Research Methods
Elena Crites, Teresa Lourie, Gretchen Kupferschmid
Elena — Feb 10 Speed Dating Reflection
Round 3 — Swimlanes
Partner: Ming
In what ways can these two methods work together? If not, explain why?
The theoretical nature of swimlanes might pair well with the actual experience of mystery shopping — the swimlanes method would go first and then once mystery shopping is completed it could be used again.
Are there any prerequisites for their application together? (What would you need to know?)
No?
Would you use these methods together, or either one, in your group project? Explain (gut check)
Yes could use together, both seem to work well in instances where they are actually applicable.
Round 4— Concept Mapping
Partner: Michael
In what ways can these two methods work together? If not, explain why?
They aren’t very related? Maybe if the concept map had to do with a shopping experience specifically they could work together.
Are there any prerequisites for their application together? (What would you need to know?)
The concept map has to be abt a shopping/customer experience.
Would you use these methods together, or either one, in your group project? Explain (gut check)
Would definitely use concept mapping — it’s been helpful for me in the past.
Round 5— Critical Incident Technique
Partner: Max
In what ways can these two methods work together? If not, explain why?
They’re very similar, so maybe a survey could enhance the data collected by a mystery shopper.
Are there any prerequisites for their application together? (What would you need to know?)
There has to be an existing customer experience, there needs to be data from interviews.
Would you use these methods together, or either one, in your group project? Explain (gut check)
Sure, they both sound effective and good — CIT seems more versatile than mystery shopping.
While I really liked the concept of this exercise, and have had fun doing speed dating activites in the past, the digital element of this did complicate things a lot. Along with that, I felt it wa hard to know what I was actually looking for — was there a “perfect match” of research techniques? Also without the further context of actually knowing what my project will be it was kind of hard to answer the questions, especially the last one.
Gretchen —Feb 10 Speed Dating Reflection
It was interesting to hear from a variety of my classmates as they explained different research methods.Just as a small observation, it was interesting to me the individuality that showed through as each person was explaining their research method. Since I am new to this class, I felt like this activity, though we were describing things that didn’t have to do with us personally, I was still able to grasp personality from the way each person described/talked.
1.Creative toolkits w/ Shruti
Shruti explained how this research method involves hands-on activities with different crafts in which people can build, make things, and explore materials. There is a range of what you can create, as the participants can move things like icons and objects in order to brainstorm ideas and work together. This research method also allows the participants to be inspired, reframe problems & perspectives,and is exploratory in nature.
Though these methods don’t have a super clear cut connection, they could possibly work together. I think through the information/data gathered from the creative toolkits, it could be worthwhile to create image boards about any specific focuses that stand out from the toolkits or modify existing image boards based off of new information/problems/solutions. Also, I don’t know if this is truly combining the methods, but I thought it could be possible to have creating image boards be a part of the creative toolkit, so receive aesthetic and visual data/input from participants.
2. Focus Group w/ Holly
This research method can be a form of product research, gaining stakeholder perspective. It could be in the form of interviews, or facilitated discussions that are loosely guided to help remove biases. Generally, the focus group discussion starts broad and gets more focused so you do not throw too heavy or specialized information immediately at the participants. As this research method is being performed, it’s important to look at body language of the participants and other minute details that might reveal things. Also, during the focus group you can use things like simple maps to allow participants to express themselves.
I think this research method has potential in working with image boards. The information gathered from a focus group is generally qualitative, which is more easily translated into image boards. So, potentially, you could create an image board about the focus group. Just like the research method before, there is also additional data that can be revealed, and can alter the problem space, solutions, and personas. So, in this case image boards that may have already been created to express these things visually, may need to be altered or created.
3. Cognitive Walkthrough w/ Iris
In this research method, it is a form of validity testing, in which it reflects the way the user might go through an interface. It looks particularly at ease of use, usability testing, and any visual/auditory cues. This information can be used to try and make the system more usable, and is typically done as research in the late stages of a project.
This research method felt the furthest in terms of working with image boards out of all the ones I heard on Monday. It seems to me that the two research methods are at fairly separate parts of the design process, and that at the time of cognitive walkthroughs, image boards should be fairly solidified and should be in use, guiding the solution to the point it is at now.
Teresa— Feb 10 Speed Dating Reflection
My method: Co-Creating Journey Maps
Co-Creating Journey Maps is a workshop activity in which a group of participants of the researcher’s target demographic collaborate to storyboard their understanding of a specific experience. Using sticky notes or another method, participants map a process step by step while tracking facets such as emotion or energy level in each stage of the process being explored. This research method helps the researchers get a more detailed understanding of the users’ first-hand experience with the experience.
Gretchen: Image boards
Image boards, also known as mood boards, are abstract collections of images that elicit a specific feeling. They are usually created by designers in the early stages of the design process. This practice could have synergy with co-creating journey maps by allowing participants to create image boards to accompany the major stages of the process being mapped. I would be open to using both the research methods in my project because they both would help to understand the internal processes of the people we are designing for better.
Ian: Wizard of Oz
The “Wizard of Oz” method is executed by manually manipulating a prototype in real time to give an illusion of functionality while a participant interacts with the prototype as if it were a finished product. This could be paired well with co-creating journey maps because it would allow the researchers to give the participants a chance to experience the process of interacting with their product and then mapping that process. This would allow researchers to be more specific with what they ask their participants to map. I would use either of these methods in my project because together they could allow a much closer look at my group’s particular project’s effect on the target demographic.
Tate: Graffiti walls
Graffiti walls is a method in which researchers post a blank board in a high-foot traffic area with a writing utensil and a prompt or question. This method allows researchers to gather anonymous and informal thoughts from a range of people quickly. This method does not have natural synergy with co-creating journey maps because it is inherently anonymous while the latter is designed to be overlooked and guided by a researcher. However, I would use this method in my project by itself because it would be a useful way to gather a lot of information quickly at the beginning of the project. Also by using multiple graffiti walls in different buildings we could look at the difference in thought in the many CMU populations.
Elena — Feb 8 Speed Dating
Mystery Shopping
Mystery Shopping is a variety of autoethnographic research.
It’s used to identify flaws within a customer experience and identify room for improvement. Often used for more evaluative research.
There is an assigned Mystery Shopper, who interacts with elements of the customer experience, who very well could be real people working at that establishment or possibly just digital mechanisms on a website.
The researcher acts as a customer and follows through the process of purchasing a product or partakes in a specific customer experience. They self-reflect and document their experiences as the customer.
Designers would use this method if they are searching for ways to improve a customer experience, for example, if a company receives criticism about their customer service, a mystery shopper might be assigned to make a complaint and undergo the company’s customer service from the perspective of a customer.
The UK government used this method from 2011 to 2018 to allow suppliers a way to identify room for improvement in England’s public procurement practice.
Teresa — Feb 8 Speed Dating
Co-Creating Journey Maps
This research method is about finding out more about a specific experience through the process of group mapping. This research method is done with a group of people knowledgeable first-hand about the experience being explored. This is essential as doing the activity with those who are only adjacent to the experience will likely provide biased accounts of the experience. In the activity, participants collaboratively map an experience/journey step-by-step by creating a storyboard. Drawings/notes on sticky notes may be placed on a wall or template to create the map. The process should be facilitated by at least one researcher and should be documented as it unfolds.
The co-creation of journey maps can be very useful to reveal nuances in the experience of the target demographic. One example I found was done by an online service used by travel agents for flight booking (linked below.) They wanted to better understand the experience of the agents and travellers who used their service. They begin by conducting interviews with travel agents and creating personas. They then ran a 2 day workshop mapping the experience of planning and booking trips. Unfortunately, most case studies I found used internal company employees to create the maps, and because they did not specify who the participants were, I can only assume that this is the same for this case as well. Nonetheless, this provides an example of what types of processes can be explored using this technique.
Gretchen — Feb 8 Speed Dating
Image Boards
Also sometimes known as mood boards, seen often in interior design to present a certain mood
This research method is a qualitative form of research, involving either generative or exploratory discovery. Image boards are a good way to understand your design, the people involved in your design, and the needs of both of these. Image boards are a visual-based form of research in which the aesthetic connection between the images chosen are important in forming an overall “mood”. A better way to describe this “mood” that is formed through images is by expressing the image board as a sort of stimulus that induces a specific response in return from the viewer.
This stimulated response can then be used to foster a discussion about the design, its purpose, and the direction to head in the future based on whether or not the response aligns with design goals. It can also be used in earlier stages of the design process in order to convey better understanding of personas you are designing for or to serve as a general reference to the direction the team is going. Sometimes, image boards can also be utilized in communication with the clients or those soliciting the design in order to show in a non-written way the “mood” and aesthetics the design is heading. This in turn may make it easier for the client to give feedback on whether it visually aligns with their own wants/needs.
In creating the image boards, typically the design team is able to bring their visions to life in a way that creates a joint compromise among everyone’s individual visions or ideas. Everyone should get an equal amount of input in the image boards so that they reflect the design team goals as a whole and not a particular designer’s ideas. There are many styles and ways to actually create the image board, and a variety of graphic/visual elements can be used, from pictures, typography, and graphic elements. There is no specific amount of graphic elements needed or way to lay out all the images, and these decisions should also be thought out to reflect the goal reaction of the image board. It’s also important to note that image boards can always be refined and changed based on new data that emerges throughout the design process and as the problems/solutions evolve.
Elena — Feb 1 Reflection
The 4 chairs exercise was a completely new experience for me, as I’d neve participated in anything in that style before. I started off in the speaker chair, and while I read off what I’d written down in response to the question, I hadn’t written that much so I had a lot more time to fill up after I was done with that. I was able to use this time to go a bit more in-depth about the reasons behind these feelings and life events, and why exactly they had either a good or bad cause and effect relationship in my life. Hearing back from my peers felt good, since it felt to me that through their responses my feelings were in some way validated on another level.
Teresa — Feb 1 Reflection
I felt that the chairs exercise was a good way to provide each speaker with feedback and thoughts on their share without judgment and with more thoughtfulness. When I was listening to each speaker, the ability to focus more one one aspect of what they were saying allowed me to respond in an organized and direct manner. The flip side of this, of course, is that I may have subconsciously filtered the information as it related to my topic and thus not got the full spirit of the speaker’s share.
Gretchen — Feb 1 Reflection
When the exercise was first introduced in class, I was a bit unsure about the connection it would have to our initial conversation/introduction to the class and to research methods in general. In terms of the idea of the roles of speaker, heart, head, and will, I was most intrigued by the idea of the “will” chair, because I had never really considered rating the motivation of someone when I was listening to them. But, after seeing the exercise and the will chair in practice, I began to understand how it could have value in how we are observing and listening to people and the things around us. The idea of analyzing the facts and the emotion was a bit more understandable/expected to me, but I still found it good practice to actively listen and learn how to observe while looking out for different things.
