Page 295 -

284 CHAPTER 10 Usability testing

THE GOOGLE RESEARCH VAN—CONT’D
Broader User Population. We created the van (Figure 10.5) as a response
to a key challenge we face doing research on Google premises—user sample.
The population in any one geographical area is not always representative of the
attitudes and behaviors we’d see in the broader US or international population.
We want to reduce as much bias as possible in our product development
process, and research with a representative user base is one way to achieve that.
Nimble Recruiting. By driving to locations like malls, community centers,
and parks, we can reach users during the natural course of their day without
a time-consuming recruitment and scheduling process for us and them. The
van presence serves as natural recruitment: individuals who were previously
unaware of user studies can walk right up to the van to participate in research.
We are also able to reach users who otherwise cannot come to a lab either due
to time constraints, accessibility, or other factors, including the many people
who are unaware that they can sign up to be contacted for user research.
Once we arrive and park our research van, we can invite people passing by, to
participate in research studies within minutes.
Nimble Research. Another challenge is the nature of the research itself. In
traditional lab research, we recruit and schedule users to participate, sometimes
weeks in advance, and ask them to take time out of their day. This process of
recruiting and scheduling users can be time consuming; a potentially heavy
cost in an industry with quick turnaround and iteration. If participants fail to
show up, we lose valuable data and time, and either have to move forward with
limited insights or go through the recruiting process again to make up for it.

FIGURE 10.5
The Google user research van.