University of Washington HCDE 518 User Research 1 HCDE 518 Autumn 2011 With credit to Jake Wobbrock, Dave Hendry, Andy Ko, Jennifer Turns, & Mark Zachry

University of Washington HCDE 518

User Research 1

HCDE 518Autumn 2011

With credit to Jake Wobbrock, Dave Hendry, Andy Ko, Jennifer Turns, & Mark Zachry


Agenda

Announcements, Hand in assignments

Sketching Critiques Design Activity Break – 5 mins Lecture – User Research Design Activity Break – 10 mins

Lecture – Ethnography & Contextual Inquiry

Design Activity Next Class Group Project Work

Time


Announcements, Questions

R2 & P0 due now (via CollectIt dropbox) R1 grades posted A1 still in progress (sorry ) A2 due next week (described shortly)

Questions?


Sketching Critiques – 20 minutes

Break into groups of 3 people Take turns showing and explaining your 3 sketches

with each other Critics should offer advice and feedback about the

idea Strengths, Weaknesses, Originality, Feasibility Sketcher: take notes about what feedback was offered Critic: be critical, but constructive and courteous! Each critic should sign and date the page after the sketches


Design Activity - Designing Under Constraints

UW has asked you to redesign a new Husky card that must satisfy the following constraints: It must be 3.370” × 2.125” in size It can only use 3 colors (but can use fewer) It must include a 1” x 1.5” photo area It must include the ownerʼs name and status (e.g., undergraduate, graduate,

faculty, staff, etc.) It must have an ID # somewhere It must use a UW icon or label It must have space for a transit sticker of any size It cannot use the existing Husky ID layout and design

Work in small groups on your design, then we will re-group and compare (15 minutes)


LECTURE – USER RESEARCH


Observing People

What do we “see”? Opportunities for new designs Breakdowns Workarounds Mismatches between what users say and do



Relying on what users say

Can we rely on what users say about what they want in a new design? Very carefully

Henry Ford: “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse."

It is better to watch what they do than to go only on what they say Mismatches may hold keys to new designs


Users’ words are unreliable

People are notoriously bad at predicting what they would use or would prefer when it is only hypothetical

They can much better respond to actual, concrete things, or make comparisons

This highlights the importance of observation and of prototypes


Users can however…

Tell you what they are doing right now Tell you how they are feeling right now Tell you what their goal is right now


Observation

In the user's own environment Observation of everyday tasks Why are work-arounds opportunities for new

designs? Why are breakdowns opportunities for new

designs? Why are unexpected uses opportunities for

new designs? User customization?


IDEO Method Cards

Available from William Stout publishers ($49)


LEARN from the facts you gather


LOOK at what users really do


ASK users to help


TRY it yourself


Design Activity – 20 minutes Using the Method Cards, come up with two methods that

could be useful in each of the following contexts, and two that would not be useful for each of the two design scenarios

Helping air traffic controllers communicate with pilots Helping older adults communicate with their young

grandchildren over a distance

Cards: http://courses.washington.edu/hcde518/readings/IDEOMethodCards.pdf http://courses.washington.edu/hcde518/readings/IDEOMethodCards.pptx


What did you come up with?

Helping air traffic controllers communicate with pilots

Helping older adults communicate with their young grandchildren over a distance


A2 – Look, Learn, Ask, Try

Similar to what you just did! You’ll be given 3 design scenarios and you’ll be asked

to come up with 4 methods that would be appropriate and 1 that would not How can a new system support communication for emergency room nurses? How can a mobile system help long-distance bicyclists to find restaurants and

amenities? How can a video game help educate kids in Grades 1-5 on healthy eating

You’ll be asked to explain your choices Due next Wednesday (October 19th)


BREAK – 10 MINUTES


Ethnography

Observational science attempts to understand a group or individual objectively. Understand the subject of study from the outside in a way

that can be explained to “anyone.” Generate “thick description” painting a vivid holistic

picture. Ethnography attempts to understand a group or

individual phenomenologically. Understand the subject of study as the subject of study

understands himself/herself.


Design Ethnography

Quicker than traditional ethnography Usually days, weeks, or months, not years.

Sometimes called “concurrent ethnography” The ethnography is being done at the same time

that design is under way. Goal is to generate insights for informing

inspiring design. Translating from raw field data to design ideas

can be difficult.


Four Ethnographic Principles


Natural Settings

Conducted in the setting of the participant.

Focus on naturally occurring, everyday talk and action.

Cannot use laboratory or experimental settings to gather this type of data.


Holism

Behavior can only be understood in its larger social context; that is, holistically.


Descriptive

Study how people actually behave, not how they ought to behave.

Defer judgment. Data is not usually

quantitative, but qualitative.


Subjects’ Point-of-View

See through participants’ eyes in order to grasp how they interpret and act in their world.

Phenomenological.


How to do this?

Observations – Next week Interviews – Next week Contextual Inquiry – Next!


Contextual Inquiry

What does context refer to?


Key Quote

“The users cannot describe what they really do because they are not conscious of it and do not reflect on it. The defined policy for an organization is no longer representative because it no longer reflects what is really going on.”


Contextual Design

Contextual inquiry Master/apprentice Affinity diagramming


Contextual Inquiry

Observation method for Contextual Design Applied ethnography

Design ethnography made easy :) “The core premise of Contextual Inquiry is very

simple: go where the customer works, observe the customer as he or she works, and talk to the customer about the work. Do that, and you can’t help but gain a better understanding of your customer.”


Principles of Contextual Inquiry Context

Must be done in the setting of the participant. Partnership

Master/apprentice model; investigator is humble. Interpretation

Observed facts must be regarded for their design implications. Raw facts without interpretation aren’t very useful.

Focus Themes that emerge during the inquiry. You can’t pay attention to all

facets of someone’s work at all times!


Master/Apprentice You are the apprentice The informant is your master What does this relationship imply?

Keen observation Unafraid to ask questions Eager to learn Admire the master Aspire to see the world as they do

Adopting the master/apprentice model during your CI will mean you don’t have to prepare a set of interview questions beforehand. Reduces pressure to “get it right.”

Key Concept!


Interviewing in CI

Go for concrete details obtained in-context, not abstract generalities. Don’t ask participants to summarize about their work. Ask

them specific details about real, concrete, observable things.

Have them “think aloud” as they work through their tasks. Pepper them with short, easily answerable questions. Avoid high-level philosophical questions that will just cause

them to “talk” instead of “do.”


Withdraw and Return

The researcher observes something in the pattern of action that indicates there’s something meaningful going on.

The researcher asks about this, and the pair withdraw momentarily from the task at hand.

The pair discuss the researcher’s question. Afterwards, the participant returns to the task

at hand.


Interpretation Checking

It is good to regularly check your interpretations. “I saw you just do X. Is that because of Y?” “I believe X. Is that correct?” “If you had a technology that did X, would that solve the

problem we just encountered?” As long as you check your interpretations in context,

participants will respond accurately. Outside of context, they may be more inclined to agree or

answer in generalities rather than specifics.


Stages of CI


Ways to Mess Up a CI Not being inquisitive/nosy enough

If you have the impulse to ask, do it right away! Overly disrupting the task

Questions are great, but don’t ask so many so fast that the participant stops doing their tasks.

Turning it into a regular interview If you could have done it in a coffee shop, you didn’t do a contextual inquiry.

Failing to be discrete Participants must feel safe, free, and anonymous.

Failing to respect your participants Failing to observe closely and take good notes Over-focusing on the wrong details Slipping into abstraction

Keep it concrete, in the work, in the details.


Design Activity: CI Practice – 20 minutes

Pair up with someone else in class. Make sure one of you has a laptop, cell phone, tablet, or other technical device

Spend about 5 minutes doing a “contextual inquiry” while your partner uses the device naturally (e.g., surf the web, check email, send a text message, play a game, etc.)

Be sure to “withdraw and return” to ask relevant questions while they do their tasks

After ~5-10 minutes, we will swap partners and roles


Contextual Inquiry Discussion

How did it go? What did you learn? What was easy about it? What was hard about it? How do you think it would compare to just an

interview without the device? How do you think it would compare to just watching

them use the device without asking questions?


Next Class

Wednesday, October 19th User Research, Part 2

Upcoming Work Reflection 3 Sketching, Week 3

Sketch 3 on reusing mobile phones Use Huang & Truong reading as user research

Assignment 2: Look, Learn, Ask, Try


Group Project Meet Time

Documents

University of Washington HCDE 518 User Research 1 HCDE 518 Autumn 2011 With credit to Jake Wobbrock, Dave Hendry, Andy Ko, Jennifer Turns, & Mark Zachry