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Personally, I have always disliked one-way mirrors in user testing. There is no doubt in my mind that they bias results because people feel they are being interrogated and under pressure. If people are relaxed they will produce better results right? That is my opinion but I am interested to hear what everyone else thinks. |
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I agree with you Gavin. A big mirror like that just screams "you're being watched" and can make people nervous (like the interview rooms you see in police dramas). This is the last thing that you want when user testing! Generally you have a camera watching the participant face on (and a script should always explain what this is for and how the recording is used). This, most of the time, can be enough. A camera in a corner of the room, that allows you a more birds eye view, should replace the 2-way mirror in my opinion. Also, realistically, getting 2 rooms together for your user testing lab is hard. By dispensing with the mirror approach and using cameras means that your observation room can be flexible. It also allows for remote observation. A word on having your observation room removed from your testing room: an issue I've had in the past is that non-UX observers tend to react loudly to things they don't agree with (or do agree with) and laugh at some of the things they see during user testing. This is the last thing that you want your participant to hear - so cameras are better than mirrored glass for this! |
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Are we talking about lab observations of a single person? Never done it - sounds horrible. But we've used observation rooms before for facilitated group sessions for focus groups early on during market research and with a good facilitator people seem quite at ease; allows designers, analysts and researchers to take notes during the session without visibly sitting in the corner. |
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Oneway mirrors are an expression of a philosophy or dichotomy: test subjects on one side and test experts on the other ... When you want to capture emotions and feelings you foremost need empathy, and no: oneway mirrors are certainly not the right tool for this. @Alex: like the camera substitute. |
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A nice thing about mirror is that you could impress your customers showing them such a facility :-) |
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We have one lab with mirrors but all the others without and won't make anymore with mirrors. The original one with a mirror was built not particularly because it was needed from a research perspective but more because it met the expectations of clients for what a research facility should look like - and in the commercial world this is (unfortunatley) important. This was 10 years ago though and since then we have massive plasma screens, projectors, and eyetracking to wow them with so they can see superficially where their money is going :-) There are several lists of research facilities that won't accept labs/studies without the dreaded mirror-glass - get with it guys. My advice for your facility: Invest in good cameras (ideally pan, tilt, zoom - but static can be OK too) - hide them if you can Invest in good big tellys (very cheap these days) Invest in good microphones, amps and speakers Test your sounproofing or make the obs room remote from the moderation room (observers can be loud) Invest in good coffee and nice refreshments for your observers (this is surprisingly important!) most importantly though - make sure you do a good moderation job - put your participant at ease etc. etc. Jon |
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I'm not a fan of the mirror. I agree that many clients expect one, but I think you can accomplish the same effect with good cameras and good monitors. It's far less intrusive to the participant and anything that may improve the accuracy of results is worth addressing. That said, I wanted to share these photos from the Bentley University Design And Usability Center. It's a lab (with mirrors, as it turns out) but I was impressed with the other affordances seen here. http://www.bentley.edu/usability/newsletters/fall-2009/new_lab_celebrate.cfm |
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The future is hopefully that it's going to die a quick death. Don't use it. If you want to secretly learn about peoples behavior then learn to understand analytics and launch the product early so you can learn from real customers instead of pseudo scenarios. |
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just by way of counterpoint, I do research in a wide range of environments including labs with enormous mirrors and I am constantly amazed by how participants tend to focus on the work we're doing and not behave in any way more intimidated or 'observed' than if we're doing the session just the two of us in a local Starbucks. I agree that we have much better technology these days that we can use in place of mirrors, but if you're really experiencing people having these feelings of intimidation/being observed then it might be worth taking a look at the skills of the facilitator and if those could do with a little work. one good thing about the mirror is that it actually gets all of the observation and recording issues out into the open - you need to address the fact that they are there. I find this really clears up any possibly ethical ambiguities as to what we do and don't disclose re: observation. Personally, I believe that research participants have the right to know that they are being observed, and that it is ethically problematic to 'secretly' observe them. I wonder how many of us disclose this when we have more discreet observational technologies (such as cameras)? |
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In most "lab-based" user research situations, there's so much else for people to be nervous about that the presence or absence of a one-way mirror would seem to me to be pretty much inconsequential. Remove it, and you still have a biased test. Use it, and at least you can have others observe the session in a reasonably natural way. Really, don't sweat it. Concentrate on putting the subject at ease as best you can on a personal level - that's much more effective than playing with the design of the room. |
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