Field study
A field study is research conducted in the participant's own environment, such as their home, workplace or store, rather than a lab or office, to observe behavior and context as it happens. It shows how people really work, with all the interruptions and workarounds.
How it works
Field studies range from pure observation, where the researcher watches without intervening, to contextual inquiry, where they observe and ask questions as the participant works, to interviews held on site. Researchers note the physical setting, the tools and documents in use, other people involved and the steps people take, including the ones they would never think to mention.
Nielsen Norman Group describes field studies as one of the best ways to understand users' context, and as expensive in time and access. They are most valuable early, before a problem is defined, and for complex work where the environment shapes the task.
A worked example
A logistics software company visits 6 warehouses and watches pickers for a full shift each. The software is fine on screen, but 5 of the 6 sites have taped paper lists to the scanners, because the device cannot show a whole order at once. A larger order view becomes the next release.
Related
Automate this in Pulse
A field study reaches only the sites a team can travel to, and one Pulse study run in several markets at once can hear how the same work is done in places nobody visited.