{"id":17071,"date":"2019-02-04T15:04:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T15:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=17071"},"modified":"2022-03-25T07:04:09","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T07:04:09","slug":"7-deadly-sins-user-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/7-deadly-sins-user-research\/","title":{"rendered":"The 7 Deadly Sins of User\u00a0Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/0E1u-16ZVajiUzi6F.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6580\" src=\"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/0E1u-16ZVajiUzi6F.png\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><em>This essay is taken from an upcoming book by David Travis &amp; Philip Hodgson titled 'Think Like a UX Researcher'. You can <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/uxresearchbook.com\">find out more about the book here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">It\u2019s fashionable to blame poor usability on firms not doing enough customer research. On the face of it, this seems like the obvious cause of poor usability. If firms only did the research, they would realise their product was a dud. But, like all obvious reasons, it\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">In reality, there\u2019s never been a better time to be a purveyor of customer research tools. Every organisation seems to want to \u201ctake the temperature\u201d of their customers. Take a quick look in your junk folder at the number of times you\u2019ve been asked to complete a survey over the last month. If it\u2019s like mine, it will number in the double digits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">The problem isn\u2019t with the <strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">quantity<\/strong> of <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"https:\/\/ballparkhq.com\/?utm_campaign=Ballpark%20SEO&amp;utm_source=marvelblog\" title=\"user research\">user research<\/a>. It\u2019s with the <strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">quality<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Organisations struggle to distinguish good user research from bad user research<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Here are 7 examples of poor user research practice that I\u2019ve come across in my work with clients \u2014 along with some ideas on how to fix them.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s list list--unordered marginBottom-l lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">\n<li>Credulity<\/li>\n<li>Dogmatism<\/li>\n<li>Bias<\/li>\n<li>Obscurantism<\/li>\n<li>Laziness<\/li>\n<li>Vagueness<\/li>\n<li>Hubris<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Credulity<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">The dictionary defines credulity as a state of willingness to believe something without proper proof. The form this takes in user research is asking users what they want (and believing the answer).<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">A couple of months ago I was attending a usability study on behalf of a client. I\u2019m there because the client thinks that the usability tests they are running aren\u2019t delivering much predictive value. The client was concerned they weren\u2019t recruiting the right kind of people or maybe the analysis wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">As I sat in the observation room, I watched the administrator show three alternative designs of a user interface to the participant and ask: \u201cWhich of these three do you prefer? Why?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Asking people what they want is very tempting. It has obvious face validity. It seems to make sense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">But it\u2019s also wrong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Here\u2019s why. Nearly 40 years ago, psychologists Richard Nisbett and Timothy Wilson carried out some research outside a bargain store in Ann Arbor, Michigan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">The researchers set up a table outside the store with a sign that read, \u201cConsumer Evaluation Survey \u2014 Which is the best quality?\u201d On the table were four pairs of ladies\u2019 stockings, labelled A, B, C and D from left to right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Most people (40%) preferred D, and fewest people (12%) preferred A.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">On the face of it, this is just like the usability test I observed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">But there\u2019s a twist. All the pairs of stockings were identical. The reason most people preferred D was simply a position effect: <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/people.virginia.edu\/~tdw\/nisbett&amp;wilson.pdf\">the researchers knew that people show a marked preference for items on the right side of a display<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">But when the researchers asked people why they preferred the stockings that they chose, no-one pointed to the position effect. People said their chosen pair had a superior denier, or more sheerness or elasticity. The researchers even asked people if they may have been influenced by the order of the items, but of course people looked at the researchers like they were crazy. Instead, people confabulated: they made up plausible reasons for their choice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">There\u2019s an invisible thread joining the study by Nisbett and Wilson and the usability test I observed. The reason I call the thread \u2018invisible\u2019 is because few user researchers seem to be aware of it \u2014 despite the fact that there\u2019s a whole sub-discipline of psychology called <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Prospect_theory\">Prospect Theory<\/a> devoted to it \u2014 and that <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Daniel_Kahneman\">Daniel Kahneman<\/a> won a Nobel prize for exploring the effect.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s position-relative marginTopBottom-l breakPointM-marginTopBottom-xl\"><div class=\"blog-quote-before position-absolute bg-marvel\"><\/div><div class=\"tweet-quote blog-quote-after position-absolute bg-marvel cursor-pointer transitionDuration-l transitionProperty-all transitionTimingFunction-cv-easeOutCircular scaleUp--hover zi-weak\"><svg class=\"fill-white opacity-0 pointerEvents-none position-absolute pinCenter transitionProperty-all transitionTimingFunction-easeInOut\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"20\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 20\"><path d=\"M24,2.37a9.64,9.64,0,0,1-2.83.79A5,5,0,0,0,23.34.37a9.72,9.72,0,0,1-3.13,1.23A4.86,4.86,0,0,0,16.62,0a5,5,0,0,0-4.8,6.2A13.87,13.87,0,0,1,1.67.92,5.13,5.13,0,0,0,3.19,7.67,4.81,4.81,0,0,1,1,7a5,5,0,0,0,3.95,5,4.82,4.82,0,0,1-2.22.09,4.94,4.94,0,0,0,4.6,3.51A9.72,9.72,0,0,1,0,17.73,13.69,13.69,0,0,0,7.55,20c9.14,0,14.31-7.92,14-15A10.17,10.17,0,0,0,24,2.37Z\"\/><\/svg><\/div><p class=\"blog-quote position-relative textAlign-center c-marvel\"><span class=\"blog-quote-text transitionDuration-l transitionProperty-all transitionTimingFunction-easeInOut\">\"People don\u2019t have reliable insight into their mental processes, so there is no point asking them what they want.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">In practice, this means it\u2019s a bit like Fight Club: the first rule of finding out what people want is: don\u2019t ask people what they want.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">I think this quotation from Rob Fitzpatrick (author of <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/momtestbook.com\/\">The Mom Test<\/a>) captures it perfectly:<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><span class=\"long-quote\">&quot;Trying to learn from customer conversations is like excavating a delicate archaeological site. The truth is down there somewhere, but it\u2019s fragile. While each blow with your shovel gets you closer to the truth, you\u2019re liable to smash it into a million little pieces if you use too blunt an instrument.&quot;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">How can we overcome this problem?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">My definition of a successful user research study is one that give us <strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">actionable and testable insights into users\u2019 needs<\/strong>. It\u2019s no good asking people what they like or dislike, asking them to predict what they would do in the future, or asking them to tell us what other people might do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">The best way of gaining actionable and testable insights is not to ask, but to observe. Your aim is to observe for long enough so that you can make a decent guess about what\u2019s going on. Asking direct questions will encourage confabulation, not tell you what is actually going on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">There are two ways to observe. We can observe how people solve the problem now. Or we can teleport people to the future and get them using our solution (a prototype) to see where the issues will arise.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s position-relative marginTopBottom-l breakPointM-marginTopBottom-xl\"><div class=\"blog-quote-before position-absolute bg-marvel\"><\/div><div class=\"tweet-quote blog-quote-after position-absolute bg-marvel cursor-pointer transitionDuration-l transitionProperty-all transitionTimingFunction-cv-easeOutCircular scaleUp--hover zi-weak\"><svg class=\"fill-white opacity-0 pointerEvents-none position-absolute pinCenter transitionProperty-all transitionTimingFunction-easeInOut\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"20\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 20\"><path d=\"M24,2.37a9.64,9.64,0,0,1-2.83.79A5,5,0,0,0,23.34.37a9.72,9.72,0,0,1-3.13,1.23A4.86,4.86,0,0,0,16.62,0a5,5,0,0,0-4.8,6.2A13.87,13.87,0,0,1,1.67.92,5.13,5.13,0,0,0,3.19,7.67,4.81,4.81,0,0,1,1,7a5,5,0,0,0,3.95,5,4.82,4.82,0,0,1-2.22.09,4.94,4.94,0,0,0,4.6,3.51A9.72,9.72,0,0,1,0,17.73,13.69,13.69,0,0,0,7.55,20c9.14,0,14.31-7.92,14-15A10.17,10.17,0,0,0,24,2.37Z\"\/><\/svg><\/div><p class=\"blog-quote position-relative textAlign-center c-marvel\"><span class=\"blog-quote-text transitionDuration-l transitionProperty-all transitionTimingFunction-easeInOut\">\"The key point is: What people say is not as useful as what people do, because people are unreliable witnesses.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Dogmatism<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Dogmatism is the tendency to lay down principles as undeniably true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others. The form this takes in user research is believing there is one \u2018right\u2019 way to do research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">I\u2019m sure we\u2019ve all worked with people who think that a survey is \u201cthe right way\u201d to understand user needs. Perhaps because we hear about surveys every day in the news, people tend to think of them as being more reliable or useful. The notion of using an alternative method, like a site visit or a customer interview, doesn\u2019t have the same face validity because the sample size is comparatively small.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">But sadly, having a large number of respondents in a survey will never help you if you don\u2019t know <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/www.userfocus.co.uk\/articles\/websurveys.html\">the right questions to ask<\/a>. That\u2019s where <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/www.userfocus.co.uk\/articles\/field_interviews.html\">site visits and customer interviews<\/a> come in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Site visits and customer interviews are a great way to get insights into your users needs, goals and behaviours. But these aren\u2019t the only solution either.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Recently I worked with a user researcher who seemed to think there was no room for any research method other than customer interviews. To validate personas: run more customer interviews. To identify your top tasks: run more customer interviews. To compare two alternative landing pages: run more customer interviews.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This kind of dogmatism is unhelpful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Site visits and customer interviews give you signposts, not definitive answers. It\u2019s broad brush stuff, a bit like the weather forecast. There may be some patterns in the data, but these aren\u2019t as useful as the conversation you have with users and the things you observe them do. It\u2019s those conversations that help you identify the gap between what people say and what they do \u2014 and that is often a design opportunity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">But there comes a point when you need to validate your findings from site visits and customer interviews by triangulation: the combination of methodologies in the study of the same phenomenon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Quantitative data tells us <strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">what<\/strong> people are doing. Qualitative data tells us <strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">why<\/strong> people are doing it. <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/www.userfocus.co.uk\/articles\/datathink.html\">The best kind of research combines the two kinds of data<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">For example, you might choose a survey to validate personas you\u2019ve developed through site visits. Or you might choose multivariate A\/B testing to fine tune a landing page that you\u2019ve developed by usability testing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Triangulation is like having different camera angles in a movie. It would be hard to understand the full picture of what is going on in a movie if every frame was shot as a close-up. Similarly, it would be difficult to understand the story if every image was shot as a wide angle view. Like movies, you want your research to show the close-ups but you also want to see the bigger picture.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Bias<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Bias means a special influence that sways one\u2019s thinking, especially in a way considered to be unfair.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">User research is a continual fight against bias. There are a handful of different kinds of bias that matter in user research, but it\u2019s response bias I want to discuss here. This is caused by the way in which you collect data.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Sometimes the bias is obvious. For example, if you ask poor questions you\u2019re likely to get participants to tell you what you want to hear. You can correct this bias by teaching people to ask the right questions. But there\u2019s an even more pernicious type of response bias that\u2019s much harder to correct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This happens when the design team carry out the research and find that people don\u2019t really have a need for the product or service. It\u2019s tempting to hide this from senior managers because no-one wants to be the purveyor of bad news.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">But if there\u2019s no need for your product, there\u2019s no point trying to convince senior managers that there is?\u2014?you\u2019ll be found out in the end. It\u2019s a bad idea to cherry pick the results to support what a senior person wants to hear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">You shouldn\u2019t approach interviews with a vested interest: the user researcher\u2019s job isn\u2019t to convince people to use a service, or to get the results management want; it\u2019s about digging for the truth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t have a point of view. You should. Your point of view should be to help the design team understand the data, not just tell the design team what they want to hear.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Obscurantism<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Obscurantism is the practice of deliberately preventing the full details of something from becoming known. The form this sin takes in user research is keeping the findings in the head of one person.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">User research is often assigned to a single person on a team. That person becomes the spokesperson for user needs, the team\u2019s expert on users.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This approach is a poor way to do research, and not just because the user researcher doesn\u2019t know all the answers. The reason it fails is because it encourages the design team to delegate all responsibility for understanding users to one person.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Caroline Jarrett has captured it well in this tweet.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">User researcher's fallacy: \"My job is to learn about users\". Truth: \"My job is to help my team learn about users\". <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ux?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ux<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">\u2014 Caroline Jarrett (@cjforms) <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cjforms\/status\/485001003226648577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 4, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This means user researchers are facilitators as much as researchers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">One way you can prevent this sin on your own project is to encourage everyone on the team to get their \u201cexposure hours\u201d. Jared Spool has introduced us to this notion. His research shows that the most effective design teams spend at least two hours every six weeks observing users (for example, in field visits or usability tests).<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">What you\u2019re aiming for here is building a user centred culture. You do that by encouraging the whole design team to engage with users. But you also need to design iteratively. And that takes me to my next sin.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Laziness<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Laziness is the state of being unwilling to exert oneself. The form this takes in user research is in recycling old research data as if it\u2019s boilerplate that can be cut and pasted into a new project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">My favourite example of this comes from the world of personas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">I find that clients often approach the process of developing personas as a one-time activity. They will hire an outside firm to do field research with the requisite number of users. That firm will analyse the data and create a set of beautifully presented personas. Now we already know this is a bad idea because of the sin of Obscurantism. We want the design team doing the research, not an external firm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">But let\u2019s ignore that issue for a moment. The reason I\u2019m using personas as an example here is because I\u2019m often asked by a client if they can re-use their personas. They are now working on a new project, which has a passing resemblance to one on which they developed personas last year. Since their customers are basically the same, isn\u2019t it OK to recycle the existing personas?<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This idea so misses the point of what user research is about that it serves as a good example.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Here\u2019s a secret many people don\u2019t know: you don\u2019t need to create personas to be user centred. User centred design is not about personas. In fact, personas really don\u2019t matter. Creating personas should never be your goal \u2014 understanding users\u2019 needs, goals and motivations should be your goal. In some ways, a set of beautifully formatted personas is just proof that you met with users, in the same way that a selfie with a celebrity proves you were at the same restaurant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">The world you want to move to is one where the design team knows its users so well that personas aren\u2019t needed. You don\u2019t get to this world by recycling old research. You do it by making user research part of the culture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">We\u2019ve known for a long time now that you achieve user centred design by iteration: you build something, you measure its usability, you learn from it and you redesign. Re-using old data, whether it\u2019s in the form of personas, usability tests or field visits, is not iterating \u2014 and it\u2019s certainly not learning.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Vagueness<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Vagueness means not clearly or explicitly stated or expressed. In terms of user research, I see it when a team fails to focus on a single key research question and instead tries to answer several questions at once.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This sin is partly caused by the sin of laziness. If you do research only occasionally, you need to answer lots of questions. This means you end up learning a little about a lot. In fact, you can learn an important lesson about user research from a dishwasher. If you cram a lot in, nothing gets very clean.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">With user research, you actually want to learn a lot about a little. That \u201clittle\u201d question is the specific question that\u2019s keeping you up at night. To uncover this question, I ask the design team to imagine the most useful, actionable research results possible. What would they tell us? How would we use them?<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Everyone on the team should agree on the questions you plan to answer and the assumptions you plan to test. These top questions should be the drivers of every research activity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This means you need to get specific with your research questions: you should be able to articulate your research questions on a couple of small sticky notes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">In fact, that leads me to an interesting exercise you can do to discover your focus question.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Sit the design team in a room. Give each person a set of sticky notes. Tell them to imagine that we have an all-knowing, insightful user outside the room who will answer truthfully any question we throw at them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">What questions would you ask?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">I get the team to write one question per sticky note. After 5 minutes, we work as a team to affinity sort the sticky notes. Then we dot-vote on the group of questions that are most urgent to answer. This idea works well because we not only identify the high-level theme but we also have a list of the specific questions to which we need to get answers.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Hubris<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Last but not least we have Hubris. Hubris means extreme pride or self-confidence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">In user research, it takes the form of taking undue pride in your reports. All user researchers suffer from this to some extent, but those with PhDs are the worst. And I say that as someone with a PhD.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">User researchers love data. And when you love something, you want to share it with people. So you create detailed reports packed with graphs and quotations and screenshots and callouts. Look at my data! Look at how beautiful it is!<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Sadly, few other people are as fascinated by data as we are. Our challenge is to turn that data into information, and then turn that information into insight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">There are two problems with excessive detail.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s list list--unordered marginBottom-l lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">\n<li><strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">People don\u2019t read the report<\/strong>. They turn the page, see more data, appreciate how clever you are, get bored, move on.<\/li>\n<li><strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Overly-detailed reports delay the design process<\/strong>. You don\u2019t need to do extensive analyses in Morae or Excel to find the top problems. That analysis is useful later, when you want to dig into the details, but the critical findings need to be fed back quickly. This is so the design can be modified and so the build-measure-learn cycle can continue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Instead, you need to create information radiators (like <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/www.userfocus.co.uk\/articles\/dashboard.html\">usability dashboards<\/a> and <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/www.userfocus.co.uk\/articles\/usability_test_plan_dashboard.html\">1-page test plans<\/a>) to get teams understanding the data so they can take action on it. Information radiators are essentially advertising billboards that gradually permeate the team\u2019s awareness of your results. As a general rule, if people need to turn the page, your report is too long. So ask yourself: how can we capture the results in a single glance?<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This could be a concise visual way of presenting research data, like a <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/beginners-guide-user-journey-mapping\/\">user journey map<\/a>, a persona, or a usability testing results dashboard.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">What does good user research look\u00a0like?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">As I\u2019ve reviewed these sins, you may have noticed that many of them appear to have a common cause: the root cause is an organisational culture that can\u2019t distinguish good user research from bad user research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Companies say they they value great design. But they assume that to do great design they need a rock star designer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">But great design doesn\u2019t live inside designers. It lives inside your users\u2019 heads. You get inside your users heads by doing good user research: research that provides actionable and testable insights into users\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s position-relative marginTopBottom-l breakPointM-marginTopBottom-xl\"><div class=\"blog-quote-before position-absolute bg-marvel\"><\/div><div class=\"tweet-quote blog-quote-after position-absolute bg-marvel cursor-pointer transitionDuration-l transitionProperty-all transitionTimingFunction-cv-easeOutCircular scaleUp--hover zi-weak\"><svg class=\"fill-white opacity-0 pointerEvents-none position-absolute pinCenter transitionProperty-all transitionTimingFunction-easeInOut\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"20\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 20\"><path d=\"M24,2.37a9.64,9.64,0,0,1-2.83.79A5,5,0,0,0,23.34.37a9.72,9.72,0,0,1-3.13,1.23A4.86,4.86,0,0,0,16.62,0a5,5,0,0,0-4.8,6.2A13.87,13.87,0,0,1,1.67.92,5.13,5.13,0,0,0,3.19,7.67,4.81,4.81,0,0,1,1,7a5,5,0,0,0,3.95,5,4.82,4.82,0,0,1-2.22.09,4.94,4.94,0,0,0,4.6,3.51A9.72,9.72,0,0,1,0,17.73,13.69,13.69,0,0,0,7.55,20c9.14,0,14.31-7.92,14-15A10.17,10.17,0,0,0,24,2.37Z\"\/><\/svg><\/div><p class=\"blog-quote position-relative textAlign-center c-marvel\"><span class=\"blog-quote-text transitionDuration-l transitionProperty-all transitionTimingFunction-easeInOut\">\"Great design is a symptom. It\u2019s a symptom of a culture that values user centred design.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">And bad design is a symptom too. It\u2019s a symptom of an organisation that can\u2019t distinguish good user research from bad user research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">And perhaps that\u2019s the deadliest sin of them all.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">What next?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Why not join the thousands of other people taking my <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"http:\/\/uxtraining.net\/\">free online user experience lessons<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><em>This article was originally published on <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@userfocus\/the-7-deadly-sins-of-user-research-22857c5a971b\">David's Medium page<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This essay is taken from an upcoming book by David Travis &amp; Philip Hodgson titled &#8216;Think Like a UX Researcher&#8217;. You can find out more about the book here. It\u2019s fashionable to blame poor usability on firms not doing enough customer research. On the face of it, this seems like the obvious cause of poor usability. If firms only did&#8230; <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\" href=\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/7-deadly-sins-user-research\/\">Read More &#65515;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":275,"featured_media":17081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[378],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v15.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/7-deadly-sins-user-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 7 Deadly Sins of User\u00a0Research | Marvel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This essay is taken from an upcoming book by David Travis &amp; Philip Hodgson titled &#039;Think Like a UX Researcher&#039;. You can find out more about the book here. It\u2019s fashionable to blame poor usability on firms not doing enough customer research. On the face of it, this seems like the obvious cause of poor usability. If firms only did... 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He has been carrying out ethnographic field research and running product usability tests since 1989. 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