Remote Usability Testing

Other disadvantages

Another disadvantage of remote unmoderated studies as compared to moderated testing is the lack of immediate observation. Body posture and other physical expressions that could provide the moderator with additional insight during a study are not available. We don't view this as an absolute argument against remote unmoderated testing because you could also argue that, especially in globally distributed tests, the UX researcher may not be familiar with local gestures, and thus potentially interpret them wrongly. In India, for example, shaking your head does not mean "no"—it actually means "ok" or "I understand". Thus, asking participants to explicitly express their opinions in writing in an unmoderated study is less subject ...