UX gym day 1

Today we learnt about different methods of user research:

- assumption mapping

- observational research

- survey

- diary study

- observational interview

We also put two of those methods into practice: observational research and observational interview.

Assumption mapping

We split into groups and tried to assume what a person would do if they had to get from point A to point B by taking a bus.

What went well:

We got into a lot of details and made a lot of what seemed to be good assumptions.

What didn't go well: 

We forgot to consider those who actually take the bus on a daily basis.

Observational research

We split once again into different groups and went on a mission to get coffee from the railway station (or somewhere nearby). We were given new snapper cards and 25 dollars (20 for topping up the snapper and 5 for the drink). The participant's main task was to get to the station by bus and the researcher's task was to observe their behavior in detail and take notes.

What went well:

I think this exercise was quite useful and being put under pressure of being watched by other group members we were making mistakes that people could be making if they are anxious about taking the bus for the fist time or being in a rush.

What didn't go well: 

I think because this task was combined with the observational interview and some participants became also the interviewers for another task (observational interview) they were busy talking to strangers on the bus (which wouldn't be a regular thing to do) which didn't allow the observers to see natural behavior during the bus ride.

Observational interview

Another challenge was to approach strangers on the bus and ask the questions about public transport as well as observe their behavior in the bus.

What went well:

A few of us managed to overcome their fear and approach strangers and find out some useful information about public transport.

What didn't go well: 

As it is quite rare to catch a person on the bus who is taking it to a new unfamiliar location (what we aimed for with our assumptions in class) most questions didn't really apply to the people we spoke to as they knew exactly where they are going because they are going to that destination on a daily basis.

Apart from that, because the bus ride wasn't a very long one and also probably because of our anxiety having to approach strangers and take notes we didn't have much time and also forgot to observe actual natural behavior of the person we spoke to.

What could be improved: Because these two exercises seemed to affect each other quite a lot I would suggest do do it in 3 stages (bus rides)

1. Concentrate on observing a team mate only because it gives the opportunity to watch the behavior all the way through the journey (from point A to the bus stop, during the bus ride and from bus stop to point B).

2. Observe people on the bus (concentrating on 1-6 particular people preferably different age groups, sexes, etc.) and takes notes. That allows to get some variety of participants, allows to concentrate on their behavior during the bus ride and observe it in the least intrusive way.

3. Travel the journey to allow other group members observe me performing the task (getting from point A to point B).

Even though some of the research didn't go as smoothly as we were hoping it would we still managed to get some useful data out of these exercises.