Chapter 9 – Moderator-participant arrangements

This chapter explores a number of arrangements and discusses their advantages and disadvantages. The goal is to present the options fairly so one can make his or her own decision because it has been found that this issue can be very controversial, perhaps the most controversial issue in this chapter. This chapter covers a brief history of arrangements, various types of arrangements and their advantages and disadvantages, situations that dictate which arrangement to use, and considerations for the practitioner. There are strong opinions about the effects of moderator–participant arrangements on the validity of testing. Experienced moderators disagree about the value of physical closeness (and distance) from participants and how it does or doesn't affect the amount and the quality of data collected in a test session. In addition, some believe that being physically separated in adjacent rooms and communicating over an intercom affects the power relationship between the moderator and participant, that it overemphasizes the Leader role over the Gracious Host role. It is remarkable that moderator–participant arrangements have created strong opinions but there has been no research on their impact on the testing process.