If the session is being held at your facility (or a facility that you’ve rented), it is your responsibility to bring the participant to safety. Ensure that he gathers all his belongings (if time permits) and then bring him to a safe place outside of the building.

 If your observers are unfamiliar with the facility, bring the participant with you and make sure that the observers get out safely as well. Prepare the participant as you’re en route by letting him know that you need to make sure your stakeholder team is safe. This gives the participant a heads up that the people he’ll see next may have been watching him during the session.

 If you’re recording the session and the situation doesn’t seem to be dire, try to pause the recording before you leave. This shouldn’t take long, and will keep you from needing to edit the recording later. Of course, if you’re in immediate danger, don’t stop to worry about the recording!

 If possible, bring the participant’s compensation outside with you. This way, if you’re unable to go back inside in a timely manner, you can still provide the participant with his promised incentive.

 Once outside, stay with the participant until it’s safe to go back inside. You can make casual conversation to pass the time, but remember to stay professional.

 If the participant seems freaked out by the situation, if the situation is lasting a long time, or if the weather outside is inclement, let the participant leave. Thank him for his feedback and provide him with his full compensation if you were able to bring it with you. If you weren’t, let him know that you’ll coordinate with your recruiter for a way to get the compensation to him. Give him your contact information as well so he can reach out to you if he doesn’t receive the compensation.

 If your session is being held at the participant’s facility, follow his lead as he evacuates the building. Be sure to grab your belongings in case you’re unable to get back into the facility later.

 If the session is being held remotely, let the participant (and the observers) know that you’re experiencing an emergency and will need to drop off the call. Ask the participant to disconnect from the screen-sharing application and any associated conference calls, and let him know that you’ll get in touch with him again when it’s safe for you to return to the building. If time permits, add a note in your screen-sharing application to let any observers who join while you’re outside know what is happening.

 “<Participant>, that’s a fire alarm, so we need to evacuate the building. Please gather your belongings, and we’ll go outside.”

 “<Participant>, our fire alarm is going off so I’ll need to leave the building. Please go ahead and exit the screen-sharing application and hang up the phone. I’ll contact you again when I’m able to return to the building.”

 Don’t abandon the participant. Remember that he may be in an unfamiliar location and may not know what to do. Also, once outside, don’t leave him by himself. Keep him company, chatting informally but professionally to keep him engaged and distracted from what’s going on.

 There is no way to avoid this situation. However, you can be prepared by familiarizing yourself with your facility’s emergency procedures. If you have control over and consistent access to the space, make sure a copy of the emergency procedures are printed and stored in an easily accessible location. Review these procedures with your team at least once a year, and consider conducting a mock fire drill as well to work out the best way to accommodate participants in case of an emergency.

 If you’re renting a facility for the study, ask them ahead of time if there are any special procedures that you should follow in case of an emergency.

 14.2 A natural disaster (e.g., earthquake, tornado) occurs

 If you receive a warning before severe weather hits, let the participant know. Provide as many details as you know—depending on how far away the weather is, the participant may want to leave immediately to get home. Help him make an informed decision, but let him know that he can stay and wait out the weather in your facility if there’s any chance at all he won’t make it home safely.

 If you live in an area that’s prone to the type of natural disaster you’re experiencing, you should have a pretty good sense of what to do. Follow the correct procedures for your building and the disaster being experienced, keeping in mind that you and your organization still have responsibility for the safety and well-being of the participant.

 End the session, but ask the participant to remain until you verify that it is safe for him to leave.

 If you’re unfamiliar with what to do for the type of disaster you’re experiencing, first, try not to panic. Then,

 If you’re experiencing severe weather or a tornado warning, you and the participant should head toward interior rooms or hallways on the lowest floor of your building (take stairs, not elevators). If you have observers who are unfamiliar with the building, be sure to bring them with you as well. Crouch to make yourself as small a target as possible, and be sure to cover your head with your hands. Avoid windows or glass.

 If you’re experiencing an earthquake, you and the participant need to drop to the ground and take cover (either under a sturdy table or, if one isn’t available, move to an inside corner of the room, crouch, and cover your head with your hands). Don’t leave the room until the shaking stops. Once the shaking stops, ask the participant to gather his belongings and bring him (and any observers) out of the building, avoiding elevators.

 During onsite research at a participant’s home or facility, follow his lead. Stay at the location as long as necessary for your own safety, but leave as soon as you safely can, as both you and the participant will probably be very distracted by what is happening.

 If you forget to give the participant his compensation before he leaves, follow up with the recruiter afterwards to arrange a way to get the compensation to him.

 If the session is being held remotely, let the participant (and the observers) know that you’re experiencing an emergency and need to end the session immediately. Ask the participant to disconnect from the screen-sharing application and any associated conference calls, and let him know that you’ll get in touch to reschedule the session at a later time. If time and conditions permit, add a note in your screen-sharing application to let any observers who join later know what is happening.

 “<Participant>, we’re going to end the session right now. But please stay here while we figure out what’s going on—I don’t want you to leave unless we’re positive it’s safe to do so.”

 “<Participant>, we’re experiencing an emergency so I need to end the session. Please go ahead and exit the screen-sharing application, and hang up the phone. I’ll contact you later to reschedule the session.”

 Don’t abandon the participant. His comfort and safety is in your hands.

 We highly recommend reading FEMA’s guidelines on what to do in case of emergencies, available at www.ready.gov. Read them now—you won’t have time in the event of an actual emergency!

 There’s no way to avoid a natural disaster. However, you can be prepared by familiarizing yourself with your facility’s emergency procedures. If possible, create an emergency kit in your space that includes a flashlight. If you’re renting a facility for the study, ask them ahead of time if there are any special procedures that you should follow in case of an emergency, especially if you’re in an area that is prone to disasters that you’re unfamiliar with.

 14.1 Fire alarm goes off or the facility needs to be evacuated

 Survival Story: “The ground started to move” in Chapter 3

 For minor-seeming symptoms such as coughing or sneezing, offer to let the participant take a break (in case he’s just experiencing an allergy attack or something temporary) or end the session early. If he’s coughing, also offer to get him some water.

 If the participant has collapsed or is showing signs of motor control difficulties that didn’t exist before, immediately call for help.

 For a faint or collapse, find someone who can bring water while you stay with the participant. When the participant comes around, offer to call someone to pick him up or offer some other way to make sure he gets home safely (e.g., by arranging a cab).

 For a seizure or other motor control issue, call 911. In some corporate buildings, you may need to call building security first and ask them to call 911. Your first priority is to get the participant the care that he needs. Don’t try to restrain the participant, but remove any sharp objects that he may run into. Stay in the room with the participant until help arrives.

 If the participant leaves the session abruptly (e.g., in an ambulance), follow up with the recruiter afterwards to see if he’s okay and, if appropriate for your study and his physical condition, if he’d like to be rescheduled. You can also arrange a way to get him his compensation.

 “<Participant>, are you okay? Let me know if you want to take a break, if you need to end the session early, or if I can help in any way.”

 “<Participant>, I’m going to call 911 (or contact building security) and stay right here with you until help arrives.”

 Don’t ignore the participant’s condition. Remember your ethical responsibilities to protect the participant from harm.

 Unfortunately, these situations are pretty unavoidable. Within your testing environment, be sure to use antibacterial cleaner and have hand sanitizer available to limit the chance of an ill participant spreading his germs to you (and other participants).

 Also, if your facility has a security presence, ask them if there’s a recommended protocol for reporting emergencies—some facilities with extensive security services ask you to contact them first so they can coordinate directly with 911.

 14.4 You begin to feel unwell while moderating a session

 14.6 Participant seems to be drunk or stoned

 If you’re experiencing something like a coughing or sneezing fit, excuse yourself from the room and go to the nearest restroom until the fit is over. Splash cold water on your face and wash your hands before heading back in to the research room.

 Take a quick break. Get a cool drink and get some fresh air if possible. If you haven’t eaten, have a small snack to keep your blood sugar up. Those small changes may be enough to help you feel better.

 If you feel seriously ill, or contagious, and unable to continue, you can do one of two things:

 If you have another moderator available, have him or her continue the session for you.

 End the session as quickly as possible, both for your comfort and that of the participant. You can use a pretext if you’re not comfortable sharing details about how you’re feeling. Be sure to give him his full compensation even if you’re ending the session early.

 “Let’s take a short break and resume again in five minutes. Can I get you a drink while you’re waiting?”

 “I feel a sneezing/coughing fit coming on—please excuse me for a few minutes!”

 “I apologize, <participant>, but we need to end the session a bit earlier than planned due to some technical difficulties with our setup. Thank you so much for your feedback today—what you gave us was extremely helpful. Here’s your compensation.”

 Don’t force yourself to continue the session if you don’t feel able to. It’s better to end a session early than to collapse in front of the participant!

 Unfortunately, these situations are pretty unavoidable. Within your testing environment, be sure to use antibacterial cleaner and have hand sanitizer available to limit the chance of an ill participant spreading his germs to you (and other participants).

 If you have ongoing health problems that require you to sometimes leave a room quickly, give your team a heads up (details are not necessary!). If someone else on your team can fill in for you as a moderator and will be watching your session, consider asking that person to either take over for you immediately or after a few minutes if you have to leave the room in a hurry.

 14.3 Participant starts to look ill or otherwise unwell

 14.5 You notice a bad smell or have an allergic reaction

 Try moving to a different position in the room (e.g., from the participant’s right side to his left side). A few inches may make a big difference in how you’re being affected by the allergen or smell.

 If you’re in the participant’s home and changing positions in the room hasn’t helped, ask if there’s another room that you can use for the session. This question can be phrased cleverly so the participant won’t feel insulted, ideally by tying in the movement to the reason for the session. For example, you could ask the participant to show you any other locations where he might use the product that you’re discussing.

 If you don’t feel able to end the session (e.g., because you really need this participant’s feedback), take a short break and get some fresh air.

 If you’re in a location where bad smells are par for the course (e.g., an animal testing facility, certain manufacturing locations), consider being honest with the participant and letting him know that you’re having a hard time with the smell. He may be able to bring you to a location that’s better ventilated and less odorous.

 If the smell is making you feel sick and you’re unable to continue, go ahead and end the session early. If you still want to get feedback from the participant, you can ask if he’d be willing to talk to you some more by phone.

 “I’m sorry, I think I may be allergic to <something in this room>. Is there another location that we could talk in?”

 “Let’s take a short break and resume again in five minutes. Can I get you a drink while you’re waiting?”

 “I know you warned me about this ahead of time, but I’m having trouble handling the smell in here. Is there another location we can move to for a little bit?”

 Try not to point out a smell unless it’s something that’s expected from the kind of location you’re in (e.g., a factory or manufacturing facility). Doing so would be rude and potentially insulting.

 We wish there was a way to avoid this situation, but especially when it comes to contextual inquiry, there’s only so much you can do. For site visits, you can ask ahead of time what kind of environment to expect, but these kinds of olfactory issues may not come up. There’s no way (that we know of) to avoid participants with poor personal hygiene.

 If you have known allergies (e.g., to cats or dogs), be prepared and have medication with you at all times.

 12.5 Participant has disconcerting or distracting physical characteristic

 14.4 You begin to feel unwell while moderating a session

 Survival Story: “I knew what it was like”

 End the session early, and provide the participant with his compensation.

 Ask the participant how he got to the session. If he drove himself and you wouldn’t be comfortable with him getting behind the wheel, encourage him to take alternate transportation instead (e.g., a cab, calling a friend) and offer to arrange it for him. Remember your responsibility to the participant’s safety.

 If you have onsite building security, contact them for assistance. They may be able to wait with the participant and provide additional help.

 If the participant refuses your suggestions and insists on driving, and you don’t have an onsite security team, get his car’s make and model, and contact the police right away.

 If the participant is making you uncomfortable in any way, trust your gut and end the session as quickly as possible. Contact security and the authorities if you’re worried about your safety or that of others in your location (see section 14.9 for more on handling this).

 “Thank you for coming in today. You seem a little distracted, so why don’t we reschedule this for a day and time that works better for you.”

 “Is there someone I can call for you to take you home, or can I call you a cab?”

 “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to cancel the session due to some technical difficulties. Thank you so much for coming in and here’s your compensation. Let me walk you to our exit. How did you get here today?”

 Don’t run a session with a participant who you think is physically unable to give accurate and useful feedback. Let participants who are under the influence go home.

 Ensure that you have another person (e.g., an observer or someone from your team) watching your interactions with the participant, especially when you end the session.

 There’s little you can do to avoid this situation. Make sure that you’re not running sessions alone and have the number for onsite security handy just in case.

 14.3 Participant starts to look ill or otherwise unwell

 Survival Story: “You sure are pretty” in Chapter 12

 If the participant’s touch was more of a grab or threatening movement, or he deliberately ignores your request to not be touched, end the session as soon as you can. If you were feeling uncomfortable with him already and the touch made you more uncomfortable, do the same. Trust your gut! If you don’t feel safe staying in the room with the participant, leave the room and find a team member to end the session for you.

 If the touch seemed harmless (e.g., the participant is very expressive and his arm movements result in an infrequent touching of your arm) or accidental (e.g., mistaking your foot for the leg of the table), just carry on with the session. You can also reposition yourself or the participant so that you’re further away. For example, you can scoot your chair behind him in a usability study or contextual inquiry, or go into another room to moderate over a microphone if your setup allows it. If making a physical shift would seem like an abrupt change, you can first take a break. Then, when you resume, assume a different position.

 If the touch is intentional but subtle (like a flirtatious participant touching your hand or leg), slowly and steadily pull away to show that it’s not okay. Then try the repositioning approach. Turn your body slightly away from the participant, minimize eye contact, and use a more formal tone. You could also ask the participant to adjust his position (e.g., by moving to a different chair in the room).

 If you’re uncomfortable continuing with the participant, switch moderators if someone else is available or end the session early.

 “I’m having a hard time getting a view of what you’re doing while beside you, so I’ll just scoot behind you and watch what you’re doing.”

 “I just realized that your chair is one of the most uncomfortable ones we have—I’m sorry! Why don’t you switch over to that chair instead for the rest of this interview.”

 “Let’s take a short break and resume again in five minutes. Can I get you a drink while you’re waiting?”

 “I need to check on something before the next part of the session, so let’s take a brief break.”

 Try not to disengage immediately after the touch happens. If it’s an awkward touch, slowly and steadily pull away. But you don’t need to jump right to sitting elsewhere in the room or taking a break. This can make things more awkward. Just continue with the task, question, or thought you’re on, and then find the next natural breaking point to either move positions, take a break, or switch moderators.

 Although it’s always important to disclose to the participant that there are observers, we don’t usually draw much attention to it. However, this is a rare case where it’s helpful to emphasize that there are observers and video cameras—it will usually keep participants within bounds.

 At the beginning of the session, position yourself a comfortable distance away from the participant where it will be hard for him to touch you without going out of his way. In studies involving computers, it’s helpful to have the computer setup so that you have a second keyboard and mouse wirelessly connected. It allows both you and the participant to have your own controls, so you can change anything on the screen without having to reach over the participant or ask him to move or get up.

 Never run research alone, especially at night and in others’ homes. Always have at least one person observing, and if you’re going onsite, bring a buddy!

 13.4 Participant flirts with you

 If you feel uncomfortable or that you’re in even the slightest bit of danger, trust your gut and end the session as quickly as possible. We strongly recommend that you trust your instincts when it comes to potential warning signs—again, your safety is more important than gaining an additional data point.

 If you do end the session, for your safety, try to end the session in a subtle way that doesn’t make it obvious that it’s due to the participant’s environment. For example, wait a couple of minutes and use a pretext like you forgot some study materials, or check your phone and pretend there’s an emergency that you need to leave for.

 If you feel safe continuing the session (again we suggest that you to err on the side of caution here, but we leave that at your discretion—for example, if the participant is a collector of medieval weapons that are in a locked case and you’re not picking up any odd vibes from him), ask him if he can move any dangerous materials to another area of the house or if you can talk in a different location. If he’s unable to make an accommodation that you feel comfortable with, end the session. Be respectful when drawing attention to any of these items, regardless of your personal feelings toward the questionable items.

 If the materials are offensive, but not dangerous, try not to mention them. While this may be difficult, keep in mind that you’re out in the field to see the reality of your user’s environment, and that reality isn’t always what you expect.

 If you’re video recording the session or taking pictures, remind the participant of this before you start. The participant may realize that he has materials visible that he wouldn’t want a wider audience to see and move those materials on his own.

 Avoid engaging the participant in a discussion about the dangerous/offensive materials unless the participant brings it up on his own and the material is somehow connected to your research goals. For example, if you’re talking with the participant about how he spends his free time and he brings up his antique gun collection, you can ask him follow-up questions just as you would for any other answer.

 “Thank you so much for letting me come talk with you today. Before we get started, can I ask you to move that <dangerous item> into another room while we’re talking in here? I really appreciate it.”

 “Before I take this picture, I want to remind you that this will get shared with other members of the project team. Is it okay for me to continue?”

 There’s not much you can do to avoid this—ideally, a participant who knows he is having visitors will make the environment safe. However, this isn’t always the case. Keep in mind that the beauty of field research is that it lets you see the reality of a user’s environment, and that environment may not be what you expected.

 12.2 Something personal, inappropriate, or confidential is visible

 14.9 Participant is doing something illegal or threatening

 Survival Story: “We didn’t know much about them”

 If you feel that a participant may be unstable or a danger to you or others (e.g., paranoid, violent, extreme mood swings), trust your gut and end the session as quickly as possible. We strongly recommend that you use your instinct when it comes to potential warning signs—again, your safety is more important than gaining an additional data point.

 If you do end the session immediately, for your safety, try to do so in a subtle way that doesn’t make it obvious that it’s due to his behavior. For example, wait a couple of minutes and use a pretext such as technical troubles with the product or not having the right study materials.

 If the participant is doing something illegal, take a break as soon as you can, again citing a pretext like technical difficulties, and ask a coworker or observer to alert the appropriate authorities (police, security, etc.) to the situation. Depending on what the participant is doing (or has done), you may ask the authorities to just be aware as the participant leaves the facility, or you may ask them to confront the participant (e.g., to regain stolen goods). Follow the guidance provided by the authorities when you describe the situation.

 Once you have some kind of backup available, end the session with the participant. Provide him with his compensation to keep the session proceeding as normally as possible from his perspective.

 Do your best to look and sound neutral when interacting with the participant, even if you’re scared or nervous.

 Remember that you need to look out for your comfort and safety, so if you’re not comfortable for any reason, end the session.

 “I’m sorry, but we have to end the session early due to some problems with our equipment. Thank you so much for coming in—here’s your compensation. Let me walk you out.”

 “This is <name> in <location>. I’m running a research study with a participant and I’m worried about my safety because of what the participant is doing. <Describe the participant’s actions or behavior.> I am going to end the study, but I want you to be aware of what’s happening. Do you have any recommendations on what I should do?”

 If at all possible, avoid handling the situation on your own (e.g., by confronting the participant about what he has done). These rare scenarios are also one of the main reasons we recommend never performing research alone.

 Have all emergency numbers posted and ensure any observers and team members know where those numbers are located.

 If you have onsite security at the facility where you’re performing research, let them know ahead of time that you’re running a research study. This way, if you need to contact them in case of emergency, they will already have some knowledge about who you are and what you’re doing.

 Check with your building’s security team about any policies they have about weapons, as they may have specific procedures to follow if you notice an armed participant.

 14.8 Participant’s environment contains dangerous items