The Right To Be Informed

Any participant in a study has the right to know the purpose of the activity he or she is involved in, the expected duration, procedures, use of information collected (e.g., to design a new product), incentives for participation, the participant’s rights as a part of the study, and any risks, discomfort, or adverse effects. (The final three often apply in medical or psychological studies, but should never apply to a usability activity.) This information should be conveyed during the recruitment process (refer to Chapter 5, Preparing for Your User Requirements Activity, “Recruitment Methods” section, page 173) and then reiterated at the beginning of the activity when the informed consent form (see Figure 3.2) is distributed and signed by the participant. The participant signs this form to acknowledge being informed of these things and agreeing to participate. If you are working with participants under the age of 18, a parent or guardian must sign the informed consent form.

If participants have a misperception about the purpose of the activity (e.g., believing that it is a job interview), the participant must be corrected immediately and given the opportunity to withdraw. Participants should also have the opportunity to ask questions, and to know whom to contact with further questions about the study or their rights. Without the participants, you could not conduct your study. Remember the participants in your study must be treated with the utmost respect. This applies to all methods described in this book.

Permission to Record

Before recording the voice or image of any individual, you must obtain permission. This can be accomplished with the consent form in Figure 3.2. The recording must not be used in a manner that could cause public identification or harm. Inform participants during recruitment that they will be audio or video recorded. Some individuals are not comfortable with this, so you do not want to wait until the participant arrives to find that out. Although it is rare, we have had a couple of participants leave before the activity even began because they refused to be taped.

Create a Comfortable Experience

Participants in your study should never feel uncomfortable, either physically or psychologically. This includes simple things like offering regular bathroom breaks, beverages, and comfortable facilities. And of course this includes treating the participants with respect at all times. If your user requirements activity involves any type of completion of tasks or product use (e.g., having users complete tasks on a competitor product), you must stress to the participant that the product is being evaluated, not them. Using a particularly difficult or poorly designed product can be stressful. If a participant performs poorly, never reveal that his or her answers are wrong or that something was done incorrectly. You need to be empathetic and remind participants that any difficulties they encounter are not a reflection on their own abilities but on the quality of the product they are using.

Appropriate Language

Part of treating participants with respect is understanding that they are not “subjects.” Of course, you would never address a participant by saying “What do you think, subject number 1?” You should also show the same respect when speaking about them in their absence or in documentation. The APA Publication Manual referred to earlier recommends that you replace the impersonal term “subjects” with a more descriptive term when possible. You do not want to use the participants’ names for reasons of anonymity (see below); however, participants, individuals, or respondents are all better alternatives to “subjects.” The people who agree to provide you with their time and expertise are the foundation of a successful study. Without them, nearly every activity listed in this book would be impossible. We strongly recommend that readers review the fourth edition of the APA Publication Manual to better understand language bias, both written and spoken.

Anonymity

Participants have a right to anonymity. You are required to keep their information confidential and you should never associate a participant’s name with his/her data or other personally identifiable information unless the participant provides such consent in writing. Do not write participants’ names on any data forms (e.g., surveys, notes) or videotapes. Instead, you should always use a participant ID (e.g., P1, participant 1, user 1).

If the participants are employees of your company, you have a special obligation to protect their anonymity from their managers. Never show tapes of employees to their managers. This rule should also apply to their colleagues.

The Right To Withdraw

Participants should feel free to withdraw from your activity without penalty. If a participant withdraws part way through the study and you do not pay the person (or pay only a fraction of the original incentive), you are punishing him/her. Therefore, you are obligated to pay all participants the full incentive, whether they participate in the full study or not.

Appropriate Incentives

You should avoid offering excessive or inappropriate incentives as an enticement for participation as such inducements are likely to coerce the participant (refer to

Chapter 5, Preparing for Your User Requirements Activity, “Determining Participant Incentives” section, page 159). We realize that the incentive is part of the reason why most people participate in usability activities, but the incentive should not be so enticing that anyone would want to participate regardless of interest. The main reason for participation should be interest in influencing your product’s design. In other words, don’t make anyone an offer they can’t refuse.

Valid and Reliable Data

The questions you ask participants and your reactions to their comments can affect the data you collect. In every activity, you must ensure that the data you collect are free from bias, accurate, valid, and reliable. You should never collect and report data that you know are invalid or unreliable. You must inform stakeholders about the limitations of the data you have collected. And of course, you must never fabricate data.

Along the same lines, if you learn of someone who is misusing or misrepresenting your work, you must take reasonable steps to correct it. For example, if in order to further an argument, someone is inaccurately quoting partial results from a series of focus groups you conducted, you must inform everyone involved of the correct interpretation of the results of the study. If people question the integrity of your work, your efforts are all for naught.

You should remove yourself from situations in which a conflict of interest may affect your actions. For example, it is ill-advised to get feedback on your own designs because your objectivity is affected. Although many companies hire individuals to act as both designer and usability specialist with the expectation that they will evaluate their own designs, this is unwise. Due to your bias, your results will not be valid.

Acknowledge Your True Capabilities

You should provide services, make recommendations, and conduct research only within the boundaries of your competencies. In your job role, this may require you to seek out additional training or resources. You should always inform individuals of the boundaries of your knowledge and skills, should you be placed in a situation that is outside your areas of expertise. For example, if you are asked to run a usability activity and you know nothing about usability, you should not attempt to wing it. If you do not have the time to learn what is necessary to run the activity, you should contract it out to a professional who can.

We provide the training and tools in this book to help you learn how to collect user requirements, but we also encourage you to supplement this with additional courses and mentoring. See Appendices A (page 678) and B (page 688) to learn more about usability resources and training.

Finally, you should not delegate work to individuals whom you know do not have the appropriate training or knowledge to complete the task. For example, not only should you be well-versed in the background and mechanics of a wants and needs analysis before conducting one, you must also ensure that the person who acts as your scribe is also appropriately trained.

Data Retention and Documentation

Retain the original data collected only for as long as it is relevant. This will typically be the period of time that you are working on a particular version of the product. You will want to retain the data in case you need to reference it at a later date for clarification purposes. It can also be very useful to provide continuity in the event that someone must take over usability support for the product.

It is important to accurately record the methods of any study you conduct (refer to Chapter 14, Concluding Your Activity, “Reporting Your Findings” section, page 652). This will allow anyone to understand exactly how you collected the data and what conclusions were drawn. This history is also critical for all stakeholders – and especially anyone that is new to the product team. You would be amazed at how often a “brand new” idea really isn’t brand new. Those reports can prevent repetition of the same mistakes every time a new team member comes on board.

Debrief

If a participant was not aware of the full intent of the study (i.e., its purpose) before it began, you should attempt to debrief him/her about the nature, results, and conclusions of the study. Typically in a usability activity, the participants are told why the information is being collected (e.g., to help design a usable product, to learn more about a domain, to collect user requirements) so this is not an issue. However, in the case of a customer this could mean asking participants at the end of the study whether they wish to be contacted regarding the results of the activity once the product has shipped.