Contextual Inquiry: A Must-Have Method For Your User Research Toolbox

Transcription

1 Contextual Inquiry: A Must-Have Method For Your User Research Toolbox Kate Lawrence Deirdre Costello April 16, 2014

2 Kate Lawrence 20+ years of UX experience Active in local and national UX communities Director of User Research at EBSCO Information Services Deirdre Costello MSLIS from Simmons College 10+ years in research, analysis and writing Sr. UX Researcher at EBSCO Information Services

3 Our Process: A three-dimensional approach to user research Contextual Inquiry: Do as I do, not as I say Synthesis: Deriving meaning from qualitative data The Impact: Our organization s response

4 DataAnalysis Review usage data and metrics. Quantitative methods. SecondaryResearch What questions have been asked previously? What do those studies show? What does a comprehensive literature search reveal? PrimaryResearch Select the appropriate method, conduct our own research. Typically qualitative.

5 Competitive Testing Eye Tracking Secondary Research Metrics Analysis Usability testing Social Media Mining Prototype Reviews Tree Navigation Literature Reviews Video Diary Studies Usertesting.com Cognitive Walkthroughs Card Sorting Amazon Mechanical Turk A/B Testing Participatory Design Contextual Inquiry Surveys Heuristic Evaluation Focus Groups Energy economics

6 Contextual Inquiry CI is ethnographic; it is the research method that gets us closest to the user. Real user, live workflow Users in simulated workflow Data metrics, surveys Secondary research/ anecdotes

7 Contextual Inquiry What CI Is What CI is not Observing users in real context, including the structure of their work practice Participant-driven sessions Understanding how social context influences the experience. A structured interview Statistically significant sample size Time efficient Easy recruiting Focus on what users do, not what they say they would do.

8 User Sessions Affinity Mapping Debriefing Stakeholder Review & Presenting Findings Renewgroup.com Theformationscompany.com

9 Planning: The Team Secure initial support for the research Write a research proposal* (Researchers, Stakeholders, Background, Goals, Methodology, Participants, Budget, Accessibility, Schedule) Team = UX & researchers + select others (ideal team size: 6-7 members) Time is a requirement CI team members are expected to actively participate. * For a sample research proposal please klawrence@ebsco.com

10 Planning: Prepping Identify a list of themes and topics you would like to cover with each participant. Resist the urge to write interview questions/a testing script. Create (lean) personas* to help with recruiting. Train team on the CI process: provide readings, YouTube videos. * A good lean persona resource Jason Crane

11 Planning: Recruiting Recruit a small sample based on skill sets/persona breakdowns and prepare yourself for the inevitable question. Recruit through people you know you need to find talkative, thoughtful participants who respond to s. Provide a good incentive (or be creative) to guarantee time and attention ($25+ per hour). When tax forms are involved, plan to send payment afterwards. Payment upfront? itunes or Amazon gift cards.

12 Planning: Scheduling Schedule participants for a 1 to 2-hour block maximum of 1 participant per day. Build in time for travel, parking, food, brief discussion afterwards. Meet in an environment where the participants do what you want to talk about. Students? Library, meeting space, common room. Physicians? Hospital, office, etc.

13 Planning: Session Logistics Ask participants to bring any devices they use regularly for the tasks that are the subject of the study. Ex: Students what do you use for conducting research? Please plan to bring those devices with you to our session. Make sure there s wifi. Bring a notebook, several pens, your cell phone and your phone charger. Download a recording app, then make sure there s room on your phone to store recordings.

14 Conducting the CI Sessions Start with a single question, NOT a script or a checklist: When was the last time you (searched for x), can you please recreate that for me? Follow the participant s lead, but make notes about things you want to circle back and probe on. Another key question: How did you learn about that? Do occasional time checks and note those in the margins (helps with the debriefs more on that later).

15 Debriefing: Overview Researchers recreate the session from their notes. The team decides what s wall worthy tip: focus on intent The first few debriefs are confusing for new team members, but persevere: Debriefs are essential, and transform team members into user research advocates. 1:1 session length/debrief length Get as many stakeholders in the room as you can; appoint someone note-taker.

16 Debriefing: How It Works Researchers walk through the entire session, note by note Create an Excel document with one worksheet per session Capture demographics first Team asks specific questions, requests details and clarification; discussion ensues. Note-taker captures what team indicates is relevant; team helps to formulate the wall-worthy note.

17 Affinity Mapping: What It Is Creating affinities (natural groupings) to organize/categorize the data from debriefs* Creating an opportunity for stakeholders and people outside the project team to walk the walls. Invite stakeholders, developers, designers & others outside the immediate project to begin socializing your findings. *Based on a 6 Sigma practice:

18 Affinity Mapping: How It Works 1. Print out every note 2. Decide on an initial set of themes (these will evolve) 3. Have the team put all the sticky notes on the wall grouped by theme. 4. Organize the notes into smaller, more specific groups. 5. Organize those groups into hierarchies - larger themed categories.

19 Visioning: What It Is Moving from data collection/ organization to actionable ideas; opportunity for others to experience user pain points. Let attendees walk the walls of the affinity hierarchies with post-it notes instruction: Write down your ideas for easing the pain points. Solution ideas become workflow diagrams that represent ideal user scenarios.

20 Presenting Findings: Goals Speak to each of the major themes you identified. Present in a what we thought/what we learned format to highlight the value of user research. Summarize feedback; drive home the message with direct user quotes

21 What we thought vs. What we learned: Influence Medical librarians (as buyers) are key product influencers, and physicians are open to new technology/apps at any point in their career. What we learned: Students and physicians are primarily influenced by peers, mentors, and preceptors not the medical librarian. Medical school, internship and residency are the most critical periods for habit formation. Residents give tech lectures, not librarians. Med student: I learned about Epocrates from a friend in med school. Intern: I use what they tell me to use so I don t get reamed out. Physician: EndNote is my worst enemy but my friends haven t told me about anything better.

22 What we thought vs. What we learned: Search Physicians are sophisticated searchers - they will patiently hunt for information until they find it. What we learned: Physicians are like us - impatient searchers who rely on Google - and they don t stay long with/loyal to a source that isn't giving them immediate answers. The first page of Google results is it after the 5 th listing, it s junk. Willing to refine search terms to get results on the first page, for a session total of 2-3 searches. If physicians don t see a trusted source (Mayo, Johns Hopkins, etc) on the first page of Google results, they will then try one of their go-to sources.

23 The Impact Clarity of feature prioritization themes of findings become feature groupings Team members become user advocates and promoters of user research Easy knowledge share because the project team has been involved throughout. Contextual Inquiry becomes a must-have method for your research toolbox and vital to your product development process.

24 Questions