In their 10 Research Guiding Principles (That We Live and Work By) webinar, hosted by User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA), Leah Rader and Beth Toland shared 10 guiding principles for conducting user research.
Rader and Toland discussed lessons learned from years of design research, specific ways you can try out the principles, and shared ideas and resources to learn more.
Here are my notes from their webinar.
1. Know thyself
Use the Johari Window as a lens. The concept of Johari Window is that our personality can be represented by a four-quadrant grid:
- Open self: what you know about yourself and what others know about you
- Blind self: what you don’t know and what others know about you
- Hidden self: what you know, but don’t share with others
- Unknown self: what you don’t know, and what others don’t either
How to Try it Out
- Use it as opportunity for you to grow and change
- The open self can be easy to work with others, while the hidden self can have trouble working with others. Reduce your blind spot: solicit feedback, share your hidden self
2. It’s okay to not know. Yet.
While imposter syndrome is one of the most discussed items in the work we do, it’s okay to now know all the answers when you’re conducting user research.
Example: you end up scrambling to find answers to things you don’t know. Which can compromise the quality of your work.
How to Try It Out
- Focus on facilitation, not only the answers.
- Be knowledgeable about the product or service so you can ask questions
- Read the book Art of Facilitation by Dale Hunter
- Read the short post, Reading the Room for 10 tips to better understand group dynamics and keep people engaged at your next meeting
3. Play with techniques
Time you have with a research participant is flexible. Research techniques are flexible, push the boundaries of how you use them.
Example: photo of index cards. Lay out cards. Let participant select a card to discuss.
How to Try It Out
- Bend the rules to see what happens. Example: design a participatory activity in your research. Perhaps have participants draw an idea, get participants out of answering your questions.
- Test drive a new idea/technique/tool with one person in one study
- Schedule a monthly meeting to intentionally play with unfamiliar techniques. Try something new.
4. While you’re at it, do a little more
Think of big picture, long view. Do strategic work on every project. Look for opportunities to dig deeper. Helps you to stay inspired!
How to Try It Out
- Tackle the backlog of knowledge gaps
- Help out another design team with “tag-on” research. Could you spend 5-10 minutes to answer their questions? Pay it forward!
5. Cross pollinate
Consciously widen the number of topics you absorb. You will find you connect with people more often when you can tell stories that they connect with.
Important to have diverse perspectives on your team.
How to Try It Out
- Read Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, where he discusses how the responsibility relies on you to develop creativity as a skill
- Cross-pollinate across domains that you’re less familiar with. Change up your media consumption (topics)
- Change channels where you get information. If you usually listen to podcasts, try Twitter or some other channel.
6. Mine your mind
How do you solve problems? Adjust your work process in how you solve easy and hard problems.
How to Try It Out
- Work to maximize subconscious contributions: easy problems look at them in the morning, resolve them in afternoon.
- For tough problems you discover during the day or night, sleep on them. Work on them in the morning.
7. Practice Sherpa Synthesis
Practice being a sherpa, an experienced guide that helps others.
As a UX researcher, you’re the sherpa. You’re facilitating the team. After a session, everyone wants to talk about what they’ve learned. Insights are stronger when you work together as a team.
Get shared understanding with mini-debriefs after a session. Hear what is important.
If you don’t have anyone to document that debrief, it’s better to not have it.
How to Try It Out
- If you don’t have anyone to document that debrief, it’s better to not have it
- For your mini-debrief, ask three questions: 1. What surprised us? 2. Any patterns or familiarity? You might have new perspective. 3. Any process improvements needed? (Did you need more time on a specific topic? Don’t be afraid to adjust!)
8. Make models, make friends
Use visual models to communicate.
Visual models tell stories, help make sense of things, help us communicate with each other better than text.
Models don’t have to be fancy or complex! Can help you show organization and priorities. They stick in our minds longer than words.
How to Try It Out
- Read articles by Hugh Dubberly. Especially his article, Models of Models.
- Practice visual modeling (start sketching!). Make sketches of your findings. Draw relationships, comparisons.
- Start small, start sketching on paper (private). When you’re more comfortable, put on white board.
9. Channel Safire
Follow New York Times writer William Safire’s approach for writing. Be critical of our writing, use plain language.
Avoid passive language in your writing. If you can put the phrase “by zombies” after your active verb, it’s passive.
How to Try It Out
- Listen to The Grammar Girl podcast
- Read How Not to Write by William Safire
- Read 30 Rules for Writing by William Safire (I couldn’t find his 30 rules, though I found many of his columns on language. Found this compilation of the 36 rules on LinkedIn.)
- Read 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing by Chuck Wendig
10. Be like Studs (Terkel)
Mimic Studs Terkel, a master interviewer who was able to get people to tell their stories.
He purposefully made a mistake during his interviews to reduce the power distance between himself as the interviewer and the person he was interviewing. (It can help to be inept.)
How to Try It Out
- Show your fallibility, which can help your participants to open up
- Put your participants at ease. Invite collaboration from participants.
- Read Convivial Toolbox: Generative Research for the Front End of Design by Liz Sanders
