User research improves information structures
User research allows us to improve our information structures (such as metadata models, data models, websites, intranets) in ways that are helpful to the people using the structure. When I work with clients who are new to user research, they need to know what the process of user research is like and what to expect as an outcome.
Before we assume that user research will answer all our questions and fully illuminate a dark abyss, it’s important to set expectations for what user research can do. If you’re thinking about tackling a project with research in it, here are a few things to be prepared for.
What is user research?
A great source for basics and beyond, Usability.gov tells us:
“User research focuses on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies.”
By learning more about your users, we can make or improve information structures to improve the user experience. To do user research, we need to decide what techniques will be the best to learn more and help you with your future work.
Preparing for user research
A lot of stuff happens before we talk to users. We make a user research plan for that includes multiple activities, how those activities complement each other, and the purpose of each activity.
A plan would include information such as:
Why we are doing the research
What we want to learn
The goal that the research supports
How we’re going to ask it
Who we’re going to ask and how many people we need to talk to
How we’re going to measure it
How we’re going to find users to talk to
Who will conduct the sessions
As a team, we review the plan and agree to it then start recruiting users and scheduling sessions.
There are many ways to collect information and do research; research goals can help you decide on the techniques to use to capture information. I focus our research on user interviews, usability testing, benchmarking task testing, card sorting, and surveys. I use the appropriate method depending on the purpose and goals.
Stakeholders are not a stand-in for users
No matter the research techniques we use, I expect to communicate directly with your users. Stakeholders can not stand in for the user. There’s a big difference between a stakeholder and a user: the stakeholder is the person who makes the decision or has second-hand knowledge. The user is the person who must use the thing. Sometimes these users have no choice – they’re told to use the thing as part of their work. We want to capture their work and their sentiments! The only way to get first-hand knowledge is to research with the right people.
Executing the user research
The exact details of what goes on during the user research depends on the research plan. However, here are some things you can generally expect:
When working with the public, pay a stipend
If employees are your users, ensure they have time to participate
Talk to at least 5 people per major group of users
At least one participant will not to show up. Recruit one or two extras
To be worn out at the end of the day
Allow for one session facilitator and one note taker
Invite people that you work with to observe so they can see first-hand what users are saying
All of this will be part of your research plan, too!
Analyzing the user research
Once we finish the user research, we have a lot of data. How do we process it all? I typically analyze and group the findings in a spreadsheet, create themes, and write the supporting evidence into a summary statement. I also conduct workshops with stakeholders to look at the problems and come up with opportunities to solve the problems.
After we do these workshops, I will write up the results in a way that works for your organization. It might be a document, a presentation, or an online whiteboard. Creating this final result is a way to preserve the findings and refer back to them in the future when you want to continue to improve the user experience. You can also share the findings with others so they can be “enlightened.”
I create personas from the research. This acts a consolidation of all the research findings and gives you concrete details about your users. Here are some personas I’ve created in the past. You can see that they all have tasks, topics, and motivations. These personas facilitate the structuring of information according to specific tasks.
