Reflections on Conducting Online Think-Alouds

Abstract

This article presents a protocol for conducting online think-aloud interviews as well as the reflections of the participants and interviewer on this process. The interviewer and participants commenced the interviews in person but then shifted to an online mode partway through the study. Thus, their reflections provide a comparison of the two different modes. These reflections are situated within a study of novice database designers. This computer science context, to some extent, influences both the protocol and the experiences of the study participants. Recommendations based on these experiences are provided for future computer science education researchers interested in using an online mode for conducting think-alouds, and suggestions for the use of aspects of the protocol in teaching are presented.