Patrick Kennedy provides a useful introduction on learning user research techniques. To quote: While I teach whole workshops on the subject of user research, in essence it really is very simple. User research is about understanding an audience; what they need, what they want, what they think, how they interact ...
Articles tagged: user research
A summary of user research methods
Patrick Kennedy has posted a great summary of user research methods. To quote: There are many user research methods one can use, and there are even more variations and names for them. But regardless of what name they’re given, methods should be chosen that are suitable for the situation at ...
Collaboration: questions to ask
Staff and business areas often identify a need for collaboration tools, without knowing what the best solution would be. They may have some familiarity with a handful of tools, but not know how others work. As discussed in the earlier article Successful collaboration requires support, there needs to be a ...
How to combine multiple research methods: practical triangulation
Patrick Kennedy has written an article on using triangulation in user research projects. To quote: This is where the concept of “triangulation” comes into its own. Also known as “mixed method” research, triangulation is the act of combining several research methods to study one thing. They overlap each other somewhat, ...
Web teams, go meet your end-users
Peter Erik Bang Nissen highlights the importance of understanding user needs. To quote: One problem with this approach is, however, that many organisations omit the second part of “launch and learn”. Another is that as the organisation’s web presence matures, the quality of solutions comes to the fore. If users ...
Understanding the product when conducting user research
Daniel Szuc talks about how to incorporate an understanding of the product into user research. To quote: As my company planned for a recent study, we noticed we were asking more questions about the product to help us determine how our research could drive key business results. For example, we ...
The elevator interview – ultra quick intranet user research
Patrick c Walsh has written about using elevator interviews to uncover intranet needs and issues. To quote: Want to get some fast feedback on your intranet but both time and resources are very limited? Try the user research version of the elevator pitch – the elevator interview.
Laddering: a research interview technique for uncovering core values
Michael Hawley discusses a user-research technique called laddering. To quote: A number of my previous Research That Works columns on UXmatters have focused on semi-structured user research techniques. My interest in these techniques stems from my desire to get the most out of my time with research participants and to ...
Intranet user research: a methodology for contextual enquiry
Patrick C. Walsh has written an extensive article on conducting contextual inquiry for an intranet. To quote: Its motivating simply because you get to meet your users face to face. When I think of a change in design or when problems are reported I don’t think of my users as ...
User Interviews – analysis simplified
Alistair Gray has written about analysing user interviews. To quote: After interviews you'll find that you've lots of interesting thoughts and ideas bouncing around your head, but probably in no clear structure. The results will be much easier to understand and convey to others if they are ordered into a ...
Is it worth asking people what they want on your intranet?
Allen Huish asks the question: is it worth asking people what they want on your intranet? To quote: A great example of this bias in surveys was when British Airways was designing its new 'Raid the Larder' concept in Club World. The team involved did the right thing and got ...
Making decisions about user research
Donna Spencer has written a post on making decisions about user research, in which she introduces a nice model to help the organisation understand when to conduct user research. To quote: Importance to the business: Just how important is the project/application in meeting organisational/business goals? Importance to users: What will happen ...
Asking participants to “pretend” in user studies
Jared Spool has written about the dangers of getting users to pretend during usability testing. To quote: One of the places we kept noticing this was when we watching people shop online. Asking a shopper to pretend to purchase (“Could you find a pair of shoes you might like to ...
