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UCA: Data Gathering Techniques. Main Techniques.
- 1. Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships Project GUI USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY: EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES Introduction to User-Centred Analysis (UCA) Data Gathering Techniques Techniques Cristina Cachero This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme
- 2. Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships Project GUI USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY: EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme 2 User-Centred Data Gathering Techniques Interview Focus Group Observation Diaries/Journ What it is One-to-one discussion Small group discussion Watching people work, without interferring Ask people to record an aspect about whatever you are studying (with or withouth remindings) Good for Collecting realistic, rich information Exploring an issue Following tangents (allows to probe) Collecting opinions Getting larger numbers of people involved Situations where you can’t interrupt (call centers, critical situations) When you want to absorb a lot of ‘real life’ Learning context Seeing situations you may miss during interview/observation Tips Conduct in context Ask ‘show me’ Prepare a guide, not rigid questions Audio-record and transcribe To get more practical input, ask people to do some preparation and use activities, not just discussion Audio-record and transcribe Watch, then discuss Some situations may not happen during the observation (remember to discuss) Make it straightforward and low effort Provide clear instructions Time Can be time.consuming to arrange Interview time per person More time-effective than interviews Similar to interviews: time with participants may be longer Need time to participants to respond
- 3. Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships Project GUI USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY: EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme 3 User-Centred Data Gathering Techniques Card sorting Survey Web analyt Other people What it is People group content ideas in ways that make sense for them Prepared set of questions Usage information for an existing app Other people already knows about your users Good for Learning about groups and terminology Collecting from a high number of people. Quick response Identifying popular content, terminology, entry points, usage trends Getting an initial understanding of users based on internal knowledge Tips This is a good activity to run with other methods Ask open questions (rather or in addition to close) in order to get more useful information Analyse regularly Do before other user research Talk to staff from call centers and help desks Time Needs time for preparation. Can be run online to reduce collection time Can take a while to prepare the survey. Responses come in quickly (if online) As needed As needed
- 4. Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships Project GUI USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY: EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme 4 User-Centred Data Gathering Techniques DG Technique Advantages Disadvantages Interviews Users know best tasks they perform and how Users may provide innacurate information, or fail to mention important information (desirability bias) Focus groups High input in short time; group synergy Lacks behavioural validation; group think effect may inhibit participants Observations Can watch what users say and do as they go about their tasks in a realistic setting Observer can disrupt the users in their work environment Diaries/Journals People record events as they happen Requires subjects to be systematic when recording the fact under study Card-sorting Reveals mental models and groups Depending on the size of the app, can be very cumbersome to apply Survey Helps collect demographic data May not represent all users Web Analytics Quick way to detect trends and behavioural patterns Illustrates what happens, but not why Other people Can gather data on common problems with existing systems Sampling of calls/customer messages may not be very systematic.
- 5. Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships Project GUI USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY: EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES These are not the only possible techniques… Jad sessions Analysis of discussion groups/bulletin boards (web content analysis) User group meetings … This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme 5 User-Centred Data Gathering Techniques
- 6. Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships Project GUI USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY: EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES These slides are made available under the license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND. More information about license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. These slides were created under Leonardo daVinci Partnerships Project 2012-1-PL1-LEO04-28181 GUI USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY: EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES ( http://usability-accessibility.org/). This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme 6 Attributions
- 7. Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships Project GUI USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY: EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES These slides are made available under the license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND. More information about license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. These slides were created under Leonardo daVinci Partnerships Project 2012-1-PL1-LEO04-28181 GUI USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY: EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES ( http://usability-accessibility.org/). This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme 6 Attributions
Editor's Notes
- Hello, my name is Cristina Cachero, and I am associate professor at the University of Alicante. In this video we are going to dive into characteristics of some of the best-known data gathering techniques proposed as part of a User-Centered Development process.
- In the next two slides you have a brief summary of the eight most popular data gathering techniques. These include interviews, focus groups, observation, diaries/journals, card-sorting, surveys, web analytics and asking other people. For each technique the table includes a definition, what it is good for, some tips if you intend to use it and some comments on the time it takes to apply it. Please, now stop the video, read the summary of the first four techniques (interviews, focus groups, observation and diaries or journals) and get to grips with each technique. Some of these techniques will be further discussed in other parts of the course.
- The other four techniques we think that are important for you to get familiar with are card sorting, surveys, web analytics and asking other people. Now, stop video until you have read the summary of these four techniques. Then, start the video again.
- As noted in the previous summary, each data gathering technique has a set of strengths and weaknesses that you must be aware of if you are to use them successfully. Let's take interviews, for example. Interviews are an excellent means to collect data about how people do things and why. After all, what would be better than asking them? However, you must be aware of some well known effects that may compromise the information you get. The best-known bias is the social desirability bias. This bias establishes that interviewees tend to try to appear 'nice', that is, to do and say as she thinks she is expected to. This means that the interviewee may inadvertedly embellish the reality or provide inaccurate information simply to better empathize with you, the interviewer. For this reason, if you are to use interviews, make sure that your interviewee understands that you are totally impartial, that their insights are going to remain completely anonymous, and also that the way in which you pose your questions are not leading her in any way towards any answer. This takes experience and practice, which is why good interviewers are so respected. Also, during interviews, you must take care about the way in which you ask about sensitive information (interviewees may not be keen on providing it) and about knowledge gaps, that is, information that is so obvious or so automated for your interviewee that, despite being important for your study, she never mentions it, thus hampering your ability to assess the reality. Some of these drawbacks can be compensated by directly observing the user. Observing the user means that you no longer rely on the memory of the interviewee, but observe her while she interacts in her real environment. The main risk of observation is that you may be inadvertedly influencing the way in which the work is done, since the subject may feel that this observation is distressing her. This notwithstanding, if you make sure you do not interrupt them, after a while users tend to forget that you are even there, so just be patient. Please stop the video now and reflect on the main advantages/disadvantages of the other methods presented in the table. Then, go on with this video!
- Of course, there are other techniques that you may have heard of: JAD sessions, web content analysis, user group meetings... all of them are valid alternatives for your studies, and the more you get to grips with them, the more likely is that you will be able to choose the most suitable technique for your situation at hand.
- In the next video, we will briefly review which are the variables that may influence the preference of one technique versus another. Keep tuned!