Distributing the product under testing

When the product to be tested is not a production version, such as an app that can be downloaded from an app store, a website that is publicly accessible, or a product that the user already owns, the user will have to be adequately equipped. The study sponsor will either have to provide early versions of their designs, their software, or their product to each participant for testing.

This can usually be managed when planning the study, and we will talk about this in more detail in the following chapter. It only proves to be insurmountable when the study sponsor cannot or does not want to share these early versions outside of their lab or company for security or logistical reasons. In this case, only in-person testing is possible.