Discussion guides are universal research artifacts and often informed by a diverse range of stakeholders (from researchers to clients). With that many cooks in the kitchen, things are bound to get messy. This presentation introduces a reflection tool that allows researcher to define their rationale for what stays and goes in a discussion guide and to help shape the appropriate research methodology to get you where you need to go.
Motivate Design has effectively used this tool to align stakeholders on the most meaningful discussion points for research; what was in scope and what needed to be considered for future research. This tool will empower you to guide research initiatives toward the right direction.
UXPA Boston 2015
DAKSHIN BIHAR GRAMIN BANK: REDEFINING THE DIGITAL BANKING EXPERIENCE WITH A U...
UXPA Boston 2015 | Discussion Guides Presentation
1. DISCUSSION GUIDES
Getting to Everything BUT the Kitchen Sink
BOSTON UXPA 2015
ZARLA LUDIN
Director, Insights
EMILY CHU
Senior Design Researcher
MEENA KOTHANDARAMAN
Customer Experience Strategist +
2. THE GOOD, THE BAD & …
is a discussion
guide?
WHAT
Why is it
?IMPORTANT
What makes a
discussion
guide?
GOOD
3. …THE UGLY (and that creates tensions)
“Eek. We are doing research. What do we ask?”
“So many questions! So little time.”
“Is that really the question we should be asking?
How do we know?”
“We keep on asking the same questions.
How do we change that?”
“One more focus group. Yay. I’m so excited. (NOT!)”
AND MORE. IT GOES ON…
4. TIME TO REFLECT
& BRING CLARITY
Re-examine goals and objectives of the study
Pause. Identify the realities
Design the study to get the data needed
… in order to create rationales and frameworks that
increase the credibility of doing experience research.
5. What should a good rationale do?
• Identify the knowns and unknowns that need to be addressed
• Answer “why” and “how” the research will be meaningful
• Compartmentalize learning needs
• Align the team on the direction forward
STEP1 ESTABLISH THE RATIONALE
Because if your rationale is not
documented, it doesn't exist!
6. Plot all the questions
you want answered
during a given
research engagement.
Reflect:
• What do we know
about the people and
the outcome we hope
to study?
• What is the priority:
people, or outcome?
STEP2 PLOT PEOPLE & OUTCOMES
Outcome Needs
KNOWN
Outcome Needs
UNKNOWN
PeopleNeeds
UNKNOWN
PeopleNeeds
KNOWN
OUTCOMES
What is being
created
PEOPLE
Who its being
created for
8. NOW, LET’S TALK ABOUT A REAL PROJECT
in the energy sector.
S T E P 1
Establish the rationale
• Need a design tool to
better understand
business customers and
how they interact with
the utility
• No studies done in 125
years
• Research will be
applied to new website
design
S T E P 2
Plot people & outcomes
People: Business customers at 3
different levels
Outcome Needs
KNOWN
Outcome Needs
UNKNOWN
PeopleNeeds
UNKNOWN
PeopleNeeds
KNOWN
What is your
relationship
with utility?
What is your
relationship
with energy?
How do you
pay your bill?
How do you
know you have
the right rate?
What do you
expect as
feedback when
participating
in an energy
efficiency
program?
How should
your account
be managed
to help you go
more green?
S T E P 3
Clarify research
context
Data to inform?
Data to inspire?
• Both!
• Data to inspire - we
needed to learn about
the beliefs and
expectations of
energy and utility
• Data to inform - we
needed to understand
how people use the
website
9. NOW THAT WE KNOW
The research rationale
What is known (and not known) about the people and
the outcome expected
The goal to inform or inspire
Lets’ talk about the discussion guide again.
10. RESEARCH ENGAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
EMOTIONS ATTITUDES APTITUDES BEHAVIORS
WHAT WE
LEARN
Feelings, Hopes,
Desires, Extremes
Motivations,
Perspectives, Morals,
Histories, Approaches
Agency (use of resources),
knowledge and skills
Triggers, Barriers,
Contradictions,
Workarounds, Compensation
INSPIRE INFORM
IMPLICATIONS &
OPPORTUNITIES
(Life realities,
contexts, culture)
PEOPLE
(Domain, scope,
industry)
SUBJECT
(Products, campaign,
communication)
OUTCOME
How it should speak to the user and how the user should
relate to it
TONE & PERSONALITY
What it should do and how should it work
FEATURES & FUNCTIONALITY
QUESTIONS &
ACTIVITIES
START
(of session)
END
(of session)
11. THIS WILL GIVE BETTER DIRECTION INTO
METHOD AND STUDY DESIGN
One-on-one, or group?
Visual? Theatrical? Verbal? Written?
Direct? Or Nuanced?
More stories? More activities?
12. BACK TO THE ENERGY EXAMPLE:
The research study culminated in the following design…
R E S I D E N T I A L
Focus groups with self-
expressive, hands-on
activities about nuanced
behavior, emotions and
attitudes towards energy
and the utility
B U S I N E S S
In-home interviews,
including a home tour, with
observation of actual
behaviors and aptitudes
Contextual inquiry with
evocative hands-on
activities about business
behaviors, emotions and
attitudes towards energy
and the utility
One-on-one interviews,
with observation of actual
behaviors and aptitudes
InspireInspire
Inform
Inform
13. CONCLUSION
Lessons learned:
Better questions lead to better and more credible research outcomes.
This framework worked for us.
Could it work for you?
Understanding what
we know (and don’t
know) about the people
and the expected
outcome of the study
should not be hidden:
SPEAK THE TRUTH!
Setting the
rationale and scope
helps establish a
firm foundation for
for the research
study
FIRM FOUNDATION
Ultimately –
what are we doing?
Informing ourselves,
or inspiring
ourselves?
WHAT ARE WE DOING?
14. WERE YOU SO CAPTIVATED
THAT YOU FORGOT TO TAKE
NOTES?
KEEP A LOOKOUT FOR THIS TALK BY
SIGNING UP FOR OUR WEBINAR UPDATES
http://bit.ly/motivatewebinars
This is what we’ve all encountered in the past - these are tensions at different levels - and can happen at different parts of the research process
Verbalize: document your rationale! if it's not documented, it doesn't exist
Does your team tend to ask the same kinds of questions?
Clarity in terms of the tiered clients to approach, and which would be “left out” of the study
for the sake of clarity, talk about how in reality questions will be all over the board. In this example, we helped craft a hybrid method to get at most of these questions. However, sometimes it's better to prioritize a quadrant over another (i.e., maybe you just do a usability test).
Take your research questions and use it to craft your activities.
The discussion guide framework (generative tool): this framework looks at the relationship of outcomes and people together (10 minutes)
What kind of data is needed?
Timescale of the data
Persistent data: data that is more intrinsic and will presumably last over a longer period of time
Emotions
Motivations
Time-bracketed data: data that is attached to realities that might be fleeting or could change
Aptitudes
Behaviors
Focus of the data set - Data to Inspire and Data to Inform
People: the context of life, culture, social facts, and others
Subject: the industry in question
Outcome: the thing provided by the company
Exploratory filled framework, Discovery, Definition, Validation--color blocks
Plot sample methods (activities), and mindsets - i.e., emotions + people = ambiguous, abstract, analytical, tangible.
methods = emotion + people box, might be more self-expression activities like Collage. behavior + aptitude = show and tell.
you’re gonna need more interpretive power on one side, and more analytical power?
what are you DRAWN to? Is it because you have a particular mindset? I am more comfortable with numbers, therefore I tend to keep my research in validation.
Frameworks are helpful internally, but also to communicate to other stakeholders. Sharing these tools helps us as an industry.