2. today’s schedule
➝ review of expectations questionnaire
➝ recap of class goals and 1st review
➝ review of read literature
➝ lecture about qualitative research
➝ lecture interviewing studio
➝ review of last weeks presentations
➝ produce interview script
➝ hands on practicing
➝ configuring transcription software
3. overview
➝ qualitativeresearch
➝ introduction of range of data collection strategies
➝ user report vs. observation based
➝ ethnography
✱ attribution: parts of this presentation are based on Angela
Sasse and Sven Laqua’s UCL lecture on interaction desgin
4. why qualitative research?
it helps us understand
➝ behaviours, attitudes and aptitudes of potential users
➝ the domain: technical, business and environmental
context
➝ vocabulary and social aspects of domain
➝ how existing products are used
5. How to find people to study?
➝ selecting people off the street
➝ advertising
➝ existing customers
➝ employees of own organization (
➝ referral
6. types of qualitative research
➝ stakeholder interviews
➝ subject matter experts
➝ user and customer interviews
➝ user observation/ethnographic field studies
➝ literature review
➝ product/prototype and competitive audits
7. stakeholder interviews
import information to obtain
➝ preliminary product vision – might be different in
different departments (blind men and the elephant)
➝ budget and schedule - reality check of scope of design
effort
➝ technical constraints and opportunities – given budget,
time and technology constraints
➝ business drivers
➝ perceptions of the users
8. subject matter experts are
➝ often expert users
➝ knowledgeable but not designers
➝ important in complex or specialized domains
➝ good to have throughout design process: secure
continued access
9. customers
from them you want to understand
➝ goals in purchasing product
➝ frustration with current solution
➝ decision process for purchasing a product of the type
being designed
➝ their role in installation, maintenance and management
➝ domain-related issues and vocabulary
10. users
should be the main focus of design effort
➝ fora re-design - talk to both current and potential
future users – good understand experience
➝ context of product use (where, when, why, how)
➝ goals and motivations for using the product
➝ domain knowledge – what do they need to know to get
things done
➝ current tasks and activities – what
➝ mental model: how users think about activities/tasks
and expectations about future products
➝ problems and frustrations with current products
11. literature review
➝ product marketing plans
➝ brand strategy
➝ market research
➝ user surveys
➝ technology specifications
➝ white papers
➝ business & technical journals / conference
➝ competitive studies
12. product and competitive audits
➝ existing versions or prototypes of product
➝ competing products
➝ heuristic reviews
➝ expert reviews
13. user-report based methods
paper-based
face-to-face
➝ survey
➝ interview
➝ questionnaire
➝ focus group
➝ user diaries
➝ how can users know
➝ can be disruptive for about possibilities of
new tech?
users
➝ scenarios
➝ audio recorder
➝ video diary
of course – both surveys and interviews/focus groups can be done on-line!
14. observation-based methods
detached observer
involved observer
➝ time-and-motion ➝ contextual design
studies
(researcher
➝ shadowing
apprenticed to user)
➝ ethnography
➝ action research
pure observation with no involvement is rare – we usually need some
degree of explanation
15. what is ethnography?
➝ from the Greek: Ethnos “foreigner”
graphos “writing” ethnography,
“writing about others”
➝ refers to the qualitative description of
human social phenomena, based on
observation in the field
➝ holistic research method founded in
the idea that a system's properties
cannot necessarily be accurately
understood independently of each
other
➝ regarded as a valid research method
in many social science disciplines (e.g.
anthropology, social psychology)
➝ output is usually a report/book
17. ✱ http://ww.iwschool.utexas.edu/~jpwms/pd/
designers’
users directly participate in design activities
world
Who participates with whom in what
designers participate in users’ world(s)
users’ world
early late
Position of activity in the development cycle or iteration
18. ethnography in practice
➝ retail anthropology
➝ maps “arcane patterns of consumer behaviour”
➝ which aisle number in a store seems the most alluring?
➝ what kind of overhead lighting and piped-in music is conducive to
purchasing?
➝ what lures shoppers into the most lucrative parts of the store?
➝ examples discoveries
➝ “transitionzones” to slow shoppers down
➝ 9/10 people tend to turn right when entering a store
➝ women will never buy if their bum is “bumped” (touched
by furniture or other shoppers)
➝ smell is an important attractor/mood enhancer
19. ethnography in usability
➝ Suchman (1987): Study of office work and how
technology fits in (or, more often, not)
➝ importance of interaction between people when using
technology
➝ “distributed cognition”
➝ impact on how people interact with each other
➝ Taylor
& Harper (2002): Study of SMS use by
teenagers
➝ SMS as “gifts” in relationships and keepsakes
20. stages of ethnographic study!
➝ preparation
➝ field study
➝ can be carried out in organisations "
( contextual enquiry), homes, or public spaces
➝ researchers observing or participating? "
( action research)
➝ analysis
➝ reporting "
21. preparation
➝ understand organization policies and work culture
➝ familiarize yourself with the system and its history
➝ set initial goals and prepare questions
➝ gain access and permission to observe/interview
22. field study
➝ establish rapport with managers and users
➝ observe/interview users in their workplace and
collect subjective/objective quantitative/qualitative
data
➝ follow any leads that emerge from the visits
23. analysis
➝ compile the collected data in numerical, textual,
and multimedia databases
➝ quantify data and compile statistics
➝ reduce and interpret the data
➝ refine the goals and the process used
24. reporting
➝ consider multiple audiences and goals
➝ prepare a report and present the findings
➝ in interaction design:
➝ personas
➝ usage scenarios iterative evaluation
➝ recommendations for interaction
➝ further investigations needed
25. a variation: coolhunting
who decides what's cool? Certain kids in certain places — and
only the coolhunters know who they are.
by Malcom Gladwell (appeared in the New Yorker, 1997)
Baysie Wightman met DeeDee Gordon, appropriately enough, on a coolhunt. It was
1992. Baysie was a big shot for Converse, and DeeDee, who was barely twenty-
one, was running a very cool boutique called Placid Planet, on Newbury Street in
Boston. Baysie came in with a camera crew - one she often used when she was
coolhunting - and said, "I've been watching your store, I've seen you, I've heard you
know what's up," because it was Baysie's job at Converse to find people who knew
what was up and she thought DeeDee was one of those people. This was about the
time the cool kids had decided they didn't want the hundred-and-twenty-five-dollar
basketball sneaker with seventeen different kinds of high-technology materials and
colors and air-cushioned heels anymore. They wanted simplicity and authenticity,
and Baysie picked up on that. She brought back the Converse One Star, which was
a vulcanized, suède, low-top classic old-school sneaker from the nineteen-
seventies, and, sure enough, the One Star quickly became the signature shoe of the
retro era. Remember what Kurt Cobain was wearing in the famous picture of him
lying dead on the ground after committing suicide?
26. virtual ethnography
➝ extends the traditional notions of “field” and ethnographic
study from the observation of co-located, face-to-face
interactions, to physically distributed, technologically mediated
interactions in virtual networks and virtual communities
➝ attempts to maintain the values of traditional ethnography
through providing a "thick" description through the
"immersion" of the researcher in the lives of their subjects
➝ focus on the subject makes virtual ethnography quite distinct
from web usage datamining or social network analysis,
although it may use similar techniques to identify or map
networks
➝ examples: studies of chat rooms, distributed gaming
communities
27. living labs
➝ first proposed by Jarmo Surinen, a Finnish architect
➝ innovation platform
➝ implement complex new technologies or platforms in a community
➝ observe usage and user responses over period of time
➝ debrief users and let them suggest new functionality, ways of using
technology
➝ living lab at Helsinki University of Technology
www.helsinkilivinglab.fi
➝ network of European Living Labs as innovation infrastructure
http://www.livinglabs-europe.com
Living labs follow the same philosophy as the development methodology proposed by
Sasse et al. 1994 for CSCW systems – provide basic platform, let users experience it,
and propose further functionality.
28. example – Jan Chipchase
www.janchipchase.com
glimpses of studies for mobile technologies
obtaining just-in-time insurance for
small pockets of time using
pre-paid mobile phones
insurance vending machines for travelers
at Haneda Airport – making it possible to
sign up for snow-sports insurance late on
in the prepare-for-travel process
29. basic methods
➝ interview where the action happens
➝ be flexible - avoid fixed set of questions
➝ focus on goals first, tasks second
➝ avoid making the user a designer
➝ avoid discussions of technology
➝ encourage storytelling
➝ ask for a show and tell
➝ avoid leading questions
30. summary
➝ ethnography is about using observation to understand a
system (consisting of people, technology or both)
➝ has been successfully applied to usability and other areas
of design, to:
➝ identify user needs
➝ described complex work environments and social
systems
➝ to understand how and why people use technology in a
certain way
➝ new forms of capturing and analysis are evolving – e.g.
digital & virtual ethnography
➝ get creative with your data collection strategy!
