These guidelines and instructions can be modified for your research projects to help you manage observers. (Please give NN/g credit as described at the bottom of this article.)

There are two main reasons to have guidelines for study observers:

  • To prevent observers from inadvertently messing up your methodology
  • To gain better insights from all the additional people who supply extra brainpower and diverse perspectives to your analysis

How to Observe Research Sessions

Everyone

  • Audio in the research room (not the observation room) is being recorded. Gently remind anyone who seems to have forgotten this, including people who may stand outside the room to talk.
  • Bathrooms and hallways are especially hazardous for discussions about participants or the research sessions. Even during a session the next participant may be waiting nearby.
  • Please avoid laughing or shouting during sessions. Rooms are not completely soundproof.
  • Turn computer notifications and phone ringers off. If you must take a call, please do so where you can’t be overheard or accidentally recorded.
  • Please don’t distract anyone by talking during the session. If you must make a comment to someone, pass a note.
  • When you think of a question you’d like to ask the participant, please write it down. Near the end of the session, the facilitator will collect these.
  • We’ll be taking structured notes together, and your participation is very welcome. Please review the note-taking instructions and materials. We’ll compare notes between sessions and at lunch.

Observing in the Room with Participants

  • Please sit out of the participants’ line of sight (behind them) and try to be completely silent.
  • Smile in a friendly way and watch carefully while taking notes.
  • During and before the sessions, don’t engage participants in conversation, offer advice, correct them, or answer their questions, because introducing new information or giving unintentional clues can bias the research results and even invalidate that session’s data. It’s difficult not to respond when someone asks you questions, because it seems impolite, but this is really important. Say something like, “I’ll be glad to talk with you about that later” and look to the facilitator.
  • Answer only the questions that the facilitator asks you directly. It’s very common for facilitators to ask participants questions that they already know the answers to, questions to help the user relax, and questions to find out what the participant understands. Don’t answer those questions either. It’s important to understand what the participant believes to be true, even when that’s not technically correct.
  • Be careful not to distract anyone. Your fidgeting, sighing, posture, facial expressions, noise from phones or clothing, and so on, can easily change the participant’s behavior and comfort level. If you need to, please leave the room quietly. No in and out.
  • Typing noise is fine if you’re taking notes, but try to type constantly so participants will ignore it.
  • It’s okay to laugh if the participant makes a joke, but not at any other time.

Notetaking Instructions

Make many notes. Write about everything, because you don’t know what might prove valuable during data analysis. Get more paper (or copy/paste more table rows) if you run out.

Even when you see others taking notes, write your own observation too, because others may overlook what you noticed, and your particular point of view and expertise will be very helpful.

Write one observation per note, so we can sort them into categories later. Don’t write paragraphs with several ideas; just keep notes in sequence when they go together. With paper notes, don’t write on the back, in case we need to cut them into sections.

When you think of a question you’d like to ask, write it down. The facilitator will collect questions near the end of the session.

Include the scenario letter on each note. Please also add your initials to your notes or put your name in the document, so we know who to ask if we don’t understand something.

Each participant was assigned one color of note card or one notetaking document. Changing documents and colors between participant sessions is mission critical, so help ensure that it happens.

Examples of Effective Notes

Note whatever seems important:

Mistakes

  • He skipped the City field on the address form.
  • She didn’t click Save before closing the window.

System errors and error messages

  • The menu didn’t drop down the first time she clicked it.
  • Error message: “Database error on line 55.”

Click-paths (navigation sequences) can be especially helpful:

  • Home > New Car > Vehicle Type > Back > Model > Back (looking for “vans”)
  • Searched “ford truck” > Ford.com > Trucks & Vans > F-150 > Models

Strategies and tools

  • He said he always chooses two items because shipping costs less.
  • She chose About Us and said she was looking for “contact us.”
  • He used a calculator and Google Maps, then entered the data into the desktop app.

Search terms and results

  • Search 1: lexis (nothing useful)
  • Search 2: lexus (correctly chose 3rd result)

Quotes

  • “This is great!”
  • “I expected this to work like Amazon.”

Anything that seems overlooked, misunderstood, ambiguous, or confusing

Suggestions, questions, and comments (including your own)

Conclusion

Giving your study observers guidelines like these will increase the value your company gains from its investment in UX research. You can email the guidelines to scheduled observers in advance along with the time plan for the study. It’s also good to have printed copies of the guidelines available to give to unexpected observers who show up at the study, as well as a printed copy on each desk or table in the observation room (if you’re using a lab with a separate room for the observers).

Feel free to copy our list and give it to your observers, with the following credit line:

Observer guidelines from Nielsen Norman Group, used by permission. Original: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/observer-guidelines