Understand people

A method in which people are observed and asked questions while they carry out their tasks in their own setting, like an apprentice beside a master.

Output

Notes on how a person works in their setting, and why

Avoid

Turning it into a sit-down interview far from where everything happens: ask the person to show you how they do it, as if you were going to learn their job.

An observation method in which you accompany a person for a period, like their shadow, to see what they do, with whom, and why.

Output

Notes on a person’s complete routine

Avoid

Intervening or giving opinions while you observe: it changes what the person does.

Studying a group by spending time with it in its own setting, observing and taking part, to understand its practices and what they mean to its members.

Output

A description of a group’s practices and what they mean to its members

Avoid

Calling a one-afternoon visit ethnography: it takes time and repeat visits.

Accompany a person during an everyday activity in their own setting, like shopping or getting around their neighborhood, and talk about what happens in the moment.

Output

Notes and observations of an activity seen in its real context

Avoid

Turning it into a tour led by you: let the person set the route.

A long, open, guided conversation with a single person to understand in detail their experiences, motivations and way of seeing a topic.

Output

Detailed accounts of experiences and motivations

Avoid

Asking for general opinions instead of concrete stories (“the last time you…”), asking leading questions or selling your idea.

A conversation led by a moderator with a small group on a specific topic, to learn their opinions and how they build them by talking to each other.

Output

A group’s opinions and how they build them through conversation

Avoid

Using it to measure how many people prefer something: it is small and the group sways opinions.

A questionnaire with the same questions for many people, designed to measure in numbers how many think, do or prefer something.

Output

Numerical data on what many people think, do or prefer

Avoid

Asking about what they will do in the future (“would you use it?”): what people say they will do isn’t what they later do.

Participants record their activities, experiences or emotions over a period at the moment they happen, using text, photos or audio.

Output

Records of activities and emotions noted in the moment

Avoid

Asking for too much each day: people stop writing.

Writing each research observation on a note and grouping the notes by affinity, bottom-up, until the themes that connect them emerge.

Output

Observations grouped into themes

Avoid

Starting with categories already decided: that way you only confirm what you believed.

The process of organizing, grouping, and interpreting what has been researched until patterns, insights, and design opportunities emerge.

Avoid

Jumping from data to solutions without going through interpretation.

A new, well-grounded interpretation about people and their context that explains why they do what they do and opens design opportunities.

Avoid

Calling a piece of data or a team opinion an insight.

A method for summarizing research in a few fictional characters, with a name, goals and context, who represent groups of users.

Output

A few fictional characters, with a name, goals and context

Avoid

Making them up in an afternoon or filling them with stereotypes and details that don't help decide.

A method for representing a person's path through a service, step by step, with their actions, touchpoints, emotions and pain points.

Output

A step-by-step map of the journey, with actions, touchpoints, emotions and pain points

Avoid

Drawing it from the office without talking to anyone: it will be the team's opinion, not the real experience.