The foundation of user
research
Insights that help to build better product
Borrys Hasian
www.borryshasian.com
I know that I know nothing.
Source: Quora
What (some) People Think
Research is expensive.
Hard to show immediate ROI.
Takes precious time at the beginning of the design and
development process.
UX / UI
User
Innovation
is the
sweetspot
Source: Dilbert Cartoon
User Research is about understanding
what people think, feel, and how they behave,
so we can help them to achieve their goals
(satisfy their needs, wants, and expectation)
...and by having positive impact to people,
it will help the business to grow.
Frog’s User Research Process
Rakuten Viki App
Before
After
One of the best iOS apps at
Apple’s WWDC 2018
A finalist for the
third-annual Google Play
Awards in 2018
Represent some of the best experiences
available on Android, with an emphasis on overall
quality, strong design, technical performance and
innovation.
1
2
3
4
5
Objective
Hypothesis
Methods
Conduct
Synthesis
Setting Research Objectives
Frame your design challenge and set research objective
Frame Your Design Challenge + Objective
1.
What is the problem we’re trying to solve?
2.
What’s the ultimate impact we want to have?
3.
Framing Questions (5W+1H). Generate as many questions as we could.
4.
What are the context and constraints?
5.
Design Challenge
6.
Set Research Objective
Frame Design Challenge
What is the problem we’re
trying to solve?
Increase the engagement of the viewers with the shows on
Viki.
What’s the ultimate impact we
want to have?
Viewers engage more with other users and with non-video
content of the shows they’re interested in.
Framing Questions (5W+1H)
(generate as many questions
as we could).
Who are our top users? What do they like from Viki?
When do they look for new show? Existing show?
Where do they watch drama? Why do they watch drama?
How do they get information about a new/good show?
What are the context and
constraints?
Main users are Americans. We’ll work on iOS first.
Design Challenge
How might we design an engaging and straightforward
container screen that helps users to start enjoying the shows
quickly?
Set Research
Objective
“Understand how people engage
with popular dramas, online and
offline, either through Viki or any
other online services.”
1
2
3
4
5
Objective
Hypothesis
Methods
Conduct
Synthesis
Hypothesis
What we believe we already know.
How to create
Hypothesis?
Take questions from Objective stage,
and write down/sketch the solutions to
those questions.
Hypothesis Examples
Viewers feel cool when he/she’s the first to watch a new episode.
Viewers are not interested to read news on Viki platform.
Viewers share the TV show they like to their social media.
Viewers use Google to search for the latest.
Viewers don’t watch trailer to decide to watch a show.
It’s difficult to read/write review of a show on the container page.
Most of the viewers put timed-comment only if it’s a popular show.
1
2
3
4
5
Objective
Hypothesis
Methods
Conduct
Synthesis
Methods
Picking the right research methods.
It’s like a Victorinox knife...
Different
Research
Methods
Source: Norman Nielsen’s
Article
Criteria in Choosing a Show
Users Who Refer to Rating and Reviews
5 Stars vs 10 Stars?
Diary Study
It’s like user writing a
diary, related to your
challenge or objective.
Field Study
There’s no better way to
understand the people
you’re designing for than
by immersing yourself in
their lives and day-to-day
activities.
Number of users for research
Source: Norman Nielsen’s Article
Number of users for
research
●
Diary Study: 5-1200
●
Interview: 12-20 (Qual), 30+ (Quan)
●
Survey: 60+ (#participants >#questions)
●
Card Sort: 15-30
●
Focus Group: 4-12/group, with 3-4 groups
per type of participants.
●
Field Study: 20-30
●
Usability: 15-30 (Quan), 3-15 (Qual)
User Persona
Demographic,
Psychographic? Is
there any better
way to segment
the users?
Users Maturity Level
Manager
Contributor
Drama addict
Returning user
First time user
Potential user
Lost user
In and out
Users Maturity Level
Watch 2
episodes (at
least 1 on air)
Watch 3
trailers
Watch 7 on air
episodes in a
week.
Drama addict
Manager
Contributor
10 weeks
Returning user
4 weeks
First time user
4 weeks
Potential user
Lost user
2 weeks
In and out
Watch 1
episodes
Group the Hypothesis
Viewers feel cool when he/she’s the first to watch a new episode.
Attitude-Related
Viewers are not interested to read news on Viki platform.
Viewers share the TV show they like to their social media.
Viewers use Google to search for the latest.
Behaviour-Related
Viewers don’t watch trailer to decide to watch a show.
It’s difficult to read/write review of a show on the container page.
Features-Related
Most of the viewers put timed-comment only if it’s a popular show.
Hypotheses and The Methods
Attitude-related hypothesis
Understanding and foundation:
● Survey.
● Contextual interview/Observational/Immersion
● Secondary research: Market/trend/competitive
exploration.
Behaviour-related hypothesis
Generating ideas and inspiration:
● Diary study.
● Card sorting.
● Participatory design.
● Prototyping.
Feature-related hypothesis
Evaluating and informing design:
● Usability testing.
● Heuristic evaluation.
● Prototyping.
1
2
3
4
5
Objective
Hypothesis
Methods
Conduct
Synthesis
Conduct
Meet the real users and learn.
Interview
●
●
●
●
●
●
Max. 3 people in the team to interview (Interviewer, note-taker, photographer).
Prepare a set of questions: start with broad questions about the person’s life,
values, and habits. Then ask specific questions related to your design challenge.
Ask open-ended questions instead of yes-or-no questions.
Write what the person says, not what you think they might mean.
On top of listening, observe the body language and the context.
Ask open questions, followed up by 5 Whys. Examples:
○
○
○
○
○
○
When was the last time you....?
Tell us about…?
What do you like or dislike about…?
How do you…?
What do you think about…?
Etc
Interview, example of questions
●
General
○
○
○
○
●
Specific
○
○
○
●
What do you do?
How do you spend your free time?
(If user watches drama) What’s your favorite drama?
How do you usually watch your favorite drama? etc.
How do you find out about upcoming and an on-air drama?
What made you decide to watch certain drama?
What do you like and dislike about watching drama on Viki? etc.
Basic format
○
○
○
○
How do you usually..?
What troubles you…?
What do you think about our…?
What do you expect…?
Simple model for user research notes
+what they liked
-What they didn’t like
* The ideas they
thought of
? The questions they
had
User needs statement
[user characteristic]
[user name]
__________
is a _______________________
[user need]
who needs (a way to) _________________
[insight]
because (they value) ___________________
________________________________________
Distill the
information from
the interview into a
succinct statement.
At the same time
generate a list of
user needs to
reference later.
Example of how to conduct User Interview
Interview - Get Out of the Building
“Excuse me! I’m a researcher, and today I’m
conducting research on ways to improve online
video experience for Korean/Japanese drama
viewers. Hearing about your experience would
be really valuable. Do you have 10 minutes to
answer some questions, and we’ll give you a
FREE cup of coffee?”
1
2
3
4
5
Objective
Hypotheses
Methods
Conduct
Synthesis
Synthesis
Making sense of the data
Downloading
Share Your Learnings.
Each takes turn to paste
his/her learnings, and
share with everyone
about this stories,
learnings, or hunches.
Find Pattern
Create Insights
Statement.
Put Insights
into
Experience Map
ありがとう
Borrys Hasian
www.borryshasian.com