User Research

Where Are We?

Where Are We?

Types of User Research

Surveys

Card Sorts

Interviews

Contextual
Inquiries

A/B Testing

Analytics

Usability
Testing

Before You Start Any Research Effort

• Identify the questions you are trying to answer,
  for example:
  • Who?
  • What?
  • Where?
  • When?
  • Why?
  • How?

Topics

• Interviews
• Contextual inquiries

Interviews

Here is your first tip:
an interview should be more
like a conversation,
and less like an interrogation

Types of Interviews

• Structured
• Unstructured
• Semi-structured (also called semi-directed)

Structured

A pre-defined set of questions designed to produce shorter answers – often lacking opportunities for true insight

Unstructured

No question script and more open-ended questions
– can produce more insightful results

Semi-structured

A core set of questions with ad-hoc questions for more details
– insightful and more replicable 

Example Semi-structured Interview Questions

• What apps do you use daily? Can you describe the last time you used that app? 
• Are these apps used at any specific times or days of the week? If yes, why at those times? 
• What app do you find easiest to use? 
• How did you learn to use that app? Oh I see, please tell me more about that… 
• Why do you find that app easy to use? 

Things Not to Ask About

• What might be helpful in the future 
• How feature "x" should be designed 

Interview Process

• Decide on what you want to learn 
• Undertake appropriate level of domain research
• Decide which representative users to interview 
• Consider ethical issues (e.g. consent, names, etc.) 
• Decide information recording strategy 
• Write interview script, including intro, and conduct pilot-test 
• Dress in a similar manner as participants 
• Establish rapport and keep focus on participant
• Start interview with easy warm-up questions 
• Present questions in a logical sequence 
• Be sure to thank participants for their time 

Developing Interview Questions

• Avoid long questions 
• Avoid compound sentences (i.e. > 1 question) 
• Minimize hypothetical (e.g. would you?) questions 
• Avoid unfamiliar terminology 
• Avoid leading questions (e.g. why do you like…) 
• Minimize use of yes/no type questions 
• Start with easier What and When questions, then move onto Hows, and finally Whys

The Art of Listening

• Be comfortable with silence 
• Give participants time to expand on initial thoughts, and ideally to start telling stories
• Provide visual or audio cues that you are focused 
• Do not offer your own opinions or thoughts   

The Power of Why

• By inquiring why a user does something in a particular way is a very powerful technique to gain insight into user goals 
• Why type questions can be seen as threatening sometimes, so try to formulate them in a less aggressive manner   

Asking Users Why

• What prompted you to do that? 
• What would be the purpose of that? 
• Could you explain why that needs to be done? 
• What was your thinking behind that? 
• Is there an underlying reason for that?   

Keeping the Interview Going

• To keep the conversation going try 
  • “Uh-huh”
  • “Yes, that’s very interesting”
  • “Oh yes, I see”
• To encourage continuation/show that you understand try 
  • Paraphrase or repeat back
• To get more details try 
  • “Tell me more about…”
  • “And what did you do then?”
• To clarify try 
  • “If I understand, your saying…”
• To change topics try
  • “Great, now let's next talk about...”
  • “Let's go back to something you mentioned earlier...”

Interview Location

Ideally interviews should occur in the same environment that a person would be using the product in (e.g. workplace, home, etc.)

Interviews Summary

• User research methods
• Types of interviews   
• Interview process   
• Developing interview questions   
• Interview tips 

Contextual Inquiries

What is a Contextual Inquiry?

Observing people in their own environment perform their actual work with a product

Why Perform a
Contextual Inquiry?

• Who our are users?
• What are their tasks?
• What are their values, concerns and issues?

Key Principles

• Context
• Partnership
• Interpretation
• Focus

Possible Methods

• Work-based interview
• Post-observation
• Artifact walkthrough (most common approach)
• Performance-based focus group

Inquiry Plan Outline

• Overall focus
• Specific concerns
• Participant demographics
• Inquiry method
• Inquiry schedule
• Pre-inquiry survey
• Inquiry script, including core interview questions

Inquiry Script Outline

• Introduce yourself
• Restate focus of session
• Set session expectations
• Review confidentiality of information
• Get permission to record (if needed)
• Ask participant interview questions
• When appropriate, “transition” to CI (contextual inquiry) mode and ask participant to demonstrate tasks

Example Interview Questions
for a New Product

• Could you describe your current job/role?
• Can you describe a typical workday or week?
• What makes a good or bad workday?
• What activities do you most frequently perform?
• What activities are most important to complete?
• Are there any activities that you would like to change the workflow of? If so, why?
• Are there any activities you would like to reduce or eliminate? If so, why?

Example Interview Questions
for an Existing Product

• Could you describe your current job/role?
• Can you describe a typical workday or week?
• On average, how often do you use <product>?
• What are your main goals (reasons) for using <product>?
• What is your general opinion of <product>?  What are its strengths and weaknesses?
• What is an example of a key task that you use <product> for?
• How often do you perform that task? Please demonstrate
  that task.

Probing for More Information...

• Tell me a little more about...
• What are your thoughts about...
• Describe a bit more about...
• Share some more about...
• Talk some more about...
• Help me understand a little more about...

Time for Questions About
Contextual Inquiries

• What we’ve covered in this section
  • Key principles
  • Possible methods
  • Inquiry plan and scripts
  • Interviewing long-time customers
  • Probing for more information
• Coming up
  • Session tips

Session Tips

• Perform your own domain research before the sessions
• Ensure to allocate enough time for each session, and between sessions
• If participant want to vent, let them vent before session begins
• Be vigilant about observation being the majority of the session
• Whenever possible, ensure real tasks are being demonstrated, from start to finish

Session Wrap-up

• Thank participants for their time
• Offer to answer any remaining questions that participants may have
• Would be appropriate to now share any tips and/or ask for their own possible solutions
• If appropriate, ask participants if follow-up contact is ok

Post Session Activities

• Review collected data as soon as possible
• Ensure all data/notes are traceable to individual participants
• Perform task analysis on observed workflows (i.e. flowchart)
• Consider construction of affinity diagram (a hierarchical organization of all notes)

Affinity Diagram

Most often a group activity involving all observers

Affinity Diagram

Individual notes/observations with participant # are written on
Post-it notes and grouped by common themes

Example Affinity Diagram

Copyright by respective copyright owners. Used without permission under the Fair Use Doctrine. Source: www.flickr.com

Contextual Inquiry Summary

• What is a contextual inquiry?
• Key principles
• Possible formats
• Inquiry plan and scripts
• Probing for more information
• Session tips
• Session wrap-up
• Affinity diagrams

Summary

• Types of user research
• Interviews
• Contextual inquiries

References and Suggested Books

• Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems by Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt
• Interviewing Users by Steve Portigal
• Learning From Strangers: The Art and Method of
• Qualitative Interview Studies by Robert Weiss
• Observing the User Experience: A Practitioners Guide to User Research by Mike Kuniavsky
• Rapid Contextual Design: A How-to Guide to Key Techniques for User-Centered Design by Karen Holtzblatt, Jessamyn Burns Wendell and Shelley Wood 
• User and Task Analysis for Interface Design by JoAnn Hackos and Janice Redish