Social sciences and UX research: closer than you thought

Let's start with the question. Is it possible to make a really high-quality IT product without user analytics? Yes or no? Who chose "yes"? If you already know what your users really need, you can stop reading. Save your time. And money for analytics. But why do you need it?



But if it is important for you to understand your users, then in this article we will talk about how to do this. The task is not simple. These are not abstract schemes and models to draw: here are living people with their desires, expectations and fears. However, there is also good news: the social sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology) have long ago developed a whole pool of methods for studying man. There is no need to reinvent the bicycle: the task is to adapt these methods for their UX-tasks, without losing the quality of the data and without going beyond the budget. You can do this if you follow certain recommendations.



In the article, we consider qualitative methods: observation and interview. First of all, the interview as a basic method. Quantitative methods, as our experience shows, can become an additional source of information - we are talking about secondary data from open sources. Proper quantitative research is costly and not always necessary.

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Understanding the motives of users and to study their daily life is possible only with the help of qualitative methodology. Of course, you have to go to the people: talk (interview), and even better to see how they live (observation). Fearfully? And without this in any way. This is the only way to get acquainted with the life experience of people in a specific context. Without this knowledge to make a good product is impossible. The researcher not only describes the actions (practices), but tries to understand the meaning behind them in order to answer the question: why does a person act this way and not otherwise?

Qualitative methodology in UX research

There will be some sociology now. The main advantage of a qualitative methodology (or, more broadly, a paradigm) is the ability to look at the user with a fresh look. Let's break it down with a simple example.



A young girl Anna can not turn on your mobile phone. She presses the button, and the phone does not respond. Common situation? What would you do? Stop! Answer first, and then read on. Our heroine is looking for the nearest service center on the Internet. How is she looking for him? How to choose from a variety of similar companies? Interesting? Of course. Especially the owner of such a center who wants a new site.



But back to Anna and talk to her. Anna will tell you that her father and elder brother were engaged in repairs in her family. And the technique was set up, and the “Windows” was reinstalled. Mom called it "male work." A familiar story? Anna had no experience of close communication with the equipment, and the idea of ​​digging into the phone herself is completely alien to her. Would you rummage? For example, you can remove the battery and insert it back. I would have done it - it works with my phone. Or go to the forums? Or would have acted like Anna?



Investigating the behavior of people, scientists take into account the social characteristics: gender, class, cultural differences (and more recently, in addition, age, capacity and belonging to a specific community). These characteristics set the framework for our life experience, which forms the habits that influence behavior. And we are not always aware of this. The story with Anna could have been different; she was born in another family.



Imagine that Anna did not find a suitable service, and after half an hour she had an important call. Overcoming fear, Anna goes to the forums to look for how to solve the problem. Several simple manipulations, and the phone came to life. Anna is pleased with herself. And now she has a new experience that can form a new habit (pattern of behavior). Not necessarily and not immediately, but it can. We, as developers of IT products, work with existing habits, but also create new behavior patterns. Without an understanding of users "here and now" is impossible. And here qualitative methodology comes to the rescue.



Major Western IT companies, such as Intel or Microsoft, have long recognized the potential of qualitative research in the UX. Many already have a corporate anthropologist position. The main methods are observation and interview, sociological classics. Researchers come to people at home, travel with them to work, watch the office routine, live with users all day. And conduct an interview. Unlike marketers, they are not obsessed with the product. They are interested in the daily life of the user. Only having studied it, one can think about which product will help a person to solve his tasks. Otherwise, your unique selling proposition will be interesting only for you. The results of such studies can prevent the failure of the finished IT product.

From heaven to earth: working under business constraints

Inspired? Ready to start research? It's good to have your own full-time researcher, but as long as you are not Intel, Genevieve Bell is a luxury to you. And in general, how much are you willing to spend on user analytics? How many hours do you have for this in a project? Honestly. Four? Eight? Sixteen? My experience in Pavlov's Dog suggests that you can forget about observation. Well, if you have time for an interview.



Observation is an expensive pleasure, but it is worth the money. I'll tell you by example. A client came to Pavlov's Dog, who really wanted to understand how customers and staff work with self-service kiosks. Understand not out of sports interest, but with the aim of increasing sales through kiosks. Here, of course, it is better to see once than hear a hundred times. They organized an observation: the researcher walked around the hall, watched the sellers and buyers behave, connected to the work himself, and talked to people. In general, he became a freelance sales assistant for six days. The final conclusions went far beyond the limits of usability testing of kiosks. It became clear how to adjust business goals, as well as change the placement and color scheme of kiosks to increase sales. The customer was satisfied: he obtained valuable results and left to implement.



This situation is rather an exception. There was a large customer, and an understanding of the value of the method was present. In most cases, there is only an interview: cheaper and more understandable for the customer. And this is true not only for the projects "Pavlova Dogs". Observation to a certain extent remains exotic. Not ready for this until the Russian customer.



What an observation, when even the interview is not always ready to go. One of the most popular questions from small businesses: “Can you make a website without analytics?” Of course, they can be understood. But as a result, the analyst has to work under severe restrictions:

• small number of interviews;
• interviews cannot be great;
• processing of materials should be fast.

It is clear that there are no restrictions. In social sciences, the researcher is also limited by the grant budget, the requirements of the ethical commission, and the policies of the university. But it is important to understand the consequences of such restrictions. And they are fraught in the worst case with loss of data quality. I must say at once that this risk cannot be avoided. But you can try to reduce it. Here are some basic guidelines for how to do this.

Risk of interviewing too few people

Let's start with the most basic. We really want to understand our users, to make service convenient for them, but we have just enough money for only four interviews. Common situation? What problems can arise here? You can reach too few users. Will there be enough collected material to draw conclusions on the future product? Less time for an interview - higher risks of wrong.



How many interviews do you need to conduct? Good question. In the social sciences, they have long puzzled over this, and have not reached a consensus. The numbers are different - from 15 (at least for qualitative research) to 50 (ethnographic works). As a result of discussions, the concept of information saturation has emerged: this is when each next interview does not bring new meaningful information for research. Then data collection can be stopped and started processing. The question of when saturation came remains open. Who will decide this? The researcher himself? And what if the next interview brings something important for the project? Dead end.



Practice shows that the decisive role is played not by the number of interviews, but by the correct choice of respondents. There is another risk - to talk to the wrong people. What if there were no active users among them? Or potential users for the future IT product? To avoid such a risk, you need the right sample.



Purposive sampling is used in our projects. This is not a random sample, which is done in quantitative research. The target sample is determined subjectively, with the help of expert knowledge of the general population: real or potential users. Such knowledge can be obtained from the customer. Perhaps he conducted independent research of his audience. Or keeps statistics. However, practice shows that this is from the category of fiction. Expert knowledge may be missing, incomplete or, at worst, incorrect.



In such a situation, you must use your own expertise. Brainstorming is conducted to understand who our users are. In the formation of the sample does not need to build on the demographics. We are more interested in user behavior. For this purpose, the most important thing is that.

• User Roles. Who will use your product? Head, his secretary, accountant and system administrator.
• Goals What exactly do users want to do? Make a deal, find reference information and order documents.
• Relationship What is your product or service? Do not trust, doubt, fear, or are already ready to purchase.
• Behavior. How do users work with your product? They meticulously delve into the details, they want to finish the work faster, they are not sure and are afraid to make a mistake.

You can develop your criteria relevant to your project. But the selection criteria listed above can help you at the start. Perhaps after the first interview you will have new criteria. For example, during an interview, the respondent said that he has a friend who does everything differently. You should talk with him: it will be useful for your research.



Developed criteria - start searching. This is one of the most problematic parts of the research organization. Talking with a person is not difficult, but finding a suitable respondent is much more difficult. You are tempted to interview colleagues: they sit side by side and are always ready to help. Do not do this. Unless, of course, the product is not for the same IT people. Try to avoid talking with them - this is no longer “ordinary” users. Well, when the customer can offer respondents and help with the arrangements. Especially if it is top management. If you don’t have to rely on the customer’s help, get ready for a search: social networks, snowball method, etc. And take it under enough time.



When you make a list of potential respondents and arrange an interview, you need to check them for compliance with the sample criteria. A “screener” may be useful here: a small online application form or a mini-interview. Interviews are preferable: listen to how a person expresses his thoughts. Not all people are sociable and willing to share stories, namely you need them. Each interview should be as informative as possible.

The risks of lack of time during the interview

Now about the informative interview. In social sciences, the time for an interview is practically unlimited: the interviewer can talk with the respondent for two, three, and five hours. May come to a man several times. In our case, there are n hours to talk to users. And you need to talk not with one. The time allotted for the interview is distributed to several people. On average, one conversation takes from 40 minutes to an hour and a half. We talked with someone more, but for someone else there is not enough time.



What can go wrong in a limited time? You may not have enough time to warm up the respondent. The person should get used to you and to the interview situation itself, only then will it be ready to talk. Another problem: you did not get the information you need. We started the conversation, talked “for life” - about service in the Navy, about a dog, children - and the research topic was forgotten. As a result, the hours are spent, and the interview is "empty." A similar problem: one topic was disassembled in detail, and another was covered in passing. Unfortunately, in most cases you understand this already in data processing. Repeated conversation is not always possible.



There are several problems, but one solution: use a guide and a semi-structured interview. Guide - and simply a questionnaire - contains the main thematic blocks and recommended questions for the disclosure of the topic. This tool allows you to control the course of the conversation, but does not drive the interviewer and the respondent into a rigid framework. Therefore, such an interview is called semi-structured.



Guide is a tool that is created for a specific project. In Pavlov's Dog, he is made up of an analyst (he is an interviewer) and a project manager. The final version is discussed with the customer: maybe he is interested in finding out something else about his users? The results of interviews often go beyond the creation of an IT product: they can be used to develop a company’s development strategy. There are a few basic guidelines for writing a guide.

• Any guide contains a block about the respondent. Imagine that you meet a man. How old is he? What kind of education? What does he do? Such a block comes first to warm up the person. Questions vary depending on the project, but some basic ones may persist in different situations. In our case, a universal block about digital habits: use of the Internet, smartphone, gadgets, etc. Still, IT-products are developing. Link to the block about digital habits: bit.ly/1pOaao7 .
• Remember that we have no observation? And we need to know about the user's daily life. In drawing up the guide should take this into account. It should contain questions that allow you to understand what the user is doing. For each such question is an additional "why." The motives are interesting to us too.
• Your task is to transfer knowledge about users to the team. In our case, for this are the documents: portraits, life situations, user questions and expectations. Include in the guide questions that will give the necessary information for the preparation of documents.
• It is important for us to understand the pain of the user. Ask the person about his emotional state: how did he feel when he performed the action? Perhaps he will tell you about it himself. Be careful and ask clarifying question. For example, "I was afraid to contact a real estate agency." And what exactly were you afraid of?

These are the main guidelines for writing a guide. But, no matter how good he is, a lot depends on the communicative skills of the interviewer and his ability to talk. Giving advice here is hard: a lot comes with experience. Here are some basic recommendations.

• Do not make an interview from the interview. Your guide is a way to direct the conversation in the right direction. Ask a question - wait. Do not immediately jump to the next question. A good interviewer can listen and ask the right questions at the right moment.
• Your task is to hear the story from the user. Not everyone can give stories. Try leading questions to push the person to the story. Do not ask questions where the answer is "yes" or "no."
• More questions why. I'm serious. Do not make yourself an expert: you do not know what the other person has in mind.
• Do not be limited to questions about the use of the product. Try to learn something interesting about a person’s daily life. Perhaps this will push you to a new idea. Focusing only on the product, you lose the ability to perceive new information.

Interview is not as simple as it sounds. But they can be mastered. The greater the “mileage” of the recorder, the better each subsequent interview.

Risks of lack of time in data processing

Speaking of the recorder. After you have interviewed, you need to quickly process the data and prepare documents for the team. Documents must be such that all information about users has been conveyed.



What could be the problem? I work with a voice recorder, but someone can immediately enter information into a notebook or laptop during an interview. Each method has its drawbacks and pros. Interview recording distracts you from the conversation. And you may not have time to fix something important: you have to immediately decide what is significant and what is not. Some of the information may be lost. The main problem of the dictaphone recording: in order to make a brief recording of the interview, it is necessary to listen to it again. Often it takes no less time than the conversation itself. But all the information received from the user is in mp3 format.



If processing time is limited, there is a risk of losing valuable information. No one will listen to the dictaphone recording, and full decoding is an expensive and long exercise. Therefore, only you decide what will fall on the paper. In order not to miss relevant information, you need to clearly understand what you wanted to know in the interview. Think about the project's meta-goal and create the text that works for it.



Interview recording should be structured. The easiest way to do this is to copy the structure of the guide. Another option: make headlines and break the text so that it is easy to create the necessary documents from it (portraits, life situations, expectations, etc.). Whatever method you choose, it is important to keep the structure for all interviews. This will facilitate subsequent comparison when creating characters and compiling other documents.



The structure is important, but your main task: to convey the pain of the user, to describe his actions and motives. A good recording of the interview itself is a valuable document that project managers and interface designers can use. To convey the pain of the user and his motives can be using quotes. It is not necessary to decrypt audio completely, but vivid quotes should be preserved. Then they will help you revive the portraits of users.



Have you made a document? Viewed it again? Do you recognize the person you were talking to and his story? If yes, then this is a good record and you can continue working with it. An example of our document can be downloaded at the link: bit.ly/1pOakM9 .

Afterword. Is it worth it?

Interview is a qualitative method that is used in social sciences. But it can also be used to solve UX-problems. If you cannot afford to watch, interviewing is the only way to get information about users' daily lives and their motives.



Working with an interview requires adherence to certain principles that reduce the risk of obtaining poor-quality data due to limitations: a small number of respondents, limited talk time and fast data processing. The basic principles are:

• use target sample;
• develop a unique guide for the project (an example is a block on digital habits — you can download it here: bit.ly/1pOaao7 );
• create a high-quality record of the interview (an example is available at the link: bit.ly/1pOakM9 ).

Will help reduce the risks of recommendations that are given above. To dive into the topic, you can listen to the audio report at AnalysDays ( http://bit.ly/1NpbGIT ) and watch the presentation ( http://bit.ly/1So0cSo ).



Unfortunately, the risk of getting poor-quality data is always there. And the more restrictions, the higher the risks. The question remains: if there is no opportunity to conduct a lot of interviews, maybe, do without them? Why all these problems? What we ourselves do not understand what people need? Not. Even one or two interviews are better than nothing. The more restrictions, the more responsibility on the analyst when using the interview. But this does not mean that you need to abandon the method. Just be careful, ok?