This content originally appeared on NN/g latest articles and announcements and was authored by Mayya Azarova
Summary: Stay focused and avoid long complaint sessions during a field study by communicating the purpose of the visit early on, maintaining the partnership relationship with participants, and looking for concrete examples over abstract generalizations.
The practice of shadowing is widespread in the corporate world. Interns, apprentices, or new hires will observe colleagues to understand how they do their job. A short period of shadowing an experienced staff member is often used to help people learn how to execute a particular task.
Field studies are a UX research method that is rooted in the practice of shadowing. Field studies involve observing and interviewing participants in their environment while they engage in their natural behavior and complete their daily routines. A field study will often target a specific activity and audience. For example, you might want to see how people make purchase decisions, use devices, or interact with others at work. The crucial aspect is for you to go wherever your users are — in an office, a vehicle, a store, on the street, or on a production line.
When shadowing a user in a field study, you follow her around, take notes of what’s happening, and choose whether to interfere and ask questions on the spot or wait until the end of the activity (or the session) and ask questions afterward. Two types of field studies are contextual inquiry and direct observation . In contextual inquiries , researchers can intervene by clarifying questions during the activity; in direct observation , the interaction between the researcher and the participant is kept at a minimum during the activity of interest, and questions are usually reserved for the end of the activity or the session.
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This content originally appeared on NN/g latest articles and announcements and was authored by Mayya Azarova
Mayya Azarova | Sciencx (2022-10-09T17:00:00+00:00) Why Field-Study Sessions Go Wrong: 5 Common Problems. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/10/09/why-field-study-sessions-go-wrong-5-common-problems/
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