Practical User Research - UA Conference 08

practical user research how to do it. what to do with it. leisa reichelt | disambiguity.com ua conference europe 2008 http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ms_abitibi/1462557669/

http://www.yarr.org.uk/

How to talk like a pirate: Startin' Rules • Double up on all your adjectives and you'll be bountifully bombastic with your phrasing. Pirates never speak of quot;a big shipquot;, they call it a quot;great, grand ship!quot; They never say never, they say quot;No nay ne'er!quot; • Drop all your quot;gquot;'s when you speak and you'll get words like quot;rowin'quot;, quot;sailin'quot; and quot;fightin'quot;. Dropping all of your quot;vquot;'s will get you words like quot;ne'erquot;, quot;e'erquot; and quot;o'erquot;. • Instead of saying quot;I amquot;, sailors say, quot;I bequot;. Instead of saying quot;You arequot;, sailors say, quot;You bequot;. Instead of saying, quot;They arequot;, sailors say, quot;They bequot;. Ne'er speak in anythin' but the present tense! http://www.yarr.org.uk/

Hints & Tips • If it be helpin', start yer sentence wi' a quot;Arr, me hearty,quot; in a deep, throaty voice — ye'll find that the rest be comin' much easier. http://www.yarr.org.uk/

Pirate Vocabulary • Ahoy: Hey! , Avast: Stop! Aye: Yes Aye, Aye!: I’ll get right on that • Grog: A pirate's favorite drink. • Lily-livered: faint o' heart • Loaded to the Gunwales (pron. gunnels): drunk • Matey: A shipmate or a friend. • Me hearty: a friend or shipmate. • Scallywag: A bad person. A scoundrel. • Scurvy dog!: a ﬁne insult! • Shiver me timbers!: an exclamation of surprise, to be shouted most loud. • Squiffy: a buffoon • Swashbucklin': ﬁghtin' and carousin' on the high seas! • Thar: The opposite of quot;here.quot; • Walk the plank: this one be bloody obvious. • Yo-ho-ho: Pirate laughter http://www.yarr.org.uk/

yo-ho-ho! shiver me timbers

i love this hotel :)

i love this hotel :) - six pillows! - an ironing board - a kettle for making tea ...

i love this hotel :) - the door card <insert picture!>

good user experience doesn’t have to be flashy

motorola razr

let them have user research!

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/padday/1513526079

UA & UX UX = User Experience

why do user research?

supposing is good. finding out is better. - mark twain

100x After Launch Cost of making changes 6x 1x During During Development Design r.s pressman, ‘software engineering, a practitioners approach’ mcgraw-hill

we tend to project our own rationalisations and beliefs onto the actions and beliefs of others - don norman, the design of everyday things

to design an easy-to-use interface, pay attention to what users do, not what they say. self reported claims are unreliable, as are user speculations about future behaviour - jakob nielsen

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mugur/153914184/

user research helps you uncover, understand and design for real user requirements

do I really need to do it?

do I really need to do it? if: a) your end users are just like you and/or b) you’ve designed for these users before and know them well

do I really need to do it? if: you find yourself resorting to stereotypes and cliches (esp. involving your mother or grandmother), you need to research.

when in a project to do user research?

generative research prototype evaluative research

ways to do it

quantitative vs qualitative

quantitative vs qualitative Quantitative research is the systematic scientific investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to natural phenomena. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_research

quantitative vs qualitative Qualitative research ...aim(s) to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern human behavior. Qualitative research relies on reasons behind various aspects of behavior. Simply put, it investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, and when. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research

quantitative vs qualitative mathematics and natural sciences statistically sound, scientific large random samples questionnaires, surveys, tests

quantitative vs qualitative social sciences insight gathering, exploratory small sample sizes participatory, observational, interviews, analysis of documents and materials.

quantitative & qualitative

qualitative for insight

speaking of ‘scientific’

speaking of ‘scientific’ don’t defend qualitative research ‘scientifically’ avoid using statistical terms or approaches actually... just stay away from numbers altogether!

In earlier research, Tom Landauer and I [Jakob Nielsen] showed that the number of usability problems found in a usability test with n users is: N(1-(1-L)n) where N is the total number of usability problems in the design and L is the proportion of usability problems discovered while testing a single user. The typical value of L is 31%, averaged across a large number of projects we studied. Plotting the curve for L=31% gives the following result:

The most striking truth of the curve is that zero users give zero insights. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html

‘formal’ qual

lab based research

focus groups - care!

field research (ethnography)

‘guerrilla’ qual

silverbackapp.com

new research tools

search.twitter.com

flickr.com (groups)

drupal.org project opensource research & design

recruitment - aim for six participants per key user groups - BUT remember that one is better than none! - you can outsource this to qualitative research recruitment companies - or use your networks (I use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter a lot!)

test materials / prototypes

interview technique

interview technique > introduce the session (esp. inform and ask permission re: recording) > good rapport = good research (take time to make it clear you care about their opinion) > don’t tell them you’re the designer (they’ll not want to hurt your feelings, they want to please) > it’s not a test (if anything is being tested, it’s the design - NOT the participant) > only *their* opinion counts (we don’t care about what other people might think or do) > define your research questions > plan & practice the ‘script’

interview technique > start as wide as possible, narrow slowly > keep it contextual, not speculative > show, don’t tell (observation = good) (show me how you do that?) > uncover mental models (if you clicked there, what do you think would happen?) > ask OPEN questions (ask questions to get them talking NOT yes/no answers) > take care not to lead (you can have leading questions AND leading structures) > never leave them hanging (if they’re struggling, save them)

analysing research

research analysis (affinity sort)

solo analysis vs group analysis

presenting research

reports research reports http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/iheartcanada/497799011/

workshop findings

personas personas http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/anikarenina/550438755/

Appearance - what it looks like and how it is arranged Usability Interaction - how the user interacts with the product components Information - the information required by the user at different stages User Structure Experience - the right elements in the right order Concept - the model for how the value is delivered Proposition - the value to the customer

just because nobody complains doesn’t mean all the parachutes are perfect - benny hill Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division,Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

thank you :) leisa reichelt | disambiguity.com leisa@disambiguity.com http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ms_abitibi/1462557669/

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Practical User Research - UA Conference 08

by leisa reichelt on Sep 25, 2008

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