introduction to ux research: fundamentals of contextual inquiry
DESCRIPTION
Introduction to User eXperience research with focus on stages of Contextual Inquiry process.TRANSCRIPT
Introduction to UX Research
Fundamentals of Contextual Inquiry
Marc NiolaUX Consultant
Why UX Research is Important
• Users often use products in the most unintend-ed way: Can be a source of innovation
• When user research is part of the design process it tends to breakdown silos: Create the co-create
• Market studies and surveys have its limits: Putting user research into context is essential
• Talking to users can prevent bias: You are not the user
Beware of Bias
Biases In Usability Testing• Hawthorne Effect
– People behavior different when being observed
• Task-Selection Bias– People make assumptions
• Social Desirability– People don’t like to look bad
• Availability– Optimal sample population often
unavailable, can skew result
• Honorariums– Can motivate people to cheat or
over perform
• "If you've asked me about it, it must be important“– People will over think opinion a
certain question
• Note Taking– Heightens peoples self-
consciousness
• Tech-Savvy– People’s technical ability varies
greatly
• Recency & Primacy Effects– People tend to weigh recent
events more than earlier events
* Every study has bias, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing
Why UX Research is Essential
• Helps frame the context: the Where, When and How
• Helps frame the user: the Who
• Helps frame product objectives with user needs: the So What
Research Objectives
• Understand how the user actually uses product in real-world situations, not stimulations
• Identify source areas that advance and inhibit efficiency and frustrations
• Understand social and work environment
Discoveries made during the research process should inform and shape the design and development process.
User Research
Types of UX Research
• Contextual Inquiry
• Expert Review
• A/B Testing
• Card Sorting
• Surveys
• Remote Ethnography
• Task Analysis
• Eye Tracking
• fMRI Brain Imaging
• Focus Groups
Research helps identify user needs
• How do users accomplish goals: what tools, work-arounds and method do they use.
• What are the constraints and affordances of the environment the user exist in.
• How do the needs of the user effect their temperament and ability to cooperate.
• Learn by watching: how do users currently accomplish their tasks.
Contextual Inquiry
What is Context Inquiry
• Context Inquiry is of on-site data collection method used to better understand users’ motivations, desires, intents, and strategies in order to design products and systems that meet both users’ and business’ objectives.
• Contextual inquiry reveals what people actually do, why they do it that way, latent needs, and core values.
- incontextdesign.com/contextual-design.com
Benefits & Limitations of Contextual Inquiry
Benefits• Helps identify behavior
patterns• Helps to make and validate
design decisions• Helps reach optimal design
solution faster and cheaper• Helps build rapport and
understanding of actually users
• Helps build effective personas
Limitations• Intrusive to participant/user• Time-consuming• Travel involved• Smaller sample size does
not provide statistical significance
• Data analysis can be time consuming
• Resource-intensive, expensive
The How toCONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
• Recruit: who is the audience;• Plan: what is your focus;• Observe: learn by watching;• Analyze: look for patterns and outliners;• Evanglize the finds: champion findings, but don’t
fall in love with them – data is dynamic;• Iterate: interval depends, but creating a
continuous feedback loop between users is ideal.
The When toCONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
• At the beginning of most projects Contextual Inquiry is an essential process that establishes a customer/user feedback loop with dev team that helps validate difficult design decisions.
• The feedback loop provides the dev team with direction, insights and barometer for progress during the project.
Before you leave the office
Contextual Inquiry Fundamentals:• Take some time to get to know test participant
before meeting: aim to relax participant so they act as natural as possible
• Establish rapport and communication styles with test participants: small talk, build trust
Inquiry process should be motivated by the participant’s work and process and not a pre-arranged script of questions.
Engagement Approaches
• Master/apprentice– The participant is the master and interviewer is the
apprentice eager to learn their craft• Partnership
– Interviewer follows participant, and helps to facilitate the demonstration of hidden or obvious sources of work flow
• Interviewer/interviewee– Interviewer arrives with list of questions and proceeds
to systematically ask participant for answers• Expert/novice
– Participant is the established expert and interviewer is passive neophyte
Approachesto Adopt
Approaches to Avoid
Inquiry Process
Stages of Inquiry Process: Intro | Observation | Wrap-up
Break the ice– Build rapport and trust quickly– Set a pleasant and relaxed tone
Be conscious of body language– Limit negative signals to user– Emphasize interviewers role
Be flexible– Be prepared for curve balls once on-site– Users can be nervous about session and exhibit unusual
behavior, try to relieve the stress
Stages of Inquiry Process: Intro | Observation | Wrap-up
• Ask for demonstrations not explanations during moments of frustration and delight
• Observe the social and physical environment• Observe the work flow participants use to
accomplishes task
Record observations (LiveScribe for combining audio recording with note-taking)
Stages of Inquiry Process: Intro | Observation | Wrap-up
Ending the session– To close the session, ask questions that were
saved during the session that would have unnaturally disrupted the work flow.
– Summarize the insights learned for participant to clarify or correct
– Ask participant how they felt during the interview and what could be done to improve session.
Analysis
• cc
‘It’s not the facts that matter…It’s the interpretation of the facts’
- incontext
Interpreting the data
Interpreting the Data
Do not take participants words on face value– Most people know what they want, they just have a
hard time explaining it.
Analyze and synthesis data (audio, video, notes, interview questions) and look for connections that uncover why user exhibited certain behaviors– Focus on actual events (their sequence), non-verbal
cues and tools used.
Look for patterns and categorize into theme clusters
Affinity Diagram
Collaborative Analysis with Affinity Diagrams
Team Analysis: Affinity Diagrams
Affinity Diagrams help create collaborative team brainstorming sessions.– By organizing field interview data into short
narratives team members can discuss and organize data into meaningful relationships.
Getting the dev team to collaborative discuss user needs and product challenges reduces documentation and deepens understanding.
Post Analysis
In today’s information rich world the most successful teams are collaborative, multi-disciplinary and transparent.– Breaking silos and getting team members out from
behind their desk and talking to one another helps boost productive by building cohesiveness, ownership and accountability.
Giving teams boundaries on what to discuss also helps improve focus and manageability.
