Many design and usability research methods cater for delving into a focused topic: You set a goal, establish hypotheses, gather data and gain insight to help create the proof, story, a view point, strategy, or whatever you are looking for – within the given budget and time. However, there can be situations where your research may focus too much on individual ‘trees’ that it cannot provide much information about the ‘forest’. For instance, what if you have perfect usability test data to prove the effectiveness of your design, but your client may be more interested to know what types of people would buy the product (and get disappointed to hear that you don’t know)? What if your polite research participants never want to talk with you about negative things about your design? This talk will share a few anecdotes exemplifying the importance of factoring in the space when exploring broader viewpoints to the user research questions, through informal social encounters, serendipitous interactions, and activities that are designed for cross-examining their results.

1. It’s
great
to
stand
here
–
a/er
spending
a
year
working
for
one
person
more
or
less
[maternity
leave]
–
even
though
it
was
the
greatest
interac=on
experience
ever.
I
am
interac=on
designer
by
educa=on
and
major
parts
of
my
career.
1

2. 2

3. But
I
have
done
a
fair
bit
of
research
along
the
way.
Depending
on
who
you
talk
to
–
there
are
many
terms
used
to
describe
the
process
that
we
go
through
to
acquire
the
informa=on
and
insights
on
people.
So
today
I
would
like
to
talk
about
what
I
like
to
remind
myself
in
planning
these
types
of
research.
Which
I
learned
from
my
own
experiences
in
the
past,
rather
than
what
I
learned
in
the
book.
3

4. If
you
work
in
a
rela=vely
big
organiza=on,
the
news
about
a
new
research
project
is
analogous
to
that
of
a
party.
While
you
have
the
limited
=me,
money
and
resources,
people
are
all
the
more
eager
to
learn
from
your
undertaking.
Marke=ng
may
want
to
know
what
is
the
key
marke=ng
message
about
the
product
should
be,
the
roadmap
team
wants
to
know
the
demographic
informa=on
of
the
most
likely
buyers
and
rejectors
with
quan=ta=ve
evidences,
strategy
team
wants
to
know
how
this
product
performs
over
the
compe==on
in
what
way,
SW
team
and
design
teams
want
to
know
how
to
improve
the
product,
and
Finance
team
wants
to
know
the
op=mal
pricing.
4

5. It
is
not
this
bad
all
the
=me,
but
I
did
see
a
project
geOng
named
‘Crystal
ball’
as
there
were
a
lot
of
expecta=ons
from
this
single
study.
I
am
sure
people
manage
such
situa=ons
in
various
cunning
ways,
but
when
I
faced
situa=ons
like
this,
I
was
very
stressed
partly
because
I
was
naïve
enough
to
think
that
I
should
try
to
cater
for
everyone’s
needs.
But
soon
enough
you
become
wise
enough
that
some
combina=ons
just
won’t
work,
or
the
complexity
of
the
research
increases
to
the
extent
that
it
becomes
an
impossible
mission.
5

6. And
what
about
people
who
par=cipate
in
your
study?
This
is
from
a
study
I
ran
a
couple
of
years
ago
for
a
brand
new
product
we
were
developing,
in
prepara=on
for
the
launch.
With
all
things
considered,
5
different
ac=vi=es
were
needed,
including
warm-­‐up.
We
had
the
9
different
features
of
this
new
product
that
we
had
to
demonstrate
to
the
par=cipants,
get
them
to
understand,
form
opinions
over
them,
and
flash
out
their
own
crea=ve
expressions
for
the
product
at
the
end.
What
does
that
mean
in
terms
of
=me?
6

7. About
6
hours
long.
Which
is
more
than
twice
long
as
the
typical
focus
group
sessions.
Our
EVP
sent
me
a
worrying
email
if
this
would
be
a
valid
method
to
get
people
engaged
=ll
the
end.
It
is
true
that
if
you
consider
people
as
passive
par=cipants
answering
simple
ques=ons
that
most
people
won’t
be
able
to
keep
their
spirits
high
for
this
long,
without
just
going
‘yeah,
yeah,
yeah’.
Having
used
co-­‐crea=on
methods
several
=mes
before,
I
was
confident
it
would
work.
But
this
is
the
point
where
the
research
planning
becomes
an
interac=on
design
challenge:
Keeping
people
engaged
and
intelligent
while
trying
to
cater
for
the
expecta=ons
from
the
various
stakeholders.
I
always
ask
myself:
are
we
truly
learning
the
balanced
view
from
the
research?
Is
there
any
beder
way
to
achieve
the
same?
User
research
results
for
the
early
phase
of
product
or
concept
7

8. So
here
are
a
few
points
that
I
consider
as
reminder
for
myself
in
user
research
planning.
First
reminder
is
to
ask
yourself
if
you
get
to
understand
how
people
feel
–
in
rela=on
to
your
product
or
service.
It
may
sound
like
a
common
sense,
but
it
can
be
easily
overlooked.
8

9. I
lived
in
India
for
2
years,
leading
Nokia
Research
Center
in
Bangalore
–
my
team
worked
on
a
number
of
projects
that
were
relevant
to
India.
9

10. One
of
the
topics
we
picked
up
was
the
problem
of
na=ve
languages
use
in
digital
media.
India
is
an
extremely
mul=-­‐lingual
country.
There
are
more
than
1.2
billion
people
in
India,
using
more
than
122
languages.
There
are
22
official
languages
in
India
with
scripts.
There
is
no
exact
sta=s=cs
but
it
is
guessed
that
around
10%
of
popula=on
is
literate
in
English
–
though
the
number
must
be
on
the
rise.
10

11. Indian
language
scripts
are
very
sophis=cated
–
and
have
a
very
different
wri=ng
logic.
When
alphabets
are
combined
to
form
a
syllable,
it
typically
changes
the
shape.
11

12. So
there
is
a
considerable
difference
between
handwri=ng
and
digital
text
input.
But
in
order
to
be
able
to
type
on
‘keyboard’,
user
needs
to
have
a
fairly
good
memory
of
the
alphabe=c
table
to
make
the
‘combina=ons’
for
the
syllables.
12

13. And
you
may
think
that
everyone
remembers
alphabets!
I
thought
so
as
well.
When
we
gave
the
task
of
wri=ng
alphabets
–
which
is
more
than
50
–
more
than
half
of
par=cipants
could
not
complete
the
task.
Par=cipants
were
all
educated
at
least
8
years.
13

14. It
was
worse
on
mobile
phones
–
one
key
typically
needs
to
be
assigned
with
6-­‐8
characters.
This
lady
was
our
fixer
in
Bareily,
where
we
conducted
our
usability
study.
She
is
from
the
untouchable
cast
but
university
educated
and
could
read
and
write
English.
But
none
of
her
social
network
did.
And
hindi
in
her
phone
was
impossibly
difficult
to
use.
So
as
the
result
–
she
never
used
tex=ng
on
mobile
phone.
So
the
reality
that
we
saw
around
us
was
quite
clear:
People
do
not
use
tex=ng
in
the
local
language,
period.
What
about
Internet
in
general?
If
you
are
not
able
to
read
and
write
English,
the
world
of
Internet
is
a
very
small
place
indeed.
14

15. We
took
on
familiarity
as
the
important
theme
of
the
design
development
–
to
minimize
the
learning
curve
and
lower
the
barrier
to
adop=on.
And
touch
screen
because
it
was
the
future
and
to
avoid
the
logis=cal
and
usability
problems
of
physical
keymat.
15

16. So
we
ran
various
tests
with
a
wide
range
of
par=cipants
to
improve
the
design
–
from
usability
of
the
onscreen
keypad
to
the
language
content
itself.
16

17. While
we
were
working
on
this,
Nokia
launched
a
product
called
Nokia
C3
in
2010.
It
sold
very
well
especially
in
India.
However
we
heard
that
there
were
a
lot
of
complaints
about
Qwerty
with
Hindi
keymat
print.
17

18. The
product
had
the
Inscript
Hindi
input,
which
is
the
government
standard
for
qwerty
keyboard.
While
the
minority
of
consumers
who
were
able
to
use
Inscript
welcomed
the
product,
the
majority
found
it
annoying.
On
one
hand,
each
key
became
too
crowded
and
made
it
extra
difficult
to
find
the
key
you
want.
But
the
real
underlying
reason
seemed
to
be
that
buyers
of
this
product
do
not
want
to
be
seen
that
they
need
Hindi.
Implying
that
they
can
communicate
in
English,
which
is
a
thing
to
be
proud
of.
We
ended
up
recalling
the
product,
replacing
the
keymat
with
just
English.
18

19. Of
course,
a/er
this
we
got
a
lot
of
ques=ons
if
it
is
worthy
of
inves=ng
in
na=ve
language
input
tool.
But
as
we
have
been
asking
our
varied
par=cipants
to
the
study
how
this
would
change
their
life
–
we
were
luckily
well
equipped
for
the
answers,
even
though
it
was
not
a
major
ques=on
when
we
were
planning
the
usability
research.
There
was
a
strong
sen=ment
that
it’s
a
language
that
enable
communica=on
with
their
most
close
families,
but
the
need
to
use
it
on
mobile
phone
was
marginal.
We
saw
it
as
a
chicken
and
egg
problem.
Literary
professionals
saw
this
giving
a
great
educa=onal
value.
So
we
were
able
to
pitch
it
to
the
product
team
that
it’s
one
of
the
priority
implementa=on
for
Asha
touch
product
line.
But
we
agreed
that
there
would
be
no
marke=ng
around
it.
19

20. Second
reminder
is
honesty.
Are
you
allowing
people
to
express
their
real
opinions?
It
may
be
honesty,
but
some=mes
it
can
be
about
helping
par=cipants
to
express
themselves
beder.
20

21. We
ran
a
project
with
30
farmers
in
rural
India,
from
2
separate
communi=es.
They
were
‘progressive
farmers’
who
were
very
open
to
trying
new
farming
methods
developed
by
the
agricultural
university.
21

22. We
were
tes=ng
a
simple
app
that
connects
farmers
to
a
voice
message
box
to
ask
their
ques=ons
to
experts
in
the
university
called
‘Kisan’
(which
means
farmer).
Experts
can
access
the
recorded
ques=ons,
then
publishes
the
answer
in
text
through
the
app,
which
becomes
visible
to
all
par=cipants.
22

23. The
trial
went
on
for
almost
two
months.
There
were
several
interviews
along
the
way
by
our
team
and
the
university
researchers.
We
were
planning
to
host
a
joint
workshop
with
all
the
par=cipants
at
the
end
to
discuss
and
ideate
how
we
can
approach
mobile
informa=on
system
for
rural
communi=es.
It
was
great
to
hear
the
posi=ve
stories
–
all
farmers
we
talked
to
shared
how
they
benefited
from
the
Kisan
and
some
suggested
addi=onal
categories
to
add.
23

24. I
don’t
know
what
you
imagine
when
you
hear
‘Indian
farmers’
but
my
first
impression
was
that
they
were
extremely
polite.
We
were
mostly
met
with
a
farmer
who
was
in
clean,
crisp,
white
clothes.
24

25. When
we
visit
the
house
the
room
was
always
prepared
for
us.
And
this
farmer…
25

26. …prepared
snacks
for
us
when
we
visited
his
home
all
by
himself
–
as
his
wife
and
children
were
away.
This
put
smiles
on
my
face.
But
maybe
it
was
my
distorted
personality
–
I
started
to
get
worried
that
I
was
only
hearing
posi=ve
feedback
on
the
system.
It
was
also
because
how
farmers
generally
talked.
They
liked
to
talk
on
a
very
high
level,
and
it
was
quite
difficult
to
get
to
the
details
of
the
interac=on
or
any
other
‘minor’
issues.
They
were
happy
that
they
solved
quite
a
few
problems
with
Kisan
prototype
service
that
otherwise
would
have
taken
much
more
efforts
from
them
to
solve.
26

27. So
the
day
before
our
workshop
day,
I
made
a
special
prepara=on.
This
was
the
venue
of
the
workshop…
27

28. Blue
badges…
28

29. And
red
badges.
Folded
and
stapled
in
the
hotel
room
the
day
before
in
a
hurry.
29

30. Blue
team
member
30

31. Red
team
members.
31

32. We
made
a
debate
task
in
the
workshop.
Red
and
blue
teams
had
to
come
up
with
arguments
that
supported
the
statement
given
in
their
color.
This
way,
people
could
poten=ally
raise
the
most
nega=ve
and
bold
opinions
with
necessary
details
without
feeling
socially
unaccepted.
/
Each
team
was
given
10
min
to
construct
their
argument
to
present
for
each
statement.
32

33. So
it
started
off
fairly
quiet….
33

34. But
quickly
the
mood
started
to
heat
up…
34

35. And
the
professor
from
the
agricultural
university
had
to
come
in
the
middle
to
mediate.
35

36. As
you
can
see
more
than
one
person
started
to
stand
up
wan=ng
to
speak…
36

37. Our
dear
professor
had
to
calm
a
few
too
excited
farmers
37

38. We
had
very
passionate
speakers
as
well
–
while
the
transla=on
was
a
real
challenge
for
me
to
catch
up
what
was
being
said
-­‐
I
was
almost
feeling
like
this
could
be
the
atmosphere
in
an
elec=on
campaign
here…
38

39. At
the
end
we
asked
people
to
vote
for
their
real
personal
opinions.
It
was
very
clear
that
people’s
opinions
were
quite
divided
indeed,
but
the
debate
ac=vated
them
to
talk
about
barriers
to
adop=ons
and
difficul=es
that
they
feel
they
will
face
if
the
service
was
real
–
without
any
social
s=gma
that
they
were
impolite
to
us
or
to
university
staffs.
For
instance,
while
people
wanted
the
informa=on
system
to
connect
them
to
a
wider
geographical
area
and
possibly
all
over
India
–
the
issue
of
languages
came
out
high
as
barrier
to
cross-­‐state
communica=on.
Availability
of
the
mobile
phone
and
the
cost
of
using
the
service
was
another
hot
topic.
39

40. And
we
ended
the
day
with
a
small
gi/
and
leder
of
apprecia=on
giving
ceremony.
40

41. Plus
the
obligatory
group
photo
shoot.
I
was
very
happy
to
see
the
par=cipants
having
fun
–
as
they
should
and
the
day
ended
in
high
energy.
But
having
fun,
high
energy
in
the
session
does
not
always
warrant
a
good
learning
from
the
session.
Honesty
is
a
difficult
one
in
user
research.
Your
results
may
be
deeply
influenced
by
it
but
you
would
never
know.
This
may
sound
lame
but
you
need
to
follow
your
‘gut
ins=nct’
in
judging
the
situa=on
if
you
need
further
ac=ons
to
either
make
people
feel
relaxed
about
expressing
their
opinions,
or
help
their
expressions.
41

42. Third
reminder
is
that
some=mes
it
is
beneficial
to
plan
specifically
to
bring
in
unexpected
insights
that
could
fall
way
outside
your
radar.
I
would
like
to
describe
it
as
‘DIY
research
for
the
par=cipants’
–
with
the
minimum
interven=on.
This
approach
can
be
beneficial
especially
when
you
don’t
know
what
you
don’t
know.
42

43. We
were
studying
how
people
outside
the
benefits
of
major
technology
development
several
years
ago
–
before
we
established
‘the
internet
to
the
next
billion
strategy’
with
very
affordable
mobile
phones.
We
chose
3
ci=es,

44. And
3
communi=es
within
those
ci=es.
There
was
very
lidle
known
about
their
technology
use
among
shanty
town
residents.

45. While
the
main
team
was
busy
doing
contextual
interviews,
our
‘fringe’
ac=vity
had
a
simple
mission:
Make
an
open
studio
for
the
design
compe==on.
The
theme
was
to
design
your
ideal
mobile
phone.
45

46. So
we
partnered
with
local
organiza=ons
to
run
a
mobile
phone
design
compe==on
in
the
community.
Mumbai
team
came
up
with
a
slogan
“Design
a
phone,
Get
a
phone”.
Despite
the
harsh
rainy
season,
the
team
went
around
in
all
parts
of
Dharavi
to
hand
out
the
informa=on.

47. In
Mumbai,
we
hired
a
photo
studio
to
be
the
hub

48. And
in
Rio
–
we
worked
with
a
NGO
that
was
doing
computer
aided
design
educa=on
Rio
team
came
up
with
a
slogan
“Tá
na
hora
de
criar,
seu
telefone
cellular”,
which
translates
in
English:
its
about
=me,
to
create
your
cellphone.

49. Local
team
came
up
with
graffi=
wall
paper,
logo
flyers
and
even
a
song.

50. In
Accra,
within
the
Liberian
refugee
camp,
we
worked
with
an
NGO
offering
computer
courses.
Buduburam
team
came
up
with
a
slogan
“Your
dream
phone,
share
it
with
the
world”.
The
promo=on
was
done
through
banners
placed
in
the
key
areas
of
the
camp
and
the
radio
sta=on
adver=sement,
which
was
very
effec=ve.
The
local
NGO
called
MOPGEL
offered
the
space,
which
was
normally
used
for
computer
courses.
//
The
first
proposal
was
“Refugees
are
human,
Nokia
is
interested
in
their
opinions”
–
and
we
had
to
turn
it
down
as
we
didn’t
allow
the
word
Nokia
in
the
slogan.

51. Par=cipa=on
was
simple
–
people
can
just
go
in
to
the
studio
space
and
fill
in
this
entry
form.
The
local
team
helped
those
who
needed
help
with
wri=ng
and
interviewed
the
par=cipants
to
make
sure
we
understand
the
idea
beyond
what
was
wriden
in
the
form.
51

52. To
show
you
some
examples
what
this
brought:
This
19-­‐yo
student/social
worker
wants
to
change
the
world,
especially
leading
young
people
to
the
right
direc=on.
His
idea
is
that
all
entertainment
systems
will
be
in
one
phone
–
including
a
virtual
blond
psychologist
wearing
a
bikini
who
can
answer
any
doubts
and
keeps
people
updated
about
cultural
events
in
town.
This
resonated
well
with
the
sen=ment
in
the
community
that
urged
adults
to
keep
their
children
indoors,
away
from
poten=ally
bad
influences
and
violence
on
the
street.
And
possibly
the
blond
in
bikini.

53. This
is
a
phone
that
had
a
split
screen
so
that
he
can
easily
no=ce
calls
from
overseas.
As
a
refugee,
he
relied
on
funds
sent
from
his
remote
rela=ves
in
the
US,
so
he
was
very
keen
not
to
miss
any
calls
from
them.
53

54. This
idea
from
Dharavi
is
about
being
able
to
get
the
weather
forecast
by
simply
poin=ng
the
phone
at
the
sky.
It
brought
up
a
lot
of
debates
among
the
jury
members
–
the
local
design
students.
Some
argued
that
the
weather
informa=on
is
available
already
and
there
is
no
innova=on
around
it.
But
what
won
the
argument
was
the
fact
that
this
idea
was
highly
relevant
for
the
local
residents
in
the
community.
They
had
largely
weather-­‐dependent
professions,
and
most
people
did
not
know
how
to
access
mobile
internet
to
get
the
weather
informa=on.
So
making
the
informa=on
access
as
intui=ve
as
possible
would
be
beneficial
–
and
it’s
actually
technically
feasible
now.

55. Lots
of
ideas
around
mul=ple
SIM
card
use
as
well.
This
‘Golden
Mobile’
has
two
SIM
slots,
golden
to
be
no=ced
among
the
crowd,
and
got
plasma
charger.
55

56. This
one
is
a
star
shaped
mobile
that
can
host
4
SIM
cards.
There
were
no
mul=ple
SIM
card
phones
in
the
market
except
small
Chinese
vendors.
There
were
repeated
evidences
like
these
entries
that
people
wanted
mul=ple
SIM
card
phone
so
that
they
can
save
the
communica=on
cost,
and
mi=gate
the
frequent
network
problems.
While
we
were
feeling
that
it
is
one
of
the
trends
we
should
highlight,
this
submission
put
a
nail
to
that
need.
56

57. So
we
decided
to
invest
a
bit
more
on
that
topic
while
we
were
in
Accra,
interviewing
various
people
on
the
topic
of
mul=ple
SIMs.
We
even
found
a
service
that
s=tched
your
SIM
cards
together.
Photo:
Those
who
use
more
than
1
mobile
phone
numbers
&
SIM
card
combining
service
operator
shop,
Buduburam
(Ghana),
Younghee
Jung
&
Nokia.
2007

58. What
was
remarkable
with
a
par=cipant
like
him
was
the
incredible
amount
of
=me
they
invested
in
submiOng
their
ideas.
Some
visited
the
studio
several
=mes,
discussed
ideas
with
their
friends.
It
was
possible
because
it
was
their
own
ini=a=ve
and
drive.
There
was
of
course
rewards
promised
for
winners,
but
I
felt
that
the
real
mo=va=on
was
the
recogni=on
of
their
ability
and
the
opportunity
to
be
heard.

59. We
planned
the
Open
Studios
to
be
a
complementary
research
source
as
we
were
faced
with
communi=es
that
we
did
not
have
much
informa=on
on
beforehand.
Running
parallel
ac=vi=es
while
we
were
on
the
field
allowed
us
to
have
a
broader
view
than
what
we
ini=ally
set
to
‘find
out’
but
also
allows
us
to
cross
reference
informa=on
as
we
were
learning.
And
it
is
cri=cal
to
work
with
the
real
local
people
to
make
street
surveys
and
Open
Studios
type
of
methods
work.
I
like
to
call
this
type
of
open-­‐ended
ac=vi=es
as
‘scou=ng
project’.
It’s
not
to
answer
any
ques=ons
within
your
hypothesis,
but
to
broaden
your
eyes
and
minds.
And
if
you
are
lucky,
you
get
to
meet
really
interes=ng
people
to
bring
to
deep
dives
or
contextual
interviews.
59

60. Fourth
reminder
is
to
always
try
to
look
at
the
forest
over
trees.
I
am
currently
working
in
a
new
func=on
of
product
marke=ng
that
works
with
design
and
technical
teams
to
conceptualize
new
products.
So
we
are
o/en
in
the
posi=on
to
run
the
market
research
to
test
if
the
consumer
value
proposi=on
holds
in
various
markets.
60

61. To
confess,
the
6
hour
long
session
was
one
of
the
research
projects
I
ran
for
the
marke=ng
team.
As
it
involved
a
real
product
to
launch,
there
was
a
lot
of
pressure
to
answer
very
specific
ques=ons
–
such
as
coming
up
with
consumer
value
proposi=ons
with
priori=zed
list
of
key
selling
points,
insights
on
pricing,
and
improvements
to
the
product.
61

62. Par=cipants
go
through
various
ways
to
think
about
the
product
and
its
features…
seeing
the
demo
62

63. Various
demonstra=ons
63

64. And
making
their
own
presenta=on
about
it
64

65. And
we
ask
them
to
keep
a
workbook
so
that
they
can
keep
track
of
what
they
have
gone
through
and
we
can
keep
track
of
what
they
have
been
thinking
and
how
they
put
it
in
their
own
words.
65

66. And
there
is
always
a
tempta=on
to
get
a
stat
within
the
room
–
with
a
simple
method
like
ranking
the
votes.
The
challenge
here
is
that
ideas
were
introduced
to
people
all
at
once
with
lidle
real
experiences
to
really
understand
what
it
means
to
them.
It
means
that
people
can
change
their
minds
throughout
the
session.
We
try
to
probe
it
in
various
ways
like
individual
ra=ng,
ranking
exercise,
or
just
observing
how
people
ask
ques=ons
and
summarize
the
concept.
But
where
do
we
put
more
weight
on?
How
do
we
analyze
what
resonated
most
for
the
par=cipants?
One
of
my
favorite
methods
in
such
situa=ons
is
to
employ
an
improvisa=onal
ac=ng
task.
We
asked
the
par=cipant
that
they
could
choose
anyone
in
the
room
to
be
their
‘imaginary
friend’.
66

67. (And
of
course
I
was
chosen
first…
so
beware
that
you
may
need
to
act
as
well!)
67

68. I
brought
here
an
example
video.
This
ac=ng
ac=vity
was
done
a/er
they
went
through
the
series
of
exercises
to
understand
and
rate
the
individual
features
of
the
product.
This
20
year
old
university
student
chose
our
local
colleague
from
Nokia
office
to
be
her
‘imaginary
friend’.
-­‐-­‐-­‐
The
girl’s
ra=ng
of
the
experiences
had
very
lidle
to
do
with
what
she
was
saying
in
this
video
to
our
local
colleague
(who
turned
to
be
her
temporary
boyfriend
in
ac=on).
Dual
SIM
and
instant
social
updates
were
her
selling
points.
My
colleague
tries
to
push
and
push
but
her
two
key
points
were
very
clear.
Why
did
she
not
score
these
highly
in
the
earlier
exercises?
And
how
do
you
conclude
on
the
result?
This
is
I
say
the
reason
why
we
are
worthy
of
keeping
our
job
–
as
it’s
not
so
bleeding
obvious.
It’s
a
call
of
the
researcher
to
be
ready
to
analyze
and
extract
insights
from
these
seeming
inconsistent
outcome.
If
it
were
for
marke=ng
communica=on,
you
may
infer
the
communica=on
challenge
to
the
brand
new
features
that
people
are
not
yet
familiar
with
how
to
name
the
experiences.
And
instead
of
following
any
of
the
numbers
that
seemed
to
have
been
produced
from
the
study,
I
would
follow
your
strategy
and
invest
in
how
to
make
it
more
memorable.
68

69. Looking
back
at
my
early
days
of
working
as
interac=on
designer,
I
considered
usability
research
and
user
research
more
like
a
scien=fic
work
that
needs
to
follow
a
strict
protocol
and
make
the
condi=ons
as
equal
as
possible
among
par=cipants.
But
over
the
years
I
realized
that
it
is
an
art
AND
a
design
challenge
itself
how
you
engage
people.
Also
you
need
to
be
prepared
to
answer
various
ques=ons
a/erwards
that
can
fall
outside
your
ini=al
hypothesis.
Ironically
I
don’t
always
advocate
user
research.
On
the
contrary,
I
have
seen
so
many
instances
where
what
the
teams
needed
was
a
strong
vision
and
leader
rather
than
a
consumer
research
data
to
make
the
decision
for
them.
So
ask
yourself
if
you
really
need
user
research,
or
more
design
explora=ons,
asking
your
colleague’s
opinions,
or
a
belief.
69

70. If
used
wisely
–
user
research
is
a
good
tool
like
doctor’s
stethoscope.
It’s
ul=mately
up
to
you
to
decide
what
course
of
treatments
will
be
needed.
If
you
are
a
good,
experienced
doctor,
you
probably
don’t
rely
on
this
tool
too
much,
and
are
able
to
tell
a
lot
about
the
pa=ent’s
symptom
by
just
looking
or
talking
to
him
or
her.
That’s
the
ul=mate
art
we
acquire
as
we
increase
our
experience
in
the
domain.
I
have
always
worked
in
a
big
corporate
environment
so
I
do
some=mes
get
the
comment
that
we
are
lucky
to
be
able
to
run
user
research
at
all.
I
know
I
have
been
lucky
to
choose
certain
research
topics
purely
for
explora=on,
but
we
were
never
exempt
from
the
=me
and
budget
constraints
either.
User
research
does
not
have
to
be
a
big
project
that
you
set
up
formally
with
par=cipants
you
pay
for.
Some=mes
I
ask
my
colleagues,
or
their
friends
and
family
to
come
and
try
out
our
product
or
designs.
If
your
users
are
not
some
thousands
miles
away
speaking
different
languages,
you
have
no
excuse
if
your
project
really
needs
people
to
give
feedback
and
inspire
you.
It’s
your
aOtude
to
care,
not
a
budget
or
=me
that
determines
how
much
insights
from
people
you
can
infuse
your
design
with.
I
hope
those
of
you
who
will
be
involved
in
user/design/consumer/market
research
in
any
way
will
make
their
journey
a
lidle
more
enjoyable
and
insigh{ul
by
being
ready
for
open
ques=ons.
70

71. 71