ux cambridge 2013: user research methods on a budget
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Rebecca Blakiston on September 5th, 2013.TRANSCRIPT
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.
