ux cambridge 2013: user research methods on a budget

User Research Methods on a Budget

UX Cambridge 2013September 5th

#uxcam

Rebecca BlakistonWebsite Product ManagerUniversity of Arizona Libraries

Who is this clown?

Granny

Aunt Hilary

Godmother Caroline

Cousin EllieAunt

Philippa

Uncle Bob

5,291 miles away… Tucson, Arizona

University of Arizona Main Library

Do-it-yourself user research:

You (yes, you)

can and

should do it.

Thoughtful user research leads to better user experiences.

Method #1: Surveys

Use surveys to help define your audience and their primary tasks.

Use survey logic to ask specific questions of specific audiences.

Make it easy and fun, and you don’t need incentives.

Many survey tools are free.

Method #2: User

Interviews

Conduct user interviews to get inside your users’ heads.

Film.

Listen.

Capture expressions.

Capture quotes.

Method #3: Focus Groups

Focus on what you want to learn. Pay attention to how they describe

things.

People will talk to you for a free lunch.

Method #4: Card Sorting

Use card sorting to

improve how you structure

content.

People actually have fun doing this.

User comments can be the most valuable.

Use remote

card sorting

to gather quantitative data.

websort.net

Method #5: Usability Testing

1. Establish primary tasks

and scenarios.

2. Test the scenarios with real people.

3. Talk through the problems & fix them.

4. Test again.*

Test

Improve

Test

Improve

*optional, sometimes

Final words of wisdom…

User research

takes minimal effort.

(It’s not as hard as it

looks).

User research can be done on little or no budget.

User research can make all the difference.

Be in touch: blakistonr@u.library.arizona.e

du

Questions?