Remote Research: It’s On

Welcome, folks! We’re glad to announce our new book, tentatively titled “Remote Research”, which, you might be shocked to hear, is about remote user research. Usually, when we try to explain what remote research is, most people (and even professional user researchers) will sort of tilt their heads in a puzzled beagle-like way: they’ve heard of user research, and they know what a focus group is, but what exactly is remote user research? How can you research users if you’re not there to watch them? Is it like a telephone survey?

Mostly, we’re writing this book to avoid ever having that conversation again. We’re going to explain what it is, how it might benefit you, and how to do it, in a quick and easy-to-digest 150-page guide. Although remote research as a whole is still relatively new and unknown, it’s a well-developed field with established methods and standard practices. We’ll explain the strengths and disadvantages of different types of remote research; we’ll guide you through all the different tools, services, and resources you can use to get a study going; and we’ll walk you step-by-step through designing, planning, and conducting a study, so you can do it yourself with minimal hassle.

So, who’s behind this book? That is a delightful question. Nate Bolt is the president, CEO, judge, jury, and executioner of Bolt|Peters, a user research firm in San Francisco which has been specializing in remote research for nearly a decade. Tony Tulathimutte is Bolt|Peters’s writer, blogger, and retro-minimalist French microhouse DJ, and he (or, I should say, I) will be co-authoring the book and taking charge of blog posts like these.

We’ve got a great idea of where we want to go with our book, but since we’re still at an early stage of drafting, we would absolutely love to hear feedback, requests, and issues you’d like to see raised in the book. More than anything, we aim to please. Keep your RSS reader pointed at this blog for updates!