Other forms: field tests
When researchers test a product or device by having people try it in the environment in which it's made to be used, that's called a field test.
Field tests are most commonly done on newly developed products, when their developers are figuring out whether they'll work the way they should. Sometimes an engineer or scientist will do a small field test on something before much money has been spent on developing it, as a way of gauging its worth. Field tests are often distinguished from laboratory tests, which are more controlled and smaller — field tests bring products out into the real world, or the "field."