This presentation introduced Communications Research students to the particular research "genre" of design research (research for product development). It focused on basic usability testing -- a method of design-oriented research for optimizing websites and applications. It was a 2-hour talk and quick hands-on practice run, given to Randy Solis' Communications & Management class, comprised of junior and senior Communications Research students, April 29, 2015.

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Learning the ropes of Usability Research
USAGE OBSERVATION FUN

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Why did you take up Communications Research?!

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How I ended up doing what I’m doing now.!

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How I ended up doing what I’m doing now.!

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My heroes.!

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My heroes.!

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My heroes.!

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My heroes.!

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Research. Flavors.!

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Market Research! Media Research! User Research!
Developing and Improving Products!
Marketing Strategy
The 4 P’s
!
Content Relevance Design Effectiveness
If you want to
sharpen how a
business can
make a product
succeed
If you’re
interested in
the creation of
culture, measuring
the depth of emotional
impact on people
If you’re
interested in
improving
how a product
or service is
built

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Building products?!
VIDEO: Google Analytics in Real Life - Check-out

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“User Experience” Design!
Product Design!
Service Design!
! IDEO
Human-Centered
Design Toolkit

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So many things are “designed”.!
!
Monetization of a
service space!
!
News website!
!

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Tangible in different ways.!
!
Monetization of a
service space!
!
News website!
!

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Zoomed Out Process!
The Role of Research in Product Development

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1. “Apple’s goal isn’t to make money.”!
2. Apple designs for themselves.!

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User Research
People who will
use the product
People crafting
and planning the
product

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1 2 3
Discovery Planning Verification
Strategy Design Development

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Discovery
Planning
Verification
Foundation for Personas,
User Stories, User Flows
and Strategic alignment
Information architecture
Labeling & Wording
Validating layout,
comprehension,
findability

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Discovery
Planning
Verification
Contextual Inquiry
Diaries
Task analysis
Card-sorting
Acceptance tests
Prototype Testing
Usability Testing

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Foundation for Personas,
User Stories, User Flows
and Strategic alignment
Information architecture
Labeling & Wording
Validating layout,
comprehension,
findability
Contextual Inquiry
Diaries
Task analysis
Card-sorting
Acceptance tests
Prototype Testing
Usability Testing

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Zoomed In.!
User Research Project Process.!

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Usability and User Experience!

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Usability and User Experience!

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Products can’t provide meaning
and pervade the user’s psyche
and lifestyle if they aren’t even
usable.
Usability Testing is, therefore, an
integral part of a design process that
is centered on building consumer
demand.

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Usability Testing!
Comprehension!
Effectiveness, Ease or Intuitiveness!
Error-correction!
Pain Points!

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Usability Testing!
Do they understand it?!
How easily do they use it?!
Where do they make mistakes?
What are their frustrations? !
Can they correct themselves?
How did they resolve it?!

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Usability Testing!
Not a focus group, not a survey
Claims ≠ Behavior
Navigation, Ease/Intuitiveness, not innermost needs and wishes

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Flow!
LISTEN
Figuring out what
we want to solve
Learning about
people whom
we’d want to use
our products
Interpreting it
Applying it to our
business or
design problem
PLAN ANALYZE APPLY

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SET-UP &
PLANNING
Research Design
and Recruitment
Participant
Specifications
Interview and
Testing Guide
Schedule
!
FIELDWORK
Research
Execution
Testing
ANALYSIS
Data Processing
and Analysis
Tabulation
!
!
!

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Rules of Thumb.!
Recruiting for Accessibility
As much as possible,
recruit a range of users
(applicable to your
objective).
!
e.g. Social Network -
recruit heavy users and
users who aren’t social
network-savvy.
!
For capturing potential
problems — even for
extreme cases.

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Rules of Thumb.!
Observe BEHAVIOR
Action trumps claim.

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Rules of Thumb.!
Like any research study, objectives are critical.
What are you trying to solve?

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Exercise.!
!
1. Pair up.
2. Choose an app you like that your partner
has never used.
3. Ask yourself: What is the main task I do on
this app?
4. Test the usability of the app, for that task.

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Test Guide!
!
Ask your partner to explore the app.
(Observe.)
!
Ask him/her to accomplish the task.
!
Probe:
Comprehension. What wasn’t clear or easy to
understand while you were using the app?
Error-correction. If noticed “mistakes”: I noticed
[mistake]…how did you resolve it? How did you think
of doing that?
Use cases. In what situation would you imagine using
the app?

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Interested?!
!
All the information is out there.
’Wag sana tayong tumigil matuto.
!
‘Wag sana tayong mahiya magtanong at
mag-reach out.
!
Kung gusto, may paraan.

43. @yellowicepick
Interested?!
!
All the information is out there.
’Wag sana tayong tumigil matuto.
!
‘Wag sana tayong mahiya magtanong at
mag-reach out.
!
Kung gusto, may paraan.
Kung masipag kayo magbasa, pa-follow naman ‘o :

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Questions? :)!
Please?