user research is unnatural (but that's okay) - ia summit 2012
DESCRIPTION
From the perspective of a participant, user research is not very natural. We ask participants to try to act naturally in the artificial environment of a lab, or we impose ourselves on their environment and hope our presence doesn't affect their behavior. We often forget how unnatural user research can be and the negative effects it can have on participants.In this presentation, we'll first examine the ways in which user research can be unnatural. Then we'll discuss ways to minimize or eliminate these unnatural aspects of user research.TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
![Page 2: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
![Page 9: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
![Page 10: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
![Page 11: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
![Page 12: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
![Page 13: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
![Page 18: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
![Page 20: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
![Page 23: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
![Page 26: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
![Page 27: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
![Page 28: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
![Page 29: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
![Page 31: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
![Page 32: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
![Page 33: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
![Page 36: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
![Page 38: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
![Page 39: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
![Page 40: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
![Page 41: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
![Page 43: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
![Page 44: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
![Page 47: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
![Page 48: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
![Page 51: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/51.jpg)
![Page 54: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/54.jpg)
![Page 55: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/55.jpg)
![Page 56: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/56.jpg)
![Page 57: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/57.jpg)
![Page 58: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/58.jpg)
![Page 59: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/59.jpg)
![Page 60: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/60.jpg)
![Page 61: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/61.jpg)
![Page 62: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/62.jpg)
![Page 63: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/63.jpg)
![Page 66: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/66.jpg)
![Page 67: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/67.jpg)
![Page 69: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/69.jpg)
![Page 70: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/70.jpg)
![Page 71: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/71.jpg)
![Page 72: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/72.jpg)
![Page 73: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/73.jpg)
![Page 74: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/74.jpg)
![Page 76: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/76.jpg)
![Page 78: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/78.jpg)
![Page 79: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/79.jpg)
![Page 80: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/80.jpg)
![Page 81: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/81.jpg)
![Page 82: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/82.jpg)
![Page 83: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/83.jpg)
![Page 84: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/84.jpg)
![Page 85: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/85.jpg)
![Page 86: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/86.jpg)
![Page 87: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/87.jpg)
![Page 88: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/88.jpg)
![Page 90: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/90.jpg)
![Page 91: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/91.jpg)
![Page 92: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/92.jpg)
![Page 93: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/93.jpg)
![Page 94: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/94.jpg)
![Page 95: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/95.jpg)
![Page 96: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/96.jpg)
![Page 97: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/97.jpg)
![Page 98: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/98.jpg)
![Page 100: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/100.jpg)
![Page 101: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/101.jpg)
![Page 103: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/103.jpg)
![Page 106: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/106.jpg)
![Page 107: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/107.jpg)
![Page 108: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/108.jpg)
![Page 109: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/109.jpg)
![Page 110: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/110.jpg)
![Page 111: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/111.jpg)
![Page 112: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/112.jpg)
![Page 113: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/113.jpg)
![Page 116: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/116.jpg)
![Page 117: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/117.jpg)
![Page 121: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/121.jpg)
![Page 122: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/122.jpg)
![Page 123: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/123.jpg)
![Page 125: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/125.jpg)
![Page 126: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/126.jpg)
![Page 127: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/127.jpg)
![Page 128: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/128.jpg)
![Page 129: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/129.jpg)
![Page 131: User Research is Unnatural (But That's Okay) - IA Summit 2012](https://reader034.vdocuments.net/reader034/viewer/2022042713/545763a3b1af9f39378b51ee/html5/thumbnails/131.jpg)