5 Best Practices for Remote Research

As a market researcher, a large part of my job is interviewing customers, stakeholders, and clients of all types. Before the pandemic, I would travel across the US to conduct in person interviews. Now, qualitative research looks a lot different. All of my qualitative interviews are conducted from my home office via Zoom.

In the beginning, I assumed conducting in person and online 1:1 interviews would be relatively the same. This is only partly true. While you still need a solid interview guide, a skilled interviewer, and specific target audience, you also really need a stable internet connection.

When I worked with an international soda brand to conduct exploratory in-depth interviews, I quickly realized just how different remote interviewing was. The need for a revised set of best practices became apparent. Below I will outline what I see as the top 5 best practices to consider for remote research.

5 Best practices for Remote Research

1. Provide Detailed Instructions

Detailed instruction are critical for interviewing participants via Zoom, Teams, or whatever other video conferencing software you’ll be using. It’s important to tell the participant exactly what the expectations are for the interview. For example, on one project, we were planning to use clips from the interviews for a video compilation report. When we went to review the clips, the best quotes were from participants with distracting backgrounds, loud background noise, or bad lighting. Going forward we told participants that we would like them to be in a quiet room, with good lighting, and with nothing distracting in the background.

Other things to consider adding to the instructions are:

• Ask participants to use a mobile device to avoid camera shake

• Ask participants to use their video to form a more personal connection

• Ask participants to be alone in the room when doing the interview so there are no distractions/noises

• Provide written instructions for how to use the video conferencing software with links to troubleshooting help

2. Create the Virtual 1-Way Mirror

In research facilities, there are 1-way mirrors so stakeholders or clients can observe the interviews or focus groups. In a virtual world, this isn't the case. In order to create a 1-way mirror, the interviewer should include a disclaimer in the introduction by explaining the purpose of the other participants. I usually say something like, "I'm sure you can see the others in the call named "Note Takers" they are just helping me take notes on the call so I can focus on out conversation." I will usually ask my clients or peers who tune in to keep their cameras off the whole time, on mute the whole time, and that they change their screen name to “Note Taker.” The last thing you want is for the participant to feel pressured as if they are in a 4 on 1 interview.

3. Get Quality Interview Footage

Interviews that I conduct are always recorded, this helps with note taking, but more importantly it’s useful for reporting to bring the customers to life for clients. When conducting in-person interviews, the research facility will handle recording, so it’s a breeze. On video conferencing software, there are many things that can contribute to less than quality video footage. Here’s what I do to ensure the best quality recordings:

• Pin the participant’s video so it is the only screen recorded

• Avoid ‘active listening’ like saying ‘okay’ or ‘mhm’ (this has been hard for me to avoid) in case there is any lag it might mess up the flow of the participant’s answers

• Ask that your participants follow your interview protocol like being in a quiet room with good lighting

• Ask the participant to repeat the question before giving their answer to contextualize quotes if they’re being used for video compilations

4. Tech Testing 1, 2, 3!

If you are using a recruiting vendor, you can ask them to do tech checks with participants before each interview to ensure they know how to use the software, that they have good connection, audio, and video, and that the space they’re interviewing from is suitable. It’s also a great way to have the participants prove they are who they say they are. It’s always awkward when you set out to interview Gen Z participants and a 45+ year old logs on (true story, it was a very short interview).

On the internal side, it’s important to log into the meeting at least 5 minutes early to test your audio, video, and that the recording will work properly. This will also allow the note takers and other observers to log in with enough time to start the interview right on time. I also like to have the participants in a virtual waiting room to prevent an unexpected early arrival.

5. Communication is Still Key

With multiple observers and note takers, there are bound to be follow up questions for the interviewee. The best way that I’ve taken into account extra questions is to have a group chat with all observers to use to drop in their questions as the interviewer works through the question guide. At the end, it’s easy for the interviewer to skim through them all and make sure everything gets covered off with the participant.

It’s also important to keep communication channels open and up to date with the recruiting vendor, the participant, and anyone who plans to attend the interview for the 30 minutes or so leading up to the interview. This way you can be alerted to any last minute changes to the game plan and adjust accordingly.

Remote Research is Here to Stay

Remote interviews have quickly become my favorite method of qualitative research. Without the logistical burden or cost of traveling across state lines to conduct interviews, the time from data collection to insight delivery is much quicker. Not to mention, your ideal participants are likely spending more time at home now, too, so the scheduling is much easier for everyone involved. I will miss the body language cues and the buzz of interviewing people in person, but I wouldn’t trade it for the speed and efficiency of online interviewing.