Practical UX Research Methods

HOW Design Live, Boston – May, 2018 Pmcneil.com
Practical UX
Research Methods
With Patrick McNeil

Extremely fast and simple
UX test methods.
I want to explore

You can easily include
user feedback in your
design work
My hope is that

Topics for today
• 4 practical UX research methods
• Matching research methods to questions
• Creating research methods

Who am I?
UX Architect at• Perﬁcient
Grew up with tech, formalized it with•
design and topped it oﬀ with UX.
Get in touch:•
mcneilp@gmail.com–
pmcneil.com–

Download the presentation
Link at the end

Research Methods

Anti goals
Write lengthy research plans•
Publish long reports of results•
Establish new principles for the ﬁeld•
Be a roadblock to progress•

#1 – Emoticon Score
Quickly capture raw emotions

Have the user indicate how
they feel about something
using an emoticon scale

You need to understand the
user's emotional reaction
Use when

Sample Scales

Quantifying the users
emotional reaction
The real magic is…

Sample scenarios
• Assess an overall experience
• Compare how users feel about two totally
different designs
• Understand if your improving the
experience

Results
• Chart the results

#2 – Desirability Study

You need to see what
keywords users connect with
your design.
Use when

Have users pick words from
a list that they feel apply
to a design.

Accessible
Advanced
Annoying
Appealing
Attractive
Boring
Business-like
Busy
Calm
Clean
Clear
Collaborative
Comfortable
Compatible
Compelling
Comprehensive
Confident
Confusing
Connected
Consistent
Controllable
Convenient
Creative
Customizable
Cutting edge
Dated
Desirable
Difficult
Disruptive
Distracting
Dull
Easy to use
Effective
Efficient
Effortless
Empowering
Energetic
Engaging
Entertaining
Enthusiastic
Essential
Exceptional
Exciting
Expected
Familiar
Fast
Flexible
Fragile
Fresh
Friendly
Frustrating
Fun
Gets in the way
Hard to Use
Helpful
High quality
Impersonal
Impressive
Incomprehensible
Inconsistent
Ineffective
Innovative
Inspiring
Intimidating
Intuitive
Inviting
Irrelevant
Low Maintenance
Meaningful
Motivating
Not Secure
Not Valuable
Old
Optimistic
Ordinary
Organized
Overbearing
Overwhelming
Patronizing
Personal
Poor quality
Powerful
Predictable
Professional
Relevant
Reliable
Responsive
Satisfying
Secure
Simplistic
Slow
Sophisticated
Stable
Stimulating
Straight Forward
Time-consuming
Time-Saving
Too Technical
Trustworthy
Unapproachable
Unattractive
Uncontrollable
Unconventional
Understandable
Undesirable
Unpredictable
Unrefined
Usable
Useful
Valuable
Source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/desirability-reaction-words/

Selecting words:
• That relate to your brand
• That reflect a desired emotional response
• Words opposite to the desired responses
• Limit it to 30-40 words
• About 70% positive words

Works great as a follow up
question with users.
Pro tip

The results
Measure the results by the % of people•
that indicate each word
Try to segment the results to see how•
diﬀerent groups responded (personas)

#3 – Single Ease Question
7-point scale for estimating task diﬃculty

You need to quantify how easy
something is to use
Use when

Have the user perform a
task and follow up with
the question.

Sample Situations
To compare a competitor’s product to yours•
Measure if changes in a product make it•
easier to use
To compare two totally diﬀerent tasks•

The results
• Average the results of the 7 point scale

#4 – Static Evaluation
& Markup

You need quick feedback
Use when

Print your design.
Have users write comments.
Discuss.

Don’t make research harder
then it needs to be.

Picking Methods

What do you need to learn?
What will help you progress the
design forward?
Where will users struggle?
Focus topics

What method will answer this?
Then

Do users like my design?
Question:
Use a 5 second test and see what
stands out to them
Research Method:

Is my design easy to use?
Ques%on:
Watch users try to use it
Research Method:

Will users understand the icons?
Question:
Show users the icons and have
them write key words they
associate with them.
Research Method:

I wonder what users are doing
when they use our product?
Question:
Contextual inquiry – go follow
your users around
Research Method:

You are asking much more
sophisticated questions.
Eventually you will ﬁnd that

What are the users thinking,
feeling or wanting?

How do the users imagine this
thing works?

Seek out ways to research users.
Get curious and

Creating Methods

Methods are not sacred
Don’t be shy

The 5 second test
Hacking methods

What are the primary types of
apps users want on their
smart phone?
Inventing methods

How can I get unbiased data –
because users will lie.
Ask yourself

Thank you!
Download the presentation:
https://www.slideshare.net/mcneilp
And check out:
http://UXMethodsBook.com

Practical UX Research Methods

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