{"id":382,"date":"2016-11-28T22:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T22:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/measuringu.com\/one-way-mirror\/"},"modified":"2021-01-28T06:30:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T06:30:27","slug":"one-way-mirror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/one-way-mirror\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the One-Way Mirror"},"content":{"rendered":"
They’re the stuff of movies, TV shows<\/a>, and usability labs.<\/p>\n One-way mirrors (or two-way mirrors depending on who you ask) are an enduring symbol of interrogation, psychology experiments, focus groups, and usability tests.<\/p>\n This special piece of glass<\/a> is brightly lit from one side to allow people to inconspicuously observe people on the other side.<\/p>\n The technology is simple and actually quite old with a “transparent mirror<\/a>” patented in 1903.<\/p>\n Researchers once considered it essential, but in the last few years I’ve seen companies moving away from the mirror. Here are some advantages and disadvantages<\/a> of the one-way mirror.<\/p>\n Each research team needs to weigh the practical advantages and disadvantages to a one-way mirror. But one question to consider is to what extent a one-way mirror actually affects behavior and how much it may affect your research conclusions.<\/p>\n When we looked in the literature we found little discussion on how one-way mirrors affect behavior. We did find some research on the effect of mirrors themselves. After all, when participants look in the mirror, they see themselves looking right back, which has consequences. We found that mirrors increase self-awareness, which leads to<\/p>\n How a one-way mirror may affect the data from usability tests, in-depth interviews, or focus groups is still an open research question. Anecdotally, I haven’t noticed a difference in behavior from the participants with or without the one-way mirror. Jim Lewis also echoed his experience of it being a negligible influence but did offer this memorable example<\/p>\n Out of several hundred people that I observed over those years, I only had one who was so nervous that we wound up sending her home.\u00a0 There was one guy who participated in a printer study that involved loading fanfold paper forms (remember that?) and aligning them so the information would print in the right areas.\u00a0 He got so frustrated with the task that at one point he yanked the paper out of the printer, wadded it up, and threw it at the one-way mirror (on that occasion, there was no facilitator in the room).\u00a0 That’s the only time I can think of where someone appeared to be aware of the observers during task performance\u2014most of the time they just appeared to be completely engrossed in the task.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In our lab at MeasuringU we have a full digital setup and decided against the one-way mirror (the cons outweighed the pros for us). But if you have a one-way mirror (or decide to install one<\/a>), here are some best practices<\/a>\u00a0 based on other researchers’ experiences<\/a>.<\/p>\nAdvantages<\/h2>\n
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Disadvantages<\/h2>\n
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Does the Mirror Affect Behavior?<\/h2>\n
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One-Way Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…<\/h2>\n