ethnographic techniques and usability 19Aug05

Screenshot: uigarden.net

Gretchen Anderson published an article about "Making use of user research" at uigarden.net:

"Designing or redesigning a product often feels like a risky proposition, especially in today's business climate. Those responsible for defining the product offering and marketing want reliable, measurable data to define success both incrementally and overall.

Hard data helps us make choices about where to spend resources, but placing a product under the microscope every step of the way can also introduce as many opportunities for error as it avoids. By focusing on how a product performs in the lab without broader knowledge of the user's environment and goals, measurement alone may be misleading. To get the most value and meaning out of user feedback it is important to choose the appropriate method for conducting and analyzing user research.

User research can be roughly broken down into two types: usability testing and ethnographic field research. Many people are already familiar with usability testing, and many companies make use of it during development. However, ethnographic field research can yield valuable results for improving products that can't be easily measured by usability testing.

While many usability and research professionals are familiar with these techniques, to those responsible for managing product development, research may seem like time taken out of the development cycle. But, by understanding how different types of feedback from actual users fit into the development process, product managers, developers, and marketers can make better choices about a product and its focus."

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Making use of user research