Introduction to user research with special focus on the contextual inquiry process.

1. User Research
Media Design course
Autumn 2016
Contextual Inquiry

2. INDEX
1. Introduction
2. Contextual Inquiry
3. Qualitative user research during contextual inquiry
3.1. Ethnography
3.2. Interviews
3.3. Literature review
3.4. Self-documenting practices
3.5. Participatory Design methods

3. User definition
1. INTRODUCTION
Need to distinguish between different parties
• End-user
• Indirect users
• Managers
• Customers

4. The context of use
1. INTRODUCTION
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/

5. 1. INTRODUCTION
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/

6. 2. CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
Contextual Inquiry is a user-centered design research method.
It can be understood as:
- an ethnographic interviewing technique (Beyer, & Holtzblatt, 1997)
- from a wider perspective, as the first phase of the research-based design
process (Leinonen,Toikkanen, & Silvfast, 2008).

7. Contextual Design
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/contextual-design
2. CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY

8. Research-based design
Research-based design (Leinonen et al., 2008; Leinonen, 2010)
2. CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY

9. Different levels of knowledge about experience are accessed by different techniques (SleeswijkV., et al., 2005)
2. CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
Levels of knowledge

10. 3. QUALITATIVE USER RESEARCH DURING CONTEXTUAL
INQUIRY
Qualitative research helps understanding (Cooper et al., 2007):
• Behaviors and attitudes of potential end-users
• Technical, business and environmental contexts of the product to be
designed
• Vocabulary and other social aspects connected to the contexts
• How existing products are used

11. 3. QUALITATIVE USER RESEARCH DURING CONTEXTUAL
INQUIRY
Inform them about:
• Investigation aims
• For whom is the research made
• Confidentiality of the information provided by the users
• Rewards
Considerations when involving users

12. 3. QUALITATIVE USER RESEARCH DURING CONTEXTUAL
INQUIRY
• Ethnography
• Interviews
• Literature review
• Self-documenting practices
• Participatory design methods
Methods

13. Observations in a Primary school in Oulu.
3. 1. ETHNOGRAPHY

14. 3. 1. ETHNOGRAPHY
• Field work done in natural settings.
• Study of the large picture in order to capture a complete context of
the activity.
• Rich descriptions of people, environments and interactions
• Emphasis in understanding activities from the informants’ point of
view.
Ethnographic research can be characterized by:

15. 3. 1. ETHNOGRAPHY
Planning of observation sessions
- Define objectives and information requirements
- Define times, places and people to observe
- Decide how to record the data
Running the sessions
- Inform observers about the study
- Try to be unobtrusive
- Document in situ: notes, recordings, photographs…
- Write down first impressions just after the observation session

16. 3.2. INTERVIEWS
Image published by Flickr user “Eelso”.

17. 3. 2. INTERVIEWS
Potential interviewees
• Stakeholders
• Subject Matter Experts
• Customers
• End-users

18. 3. 2. INTERVIEWS
The persona hypothesis
Based on behavior patterns and the factors that differentiate these patterns.
Images published by Flickr user “Nic Walter”.

19. Interview guidelines
• Interview where the interaction happens
• Avoid a fixed set of questions
• Focus on the goal first, tasks second
• Avoid making the user a designer
• Avoid discussion of technology
• Avoid leading questions
• Ask for stories, demonstrations and a tour
• Direct the interview as new issues arise Interpretation: read between the
lines
3. 2. INTERVIEWS

20. Interview questions
3. 2. INTERVIEWS
• Goal-oriented
• System-oriented
• Workflow-oriented
• Attitude-oriented
Questions should be open and neutral
Types (Cooper et al., 2007):
?

21. Interview questions
GOAL ORIENTED
• Goals: What makes a good day? A bad day?
• Opportunity: What activities currently waste your time?
• Priorities:What is most important to you?
• Information: What helps you make decisions?
3. 2. INTERVIEWS

22. Interview questions
SYSTEM ORIENTED
• Function: What are the most common things you do with the product?
• Frequency: What parts of the product do you use most?
• Preference:What are your favorite aspects of the product? What drives you
crazy?
• Failure: How do you work around problems?
• Expertise:What shortcuts do you employ?
3. 2. INTERVIEWS

23. Interview questions
WORKFLOW ORIENTED
• Process: What did you do when you first came in today? And after that?
• Occurrence and recurrence: How often do you do this? What things do
you do weekly or monthly, but not every day?
• Exception:What constitutes a typical day? What would be an unusual
event?
3. 2. INTERVIEWS

24. Interview questions
ATTITUDE ORIENTED
• Aspiration: What do you see yourself doing five years from now?
• Avoidance: What would you prefer not to do? What do you procrastinate
on?
• Motivation: What do you enjoy most about your job (or lifestyle)? What do
you always tackle first?
3. 2. INTERVIEWS

25. Focus groups
• A form of group interviewing that places the emphasis on participants’
interaction.
• It usually includes 5 to 10 interviewees.
• It is used to discuss user needs and requirements for a new product.
3. 2. INTERVIEWS
• Moderation and data
recording are key.
Image published in wikimedia by user “Ldorfman”

26. 3.3. LITERATURE REVIEW
Consists of:
• Business documents
• Technology specifications
• Research articles
• Information published in media &
social media
Benchmarking of similar products
(competitive review)

27. Diary studies
In diary studies, users self-report about their behaviors, activities and experiences
over a period of time
Image published by Flickr user “Gunnar Bothner-by”.
3.4. SELF-DOCUMENTING PRACTICES
Invite people to reflect on and
express their experiences, feelings
and attitudes in forms and
formats that provide inspiration
for designers (Gaver, Dunne and
Pacenti, 1999).
Probes

28. 3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

29. Origins in the Participatory Design tradition.
Generative sessions and PD methods help to:
• Discover user needs and their mental models
• Identify the authentic issues and ensure that design solutions respond to
user needs
• Find design opportunities (based on requirements, behaviors, roles, mental
models and priorities)
• Develop empathy
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

30. Workshops
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS
PD workshops organized by Legroup (projects: iTEC, 3D printing, Learning Layers).

31. Design games
Games can be used to guide (scaffold) the team work, communication,
understanding of different points of view and create empathy.
Classics:
- Carpentology (Ehn)
- Video card (Buur)
- PICTIVE (Muller)
Images of The User Game (Brandt, 2006)
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

32. Narratives
Design narrative published by Jessica Mew in Design Practice
Methods.
The aim is to gather and discuss user
narratives about their tasks and
activities.
These narratives can be used to start
the discussion, as analysis tool and for
getting feedback.
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

33. • Journey mapping
• Love and breakup letter
• Topical collage
• Knowledge hunt
NARRATIVE
Types of PD activities (Frog Design)
• Interface toolkit
• Fill in the blanks
• Ideal workflow
• Ecosystem mapping
CREATE
• Card sort
• Channel surfing
• Concept ranking
• Value ranking
PRIORITIZE
• Comic strips
• Customizing scenarios
• Simulating experiences
• Intercept evaluation
CONTEXTUAL
Frog Design PD activities
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

34. • Activity analysis
• Affinity diagrams
• Anthropometric analysis
• Character profiles
• Cognitive task analysis
• Competitive product survey
• Cross-cultural comparissons
• Error analysis
• Flow analysis
• Historical analysis
• Long-range forecasts
• Secondary research
LEARN
• A day in the life…
• Behavioral archeology
• Fly on the wall
• Guided tours
• Personal inventory
• Rapid ethnography
• Shadowing
• Social network mapping
• Still photo survey
• Time lapse video
• Behavioral mapping
Method cards (Ideo Design)
LOOK
IDEO method cards
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

35. • Camera journal
• Card sort
• Cognitive maps
• Collage
• Conceptual landscape
• Cultural probes
• Draw the experience
• Extreme user interviews
• Five why’s?
• Foreign correspondents
• Narration
• Surveys and questionnaires
• Unfocus group
• Word-concept association
ASK TRY
• Behavior sampling
• Be your customer
• Body storming
• Empathy tools
• Experience prototype
• Informance
• Paper prototyping
• Predict next years headlines
• Quick and dirty prototyping
• Role-playing
• Scale modeling
• Scenarios
• Scenario testing
• Try it yourself
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS
Methods cards (Ideo Design)
IDEO method cards

36. MAKING
TELLING ENACTING
Framework for applying PD methods
Sanders, Brandt i Binder (2010)
Manual activities for representing ideas
through physical artifacts
Future scenarios of use
verbal description
Techniques to support
and facilitate acting and
playing
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

37. • Stories and storyboarding
• Diaries
• Self observation
• Documentaries and movie-making
• Experience timelines or maps
• Paper spaces
• Cards
• Voting dots
TALKING,TELLING
& EXPLAINING
• 2D collages
• 2D mappings
• 3D mock-ups
• Low-tech prototypes
• 3D space models
Framework for applying PD methods (Sanders, Brandt i Binder, 2010)
MAKING
TANGIBLETHINGS
• Game boards and game pieces and rules
• Props and black boxes
• 3D space models
• Scenario-making in the space of models or
through sandplay
• Participatory enviosing and enacting by
setting users in future situations
• Improvisation
• Acting out, skits and play acting
• Role playing
• Body storming and informative
performance
ACTING, ENACTING &
PLAYING
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

38. Workshop about student well-being. Runned byT. Tapola and E. Durall with Aalto students.
For telling
Methods:
- Design opportunities and challenges mapping
- Idea generation tackling one of the identified challenges
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

39. For making
PD workshops with teachers during iTEC project (A. Keune,T.Toikkanen)
Methods:
- Scenarios of use
- Design opportunities and challenges mapping
- Brainstorming
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

40. Workshops with Primary school students. Runned by A. Keune during the Square1 design research project.
Methods:
- Creation of 2D prototypes (interaction design).
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS
For making

41. For enacting
Workshops with patients, hospital staff and
architects for generating ideas about the futur
hospital environment through physical
prototypes (1:1 scale). Project Design for Health
(J. Kronqvist,)
https://vimeo.com/53324982
Methods:
- Design probes
- Visual mapping
- Creation of 2D visual artifacts
- Role-playing
3.5. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS

42. FURTHER READINGS
Blomberg, J., Giacomi, J., Mosher,A., & Swenton-Wall, P. Ethnographic Field Methods andTheir Relation to
Design. In D. Dchuler and A. Namioka (Eds.) Participatory Design: Principles and Practices. Erlbaum: New
Jersey, 1993. Blomberg, J., Giacomi, J., Mosher,A., & Swenton-Wall, P. Ethnographic Field Methods andTheir
Relation to Design. In D. Dchuler and A. Namioka (Eds.) Participatory Design: Principles and Practices.
Erlbaum: New Jersey, 1993.
Beyer,H., & Holtzblatt, K.(1997).Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems. San Francisco, CA:
Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
Brandt, E. (2006,August). Designing exploratory design games: a framework for participation in participatory
design?. In Proceedings of the ninth conference on Participatory design: Expanding boundaries in design-
Volume 1 (pp. 57-66).ACM.
Brandt, E., Binder,T., Sanders, E. B. N. (2012).Ways to engage telling, making and enacting. Routledge
international handbook of participatory design. Routledge, NewYork, 145-181..
Cooper,A., Reimann, R., Cronin, D. (2007).About Face 3:The Essentials of Interaction Design. Indianapolis,
IN:Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Frog Design. Bringing Users intoYour ProcessThrough Participatory Design
http://www.slideshare.net/frogdesign/bringing-users-into-your-process-through-participatory-design/64-
STEP_3_FACILITATING_PARTICIPATORY_DESIGN

43. FURTHER READINGS
Gaver, B., Dunne,T., Pacenti, E. (1999). Design: cultural probes.interactions, 6(1), 21-29.
IDEO. Method cards for IDEO. https://www.ideo.com/work/method-cards
Leinonen,T. (2010). Designing learning tools. Methodological insights (Doctoral dissertation,Aalto University
School of Arts and Design, Helsinki).
Leinonen,T.,Toikkanen,T., Silfvast, K. (2008, October). Software as hypothesis: research-based design
methodology. In Proceedings of theTenth Anniversary Conference on Participatory Design 2008 (pp. 61-70).
Indiana University.
Mattelmäki,T. (2005).Applying probes–from inspirational notes to collaborative insights. CoDesign, 1(2),
83-102.
Muller, M. J., Kuhn, S. (1993). Participatory design. Communications of the ACM, 36(6), 24-28.
Nielsen group online articles:
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/diary-studies/

44. FURTHER READINGS
Sanders, E. B. N., Brandt, E., Binder,T. (2010, November).A framework for organizing the tools and
techniques of participatory design. InProceedings of the 11th biennial participatory design conference (pp.
195-198).ACM.
Poldoja, H. (2013). Contextual inquiry. http://www.slideshare.net/hanspoldoja/contextual-inquiry-16189942?
qid=15fadf70-5805-4bf8-be58-60e1ba8be7cfv=b=from_search=1
Visser, F. S., Stappers, P. J.,Van der Lugt, R., Sanders, E. B. (2005). Contextmapping: experiences from
practice. CoDesign, 1(2), 119-149.
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