AFFINITY MAPPING UX EXAMPLE HOW TO
AFFINITY MAPPING UX EXAMPLE UPDATE

As a general rule, it’s better to observe behavior and ask about preferences. If you’ve ever watched a cop show and thought “I have no idea where I was on the night of April 9!” you know that self-reporting your behavior is tricky.

They’re really good for answering questions of scale, like how common a problem is or how large its effects are.Īnother thing to think about is whether you’re trying to understand users’ behavior or their attitudes and preferences. Quantitative methods, like surveys and analytics, are close-ended and specific. They’re open-ended and help you gather a wide range of information, so they tend to be great for answering questions like why the problem exists or what it looks like. Qualitative methods, like research and observation, are great for exploratory research early on, when you want to understand the basic problem. Using the wrong research method is like bringing cotton candy to a gunfight, which sounds delicious but unwise.Ī great starting point is deciding whether you need qualitative or quantitative data. It’s important to choose a research method that will get the right kind of data to answer your research question. Once you figure out what questions you want to explore, you can think about how you’ll find your answers. Any of these might be good research questions to guide your project. Then ask questions about the problem-maybe why it exists, how users feel about it, or how widespread it is. So start by defining the problem you want to explore. Research typically seeks to understand a problem, either something people struggle with in life or a difficulty they experience when using your product. So how do you write a strong research question? Good question. Depending on what stage of your project you’re in, your research question might be really general or very specific. It’s not the questions you ask research participants on a survey or in an interview, though those should all help you gather information that answers the larger research question. A research question is the unanswered question that’s driving you to do research in the first place. This might sound obvious, but before you start, you need to be clear on the research question(s) you want to answer. Figure Out What You’re Doing And Whyĭon’t just do research, do research into something.

AFFINITY MAPPING UX EXAMPLE UPDATE

Update what you know, and what you don’t.

This article gives you five principles you can use to structure and conduct any research project, regardless of how formal or quick-and-dirty it is.

AFFINITY MAPPING UX EXAMPLE HOW TO

How to conduct user experience research like a professional?.

What is user research, and what’s its purpose?.

If you’re just starting out in UX research, I really recommend checking out this set of seven introductory UX research tutorials, as well as the following two guides for beginners. Now in UX design, I apply the same approach to planning and conducting primary research directly with users. In my previous career I was a librarian, which means I spent most of my time helping people plan and do research with secondary sources. While research can be highly formalized or guerrilla-style, following some core principles will help you get the information you need on any project. Research is an excellent way to understand more about users’ interactions with a product.

Affinity mapping ux example