Learn more about the basics of experience research on https://blog.morethanmetrics.com/research-basics/ This is a short introduction to the most important methods used in customer experience research – how they work and what advantages and disadvantages they have.

1. RESEARCHBASICS
THE WHY
What is your aim with the research?
Why are you pursuing this question?
RESEARCH QUESTION AND SCOPE
The starting point of successful research
is a clear research question and a defined
aim.
▶ You could ask questions like:
• Why do my customers rate the
restaurant’s service negatively?
• How do my customers experience
the booking process?
• What is the experience like for my
employees during the weekend shifts?
▶ Research can also have different scopes:
For example: You’ll have a different scope
if you look at a service which takes 15 days
(e.g., the period from the booking until
the flight), than if you look at a specific
part of the service that takes 15 minutes
(e.g., a customer gets in contact with
your customer service in order to solve a
problem with her flight booking).
State if you want to research a specific
point or if you want to zoom out and look
at your offering from a higher level.
Getting Started
WWW.EXPERIENCEFELLOW.COM
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THE WHO
What does your sample look like?
Who will you talk to?
SAMPLE
Who are the relevant people for your
research? Is it users? Customers?
Employees? Other stakeholders? Do
you want to get information about the
interactions between these groups? This
decision will make sure that you only
get relevant data out of your time and
financial resources.
▶ A few aspects to consider:
• The number of participants:
what’s the right size for my
purpose?
• The characteristics of participants:
Do I only want to focus on certain
customers?
• Am I mainly interested in people
who have used a specific service,
during a specific time period?
• The type of technology participants
use: Are they okay with using a
smartphone?
• The amount of time participants
have.
• The way you invite participants:
Sometimes people participate
together, e.g. one parent fills in
reports representing the family.
Also, do you even want a random
sample or do you want to pick
participants manually? How you
invite people will influence that.
THE HOW
How will you address this research question?
What methods will you use?
TRIANGULATION, TIME FRAME AND
METHODS
Once you’ve defined your research question
and identified who you want to talk to, you
can focus on how you want to dig into that
question.
▶ Triangulation
Triangulation is used in qualitative research
to maximize the quality and validity of the
research. Triangulating your research means
including multiple types of methods, data
types, participants, researchers and/or even
environment. Ways to triangulate are:
• METHODS
e.g. interview, survey, and observation
• DATA TYPES
e.g. text, pictures, and video
• PARTICIPANTS
e.g. customers, employees, and
management
• RESEARCHERS
e.g. customer service, marketing and
developers
• ENVIRONMENTAL
e.g. different time/day/season
ASSUMPTION VS. RESEARCH-
BASED WORK
▶ Assumption-based
This is where the researcher sketches
out what they think the customer
journey is like. Assumption-based
customer journey maps can be useful
as a first draft because they can help
plan your research or what you think
you want to explore. It also might help
you highlight what assumptions you
might be making about a problem.
When it comes to making decisions -
base them on research.
▶ Research-based
To create researched-based personas
or journey maps draw on the data you
have. For example, with a customer
based project - chances are you have
knowledge about your customer
through analytics, order history, CRM
databases and so forth. Co-creative
workshops with your customer or folks
who have profound knowledge or lived
experience of the subject matter can
also be a way to create research-based
personas or journey maps. Of course,
research based personas or journey
maps need more time and resources.
Ulimately tools based on valuable
research are better to reference when
making important decisions and are
much closer to reality.
Service
A little hint: It’s helpful to write the
research question down or post it
up in your work space so you can
always look back to it and align
your research with your aim.
▶ Time Frame
Deciding a time frame is necessary in
order to get valuable data. The time
frame of your research will depend on
your research question, the scope of
your project, and the resources that
you can allocate to the project.
A little hint: Qualitative research
processes evolve. You might need to dig
deeper into a certain area or shift focus
once you find a specific user need or
problem.
▶ Methods
There is a variety of research methods
that can be used to collect data. All of
them have their pros and cons, such
as a certain bias that each method
inherits or the specific types of data
that it yields. To level out potential
biases - triangulate. Choose two or
three methods that you think are
most promising in collecting useful
and actionable data.
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RESEARCHBASICSTypes of Methods
SURVEYS INTERVIEWS OBSERVATION AUTO-
ETHNOGRAPHY
CULTURAL
PROBES
MOBILE
ETHNOGRAPHY
DATA COLLECTION
TYPES
ADVANTAGE
DISADVANTAGE
RESEARCHER’S
CHALLENGE
Participants are provided with
a questionnaire
Participants are asked to talk
about specific issues
or experiences
Researchers watch and take
notice of the behaviors of
participants in a
certain situation
Participants observe themselves
and reflect on their behavior,
thoughts and so forth
Participants collect diverse
material in the situation
of interest
Participants use their mobile to
report experiences in real-time
• paper-based or digital • structured, semistructured,
or unstructured
• contextual or non-contextual
• participatory, non-
participatory, or somewhat in
between
• covert vs. overt
• diary studies, photos, videos,
audio, artifacts, ...
• diary studies, photos, videos,
audio, artifacts, ...
• open vs. structured approach
• mobile device
• makes data and respondents
comparable
• depending on the grade of
structure, respondents can
express what is important
to them
• more objective view
on behavior
• insights into the person’s
inner thoughts
• abstract descriptions become
more comprehensible
• recall of information is
supported
• recall bias minimized through
reports in real-time
• minimal researcher bias
• static
• respondents can only answer
the questions that are asked
• time and cost intensive
• interviewer effect: the
interviewer influences the
situation and consequently
could impact the answers
• time and cost intensive
• observer effect:
people might behave in a way
they think it is expected
• bias caused by researcher’s
prior knowledge and
experiences
• data might be highly
subjective or contextual and
need direct explanation by
the participant
• collection might take a
lot of effort
• effort for participants
• asking the right questions
• asking the questions right
• participant recruitment
• being aware of when they
are guiding or leading the
interviewee
• remaining objective
• perceiving important
information
• being aware of the influence
she has on the situation
• researcher:
briefing the participant
correctly
• participant:
conscious reflection and
report of situations
• collection/report of
cultural probes
• researcher: briefing the
participant correctly
• participant: conscious
reflection and report of
situations
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