mobile research smart or dumb?
DESCRIPTION
Why research lags behind the mobile explosion and what to do about it. Rethink research, rethink design, rethink methods and avoid putting online research on a phone - but create truly smart mobile research projects.TRANSCRIPT
Richard Owen, Founder & CEO,
CrowdLab June 18th 2014
Mobile Research: Smart or Dumb?
Observations and musings
I think these mobile phone things are here to stay
How many countries have more mobiles than people?
Smartphones aren’t just for hipsters in Shoreditch
Mobile marketers get it
Where did it all go wrong?
Badsurveys.tumblr.com
We focus on the wrong thing
• Not tied to a particular device
The device-agnostic approach to responsive design By Sarita Harbour | Mobile, Web Design | Jan 3, 2013
Device Agnosticism
• Device agnosticism focuses on the device instead of the user.
The needs of the user should be paramount, because applications exist to meet the needs of people, not machines
But
It’s not about optimising online research for a mobile world
“We made a bad bet. Our legacy as a company was building this
big website. So we took a year and it was painful and we retooled our
mobile approach. Betting completely on HTML5 is one of the, if not the biggest strategic
mistake we've made”
It’s about understanding people on the move who require access to software
Who live a beautiful mess of a life
And want to tell us their stories however they like
Not be taken from their lives and out of context
Where things get misinterpreted
And there is an over reliance on memory
“I don’t shop there”
Tuesday 16th April 2013 4:15 pm Real Life
Thursday 18th April 2013 8:15 pm
Focus Group
Research
Technology Design
Rethink the agency
Rethink mobile research design Think like a developer
Always be prepared to stop. Don’t rely on a signal. London is not the UK. Offline Access.
Project structure should be clean and easy to navigate –people are experts at Angry Birds, but should be amateurs at research. Use menus & loops.
The golden rules of app design by Apple & Google
Break complex tasks into smaller steps that can be easily accomplished. Slice it up.
Only show what I want when I need it. Appear/Disappear.
Allow people to manipulate things. It’s a touch screen.
Rethink mobile research design Think like a developer
The golden rules of app design by Apple & Google
Rethink mobile research design
• Don’t think of “surveys” or “guides” think of “content” to be served up to elicit a response
• Split project content into digestible tasks - even a 25 minute Quant Survey can be 10 x 2.5 minute tasks - It’s not about time or questions its about how you serve it up
• Let people co-create not just use a pre defined list • Give them choices of how to answer (whatever means necessary) • Each task can be set to be completed once, or many times • Tasks can be locked and unlocked based on date/time, previous responses • People live with the app for a few days or a few weeks
From developer to researcher
• Driven by the power of complex quantitative design, we give structure to allow people to tell us their stories
- Quantitative question types, but also text, photo, video and audio questions - Complex condition engine – unlocking tasks, routing and piping - Help qualitative story telling by giving a roadmap that they colour in however
they see fit – better than a blank canvas
Rethink methodology
• People can move between ethnographic tasks, discussion boards, quantitative surveys within one project (all methods at all times)
Quant? Qual? Just great research
CrowdLab is a fluid, open system that
continually evolves
We allow participants and researchers to seamlessly weave
between different devices and methodologies within the same
project
We design projects to mirror people’s lives and the way they behave
All Channels Open
Tracking below the line media Using mobile to record experiences as they go about their lives: ideal for outdoor, ambient or POS that usually gets lost via traditional at home methodologies
Rethink replacement Technology makes you better, not obsolete
Real world reflections After workshops/groups, let people go back to their lives, talk to their friends/family, think about things and keep the dialogue going
Behaviourally driven conversations Use mobile to capture the moment. Use depths/groups to explore the real behaviour not the false recollection of it (“The Aldi Effect”)
Make your life easier Mobiles instead of flip cams, tablets instead of pen and paper – less set up, less process management, less analysis, less time
A mum’s life – pain vs. pleasure confessionals In confidence – feeling good and feeling bad Duty Free – insight into duty free shopping completely disguised through travel journal approach so duty free thoughts, feelings and behaviour emerged naturally
Reframe research So it doesn’t feel like research
Car buying – a week in the decision making process among people at different stages with surveys, video records and photo encounters – getting closer to and further from the decision
Decorating – a month in the decision process among people at different stages with surveys, video records and photo encounters – interlocking online and offline, seeing them stagnate or progress
Rethink decision making Acknowledge life is not linear; don’t pre-suppose the way people make decisions
Quantitative (N=lots) with media – the power of video/photo to support a robust piece of evidence can make the difference
Rethink analysis
Qualitative (n=little), recording lots of “moments” across a week provides a quantitative both lens in which to understand a topic
Post workshops about a new telecom app, participants recorded moments in life where they might use the app – 48 people gave 250 “moments of use”