Observers - Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Define and Refine User Interfaces - page 178

Preparing the Users

It would be inappropriate—not to mention unethical—to lead the user into a roomful of observers that
they weren't expecting. (It is equally unethical to not tell the users that they're being watched and/or
videotaped.) If you review Chapter 9 , you'll notice that the presence of the observers is mentioned to
users three times:
During recruitment (whether done by you or an outside agency)

1.

2. In the informed consent form

3. During the pretest briefing given by the facilitator

In essence, users should have several opportunities to opt themselves out of the experience (or at
least find out more about it) if they're concerned that it might be uncomfortable. If for any reason you
are concerned about a particular user group or test setting, be proactive about dealing with it ahead of
time. For example, when testing a health information Web site, I was worried how users would feel
about discussing their personal health issues in front of a roomful of strangers. A market research firm
had recruited the users, but I also called them to explain the test setting and find out what topics they'd
feel comfortable discussing. In the tests, I was amazed at how relaxed the users seemed, and I believe
this was partly due to the extra time I spent explaining the social nature of the setting and double-
checking that they were okay with the topics we planned to cover.