This document discusses various user research techniques for understanding users without getting bored, including observation, listening, interviewing, photo elicitation, and reaction cards. Observation involves watching users without influencing them to understand context, assumptions, problems, and opportunities. Listening focuses on empathy, motivations, and reasoning through open-ended questions. Interviewing can be structured, semi-structured, or unstructured to understand goals, needs, and frustrations. Photo elicitation uses images to identify values and elicit associations and stories from stakeholders. Reaction cards summarize experiences and identify emotions to understand current and ideal states.
9. Observation Goals
• What is the context?
• Do you think you have made any assumptions?
• What problems do you see?
• Are there opportunities for improvements?
Write down your observations and a short problem statement
10. Observation Traps
Watch out for:
• Simplification bias
User has difficulty crossing a busy pedestrian crossing in Tokyo.
• Translation bias
User is crossing the road with somebody they know - a local girl.
• Hawthorne effect
User is choosing the most difficult path to move through the crowd because he
is recording the video.
!
12. Observation Framework
Activities – actions towards achieving the goal
walking, running or pushing a bike while crossing
Environment – where activities take place
busy pedestrian crossing in Asia, vehicles waiting for pedestrians
Interactions – between people, with objects
a girl smiles to the user, from then on he follows her
Objects – what is their purpose and how are they used
barriers, dotted curbs
Users – behavior, role, needs, preferences
desire for a Starbucks coffee from the store across the street
14. Tips
• Ask 3-5 word questions
• Don’t introduce new words
• Write up notes ASAP
• Debrief with research team
• Arrange chronologically / semantically
16. Reflect
• How are your observations compared to the initial ones?
• How has this process altered your observation?
• How are observations and interpretations different?
• How do you see your problem statement now?
18. Listening Goals
• Create empathy
• Understand the why
• User’s motivations
• User’s train of thoughts and reasoning
• User’s guiding principles and values
19. My interests
Pick a topic and get as much as possible out of me on it
Winter sports
Traveling
Building stuff
Cooking Finance and Investments
20. Tips
• Start broad
• Don’t take notes
• Debrief after each session
• Speaker should control the topic
• Speak as little as possible
• Speak the speaker’s language
• Don’t judge
• Prepare by writing 100 questions
Repeat the main question
Ask why questions
Because…
Repeat speaker’s last words
21. My interests
Pick another topic and get as much as possible out of me on it
Winter sports
Traveling
Building stuff
Cooking Finance and Investments
22. Reflect
• What challenges did we face in the first listening?
• How did the second listening differ from the first one?
• What are the highlights of the second listening?
• What is my why regarding the second listening?
• What are my guiding principles and values?
24. Interviewing Goals
• Create empathy
• Understand where, how and what
• Learn about the context
• Identify the user goals and needs
• Find out the frustrations
• Scope the experience
• Figure out problems and opportunities
25. Types of Interviews
Structured Semi-structured Unstructured
Consistency & Control
Flexibility to follow up and explore
Quantitative Qualitative
Open Questions
Closed Questions
27. Let’s fix these interview questions
• “Is the best price your biggest concern when looking for a rental car
as you travel abroad with your family/spouse?”
• “Having traveled so frequently last year, why did you choose such a
suboptimal car rental online service?”
• “The performance tests show that Chrome is much faster than
Internet Explorer. Which browser do you use to book rental cars?”
• “Isn’t Safari the best mobile browser? “
• “Would you like to have a voice search enabled in the future?”
28. Ticketing
You are in the process of designing a competitor product to
Eventbrite.com
How would your interview script look like? Skip demographics and
other context-related questions and focus on the product experience.
Write 3 to 5 questions.
One team will now simulate an interview with me using their
questions and the framework: intro, break the ice, focus, deep focus,
retrospective, wrap up.
29. Critical Incident Question
• Based on past experience or recent events
• Focused on the details
• Describing actions taken, outcomes and future actions
• Aware of user’s feelings
“Consider the last time you booked a rental car. When did this happen?
What type of car did you search for? What steps did you take? Did you
experience any issues? Did you feel frustrated at some point? What
would you do differently?”
30. Interviewing Tips
• Take notes
• You should control the topic
• Pick the type of interview
• Choose wisely the type of each question
• Bring the interviewee back to the topic when they get carried away
• Don’t judge
31. Ticketing
You are in the process of designing a competitor product to
Eventbrite.com
How would your interview script look like? Skip demographics and
other context-related questions and focus on the product experience.
Write 3 to 5 questions.
What would be an appropriate critical incident question for this
scenario?
32. Reflect
• Were there any challenges?
• What were the highlights?
• What changes would you make to the process?
• What changes would you make to the questions?
• How specific were the details you were able to obtain?
• What opportunities exist in the field?
34. Photo Elicitation Goals
• Identify values of the stakeholders
• Understand associations that stakeholders make
• Reaction / response to images
• Provide additional context
• Tell a story
35. Photo Elicitation
We want to understand our feelings about a USA road trip.
Considering the images you are about to see write down the first
associations and feelings that cross your mind.
40. Photo Elicitation
• What words did you use for each picture?
• Why did you choose these words?
• How would these implicate the website USARoadTrip.com?
41. Reflect
• What challenges did you face?
• Can you highlight your personal feelings?
• Are you able to list your own values?
• Do you see how this technique enhances storytelling?
• What limitations of photo elicitation do you see?
44. Reaction Cards
• Understand the task
• Perform a sequence of actions towards a goal
• Identify all emotions that apply to current experience
• Pick the top 3 emotions for the current experience
• Rank them in order of importance
• Identify all emotions that apply to the ideal experience
• Pick the top 3 emotions for the ideal experience
• Rank them in order of importance
45. Reaction Cards
Annoying
Boring
Busy
Complex
Confusing
Dated
Difficult
Disconnected
Disruptive
Distracting
Dull
Fragile
Frustrating
Gets in the way
Hard to Use
Impersonal
Incomprehensible
Inconsistent
Ineffective
Intimidating
Irrelevant
Not Secure
Not Valuable
Old
Ordinary
Overbearing
Overwhelming
Patronizing
Poor quality
Rigid
Simplistic
Slow
Sterile
Stressful
Time-consuming
Too Technical
Unapproachable
Unattractive
Uncontrollable
Undesirable
Unpredictable
Unrefined
Accessible
Advanced
Appealing
Approachable
Attractive
Business-like
Calm
Clean
Clear
Collaborative
Comfortable
Compatible
Compelling
Comprehensive
Confident
Connected
Consistent
Controllable
Convenient
Creative
Customizable
Cutting edge
Desirable
Easy to use
Effective
Efficient
Effortless
Empowering
Energetic
Engaging
Entertaining
Enthusiastic
Essential
Exceptional
Exciting
Expected
Familiar
Fast
Flexible
Fresh
Friendly
Fun
Helpful
High quality
Impressive
Innovative
Inspiring
Integrated
Intuitive
Inviting
Low Maintenance
Meaningful
Motivating
Novel
Optimistic
Personal
Powerful
Predictable
Professional
Relevant
Reliable
Responsive
Satisfying
Secure
Organized
Sophisticated
Stable
Stimulating
Straight Forward
Time-Saving
Trustworthy
Unconventional
Understandable
Usable
Useful
Valuable
46. Reflect
• What challenges did you face throughout the process?
• What emotions highlight the current and ideal experiences?
• How different are the current and ideal experiences?
• Do you see how these may change over time?