicely illustrated on two separate projects, where we used both remote and face-to-face formats:
  
  In a study with non-professional caregivers to the elderly, interviews conducted remotely had a flavor that was distinct from the face-to-face interviews that were also conducted.
  Caregivers with whom we conducted remote interviews appeared to be more at ease initiating discussions about the unspoken burdens of caregiving.
  Caregivers we met in-person on the other hand, seemed to find it more challenging to openly verbalize these burdens, often preferring to direct the conversation towards other aspects of caregiving.
  
  On another study to map employee experience journeys, it was important for us to reassure participating employees about confidentiality.
  We attempted to address this – By not video recording interactions, by switching off recording completely during sensitive discussions and by emphasizing our status as a neutral third party.
  Despite these measures, employees we spoke to remotely over calls, were strikingly more candid than employees we interacted with in-person.