# Wizard-of-Oz interaction brief

Status: Blank template · 2026-09-06

A method template, not the task script from the 2019 service-robot project. Wizard-of-Oz uses a person backstage to simulate unfinished system responses and examine whether users understand an interaction.

## Define what you need to learn

- Interaction whose implementation is under consideration:
- Assumption about user understanding or behavior:
- Why the existing prototype cannot answer it:
- Experience that must be real and responses that can be simulated:

## Frontstage / backstage plan

| Stage | What the user sees and can do | Operator trigger and response | What to observe | Possible simulation bias |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Before contact | | | | |
| Starting | | | | |
| Performing the task | | | | |
| Ending or leaving | | | | |

## Before the session

- Can different operators execute the response rules consistently?
- How will delays, failures, and off-script actions be handled?
- How will participant information, withdrawal, recording use, and debriefing work?
- Does the simulation give the system capabilities a future implementation cannot provide?

## Decide after observing

Record behavior and sources, alternative explanations, designs worth testing further, and limitations caused by the simulation. Establish what this trial can answer before discussing engineering investment. Understanding one simulation does not establish product usability.