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User Research Methods in Design

This document discusses different approaches to user research, including traditional and generative methods. Traditional methods are formal, informative, aim for precision and understanding through raw data. Generative methods are informal, inspirational, ask questions, embrace ambiguity and build empathy through interpretation. The document provides examples of using generative methods for a telecom welcome experience study and a PhD project on supporting firemen in dangerous situations. It discusses when each approach is best used and who should participate in user research studies.

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Cristian Constantin Olarasu
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56 views33 pages

User Research Methods in Design

This document discusses different approaches to user research, including traditional and generative methods. Traditional methods are formal, informative, aim for precision and understanding through raw data. Generative methods are informal, inspirational, ask questions, embrace ambiguity and build empathy through interpretation. The document provides examples of using generative methods for a telecom welcome experience study and a PhD project on supporting firemen in dangerous situations. It discusses when each approach is best used and who should participate in user research studies.

Uploaded by

Cristian Constantin Olarasu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

user research:

trying to answer
the why and how
questions
aga szstek(at)gmail.com

why doing user research


in the rst place?

- users have dierent goals


than designers
- users do not care for design
success
- there is more than one user
per solution
- there is more than one
solution per problem

traditional user research

generative methods

- formal
- informative
- answers
- precision
- understanding
- raw data

- informal
- inspirational
- questions
- ambiguity
- empathy
- interpretation

user research:
an example

PhD project: Sebas1an Denef


Promoters: David V. Keyson i Reinhard Oppermann

How do remen deal with


dangerous situations
in the midst of the action?
How could their actions be supported
through interactive technologies?

OBSERVATIONS

TOOL
ANALYSIS

ROLE PLAYING

BUILDING
EMPATHY

using generative methods:


an example

Welcome Experience at a telecom provider


Aga Szstek, Marcin Piotrowski, Joanna Kwiatkowska

rst month with a telecom provider


uncertainty
rst
impressions
trial
period

gaining
trust
adjusting
oer
explaining
payment

upselling
user

building
relationship

provider

partcipants
- 20 persons (50% M, 50% F)
- recruited at the door of the providers shop
- committed to buy a postpaid plan
- signing an agreement to participate

diary / blog study

love / hate letters

creative workshop

why and when


traditional user research?

- works great for the dened design space


- helps to objectify discovered phenomena
- supports task oriented design
- resolves interaction problems
- focuses in iterative measurement of progress
- enables comparison

why and when


generative methods?

- high complexity of the design issues (so


called: wicked problems)
- uncertainty what truly is the design
challenge
- need for exibility to approach the
solution
- building empathy

who should participate?

snowball sampling:
when you want to nd users who have similar
interests, jobs or lifestyle

extreme case sampling:


when you want to nd users who are extreme
representatives of certain behaviours (e.g. remen for a
decision-taking study

homogenous sampling:
when you want to nd users who are very much
alike in a certain aspect

maximum variation sampling:


when you want to nd users who are very dierent
with respect to a certain aspect

convenience sampling:
when you just want to nd users
who are together for some reason (eg. a workshop)
and agree to participate in the study

opportunistic sampling:
when you just want to nd
truly random users

references
Denef, S.; Keyson, D.; Oppermann, R. Rigid Structures, Independent
Units, Monitoring: Organizing Patterns in Frontline Fireghting. In
Proceedings of the 2011 SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems, Austin, TX, USA, 510 May 2011; pp. 1949
1958.
Pallot, Marc, et al. "Living lab research landscape: From user
centred design and user experience towards user cocreation." First
European Summer School'Living Labs'. 2010.

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