Watch, Write It Down, and Do Not Help

This guide follows the chapter “Unplanned Help Weakens the Evidence.” Give it to every observer, including salespeople and executives who ask to attend.

Before the session#

1. Read the Adversarial Test Card. Know the forbidden assistance and the allowed safety intervention.
2. Open a Rescue Ledger.
3. Confirm the participant has agreed to the recording and knows they can stop.

During the session#

1. Say: “We are testing the product, not you.”
2. Give the task in the participant’s terms, and do not name the screens or steps.
3. Stay quiet when the participant hesitates. Count to ten before you speak.
4. Do not point, nod, or say “good.”
5. Write down what the participant looks at, says, and does, with times.
6. When a participant asks a question, say “What would you do if I were not here?” Record that they asked.
7. Give help only if the test card allows it, or if the participant is about to be harmed or to put real personal data in the wrong place. Record it in the ledger as you give it.

After the session#

1. Write the observed behavior before you write an explanation.
2. List at least two competing explanations for anything surprising.
3. Update the ledger and start the Acceptance Evidence Record.

Why the silence matters#

Nielsen Norman Group advises letting users solve problems on their own, since helping them or directing their attention contaminates the results.