Laboratory work on the effectiveness of person-to-person telecommunications systems for a variety of tasks is now a well established field. Williams (1974) summarized 29 such studies and this number is being added to at an accelerating rate. Although there is clearly much still to be done, we must begin to consider how applicable such studies are to the use of teleconference systems in the field. Three types of studies which could indicate the factors affecting the choice to use telecommunications have been developed. These are the ‘hypothetical meeting’ method of Christie, the gaming simulation, and the pre-use interview method. An alternate method, the travel survey, is rejected as methodologically unsound.
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