Workshop #12: Research toolbox: Exploring innovation opportunities, emotion and desirability by Miriam Walker

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Research toolbox: Exploring innovation opportunities, emotion and desirability Miriam Walker 9 September 2016@miriamswalker

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Commerical in Confidence 2

Intros 9:30 Purpose of exploratory research 9:50 Transforming through research 10:10 Choosing research methods 10:20 Break 10:45 Personal journey maps 10:55 Magic thing 11:30 Microsoft Product Reaction Cards 12:00 Wrap up 12:10

Agenda

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Introduction

Your name" Your role""What you’d like to learn today

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Understand the role of exploratory research

Introduction


Understand the potential of research to transform

Learn to apply three research methods: •  Personal journey maps

•  Magic Thing

•  Microsoft Product Reaction Cards

Get better at choosing research methods for exploration

What you’ll learn!

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Purpose of exploratory research�

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Purpose of exploratory research

British Design Council: Double Diamond!

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Digital Arts Network (Auckland)

Discover Design Implement Measure MeasuredOutcome

Business Objective

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Exploration helps us find opportunities by: •  Understanding users •  Environments •  Business goals and technology



Types of research

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Transforming through research"

What don’t you !know, that you !don’t know?!

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Evaluation helps us select and iterate to: •  Choose the best ideas •  Refine and improve design •  Find problems



Types of research

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Measurement helps us: •  Understand what changed because of our

design

•  Identify areas for further improvement



Types of research

. . Purpose of exploratory research


What research methods "have you used? Two minutes to write down as many research methods as you’ve used (one per Post It)

. . Purpose of exploratory research


What don’t you know that "you don’t know? Which of your research methods are best at finding the things that you don’t know to ask? Stick your research method Post-Its on the wall

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Transforming through research�

. . Transforming through research


Coach and train new researchers

Demonstrate your methods to a colleague

Show the value by sharing outcomes and insights

Get product managers and business owners to observe

Provide input for business strategy and purpose

Explore opportunities, not just pain points

Create a user centred culture and organisation

. . Transforming through research


Hearts and !minds!

In small groups, 10 minutes to share your experiences: 1.  How have you shared your

research?

2.  Who did you involve?

3.  What were your goals by involving them?

4.  What was the impact?

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Choosing exploratory research methods�

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Dian Fossey ��An Anthropologist �who researched �Gorillas

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30313306

Choosing exploratory research methods

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The pinnacle of qualitative research? •  What questions was Dian "

trying to answer? •  What methods did she use? •  What were the strengths

and weaknesses of her methods?


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Scientists seek a "universal truth

By Rich Gold- approx 2001?

. . Choosing exploratory research methods


Scientific research often starts with a belief (the hypothesis)

E.g. chocolate helps people to sleep

The holy grail of science "research is proof



An experiment is designed to gather data to test the hypothesis (the methodology).

E.g. For 30 nights, students eat 100g dark choc at 9pm and rate their sleep /10 at 8am.




We try to avoid bias from participants and researchers.

E.g. Give 100g identical fake choc on half the nights. Each student has both fake and real chocolate (on different nights).




We run statistics to test whether we have supported or disproved the hypothesis.

E.g. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test indicates that sleeping after chocolate was significantly better than with fake chocolate Z = 21 p=0.027.




But we can’t conclusively prove the hypothesis over an alternative explanation.

E.g. Chocolate only increases students’ sleep OR our result applies only to Whittakers




Scientific research often starts with a belief (the hypothesis) An experiment is designed to gather data to test the hypothesis (the methodology). We try to avoid bias from participants and researchers. We run statistics to test whether we have supported or disproved the hypothesis. But we can’t conclusively prove the hypothesis over an alternative explanation.

E.g. chocolate helps people to sleep E.g. For 30 nights, students eat 100g dark choc at 9pm and rate their sleep /10 at 8am. E.g. Give 100g identical fake choc on half the nights. Each student has both fake and real chocolate (on different nights). E.g. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test indicates that sleeping after chocolate was significantly better than with fake chocolate Z = 21 p=0.027. E.g. chocolate only increases students’ sleep OR our result applies only to Whittakers

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Setting research goals: •  What do we want to know?

•  What are the opportunities?

•  Who are our target users?

•  What behaviours, attitudes, environments and products do we want to understand?

•  What do we already know or have?

•  Who are our competitors?



Exploratory research questions



Practicalities What research methods do you choose most often?

Why do you choose those methods?

What are the constraints that apply most often in your work?

10 minute group discussion.

Please appoint a spokesperson to share your key points.

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Research goals •  What do we want to know?

•  What are the opportunities?

•  Who are our target users?

•  What behaviours, attitudes, environments and products do we want to understand?

•  What do we already know or have?

•  Who are our competitors?



Exploratory research "planning questions

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Digital Arts Network often find ourselves running usability testing and interviews. These are generally 1:1 sessions Why?



Why are 1:1 methods "and usability testing "so popular?

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•  Explore details of something in the past

•  Avoid assumptions about what happens/ed

•  Understand emotions about current experiences

•  Increase empathy and understanding from researchers

•  Find new opportunities for design / pain points

•  Generate ideas •  Encourage positive and

negative feedback



Why expand our "techniques?

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10 minute break�

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Personal Journey Maps�

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Personal Journey Maps

Deciding to visit New Zealand

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Identify areas for improvement, based on pain points with a current experience. Explore experiences that take place over time (e.g. medical conditions from symptoms, through diagnosis and treatment) Explore strong emotions Understand where the user interacts with multiple touch-points.



Why map the journey "of an individual?

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Start with real stories and experiences Avoid creating journey maps that are aggregations of idealised user behaviour and experiences Exploring both positive and negative experiences.



How we map the journey

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1.  Provide the prompt “Tell me about your experience of …"

2.  Ask your participant to describe the steps

3.  Write one step per Post-It and add to the timeline

4.  Probe gently with “how did that feel” for painpoints and move the Post-Its up and down

5.  Probe for more details on key touch-points and steps – add more Post-Its into the timeline

6.  Use additional prompts “What happened next?” ”What did you do?” “What did you use?” “What did you see?” “Who did you talk to ?” “Who was with you?” “What did you say?”


The Process

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•  A user recounts a real experience from their lives

•  The user talks the researcher through each step

•  Add actions and interactions (touchpoints) at every step

•  Add emotions and pain points - probe and prompt gently

•  Identify pain points and areas for improvement

•  Discuss any obvious ideas for improvement (but don’t expect to solve everything in the session)



Mapping the journey "together

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Prompts: Where did you start? What happened? What happened next? Where did you start? What happened? What happened next?



Map of visiting the airport In groups of five people, the person who visited the airport most recently is your research participant.Story: Tell me about the last time you visited the airport.

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Personal Journey Maps to: •  Explore details of something

in the past •  Understand emotions •  Increase empathy and understanding

from researchers •  Find new opportunities and problems •  Avoid assumptions about

what happens/ed



Why would we use Personal Journey Maps?

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Magic Thing

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“Imagine you had a magic thing that could [solve your problems / make your life better / manage your health / achieve your goals / make travel more enjoyable / help you save money] …” Make a prototype! Sketch, act, construct.



Use, imagine or create "a magic thing

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•  What happens? •  What does your magic thing do? •  Why does that help you? •  What happens next? •  How does your magic thing change

your life? •  How often would you do this? When? •  Where would you do it? •  How important is this to you?



Probes for each usage scenario

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•  Problems, pain points and opportunities •  Ideas for solutions (though this is more

about understanding the opportunity for innovation than solving a problem)

•  You will be able to probe on why, when and how the problem happens

•  Where and when a product or service might be used

•  Ideas for using a new technology (e.g. this technique was used to explore mobile connected devices – in the 1990s)



What will you learn

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But magic thing is not so useful for understanding: •  How usage will evolve over time •  The effect of advertising or other

marketing on expectations of how something will be used



What will you learn

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Ideas for clients (or create your own) a)  Client A helps families hire nannies b)  Client B creates products for endurance

triathletes c)  Client C specialises in adventure travel

for people in wheelchairs



Activity: Plan a Magic Thing activity In pairs, you have 10 minutes to •  Pick a client •  Decide what you want to learn •  Decide who to recruit •  Write your Magic Thing instructions

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To deepen the scenario and add realism, ask participants to: •  Make a model of their magic thing

(playdough, popsicle sticks, pipecleaners) or sketch a picture and explain it

•  Give it a name •  Tell you “What is the first thing you see

when you open it up?” •  Prompt with “What else does it do?” •  Ask “How has it made your life better?” •  Perhaps act or roleplay with the the

interviewer



Extending Magic Thing

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Outside an interview: •  Use magic thing in a group, for role-

playing with others. To explore social and group usage.

•  Ask participants to carry their magic thing for several days and keep a note of how they use it - to explore mobility, time and real life needs. Some researchers have observed magic thing usage over several days.



Extending Magic Thing

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Magic Thing to understand: •  Pain points •  Expectations •  Explore opportunities for design •  (Sometimes) generate ideas •  Explore opportunities



Why would we use "Magic Thing?

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Microsoft Product Reaction Cards

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We want to know if a product or service is desirable. But: •  There is no single characteristic or

behaviour that makes products desirable (E.g. are we aiming for clean and easy-to-use OR engaging and inspiring)

•  Qualitative feedback is hard to summarise and compare across participants and products

•  Negative feedback can be hard to elicit from participants – people want to please

•  Comparing the product team’s goal with users’ experiences can feel like conflict



Why is desirability hard to measure?

. . Microsoft Product Reaction Cards


The complete set of 118 Product Reaction Cards Accessible Creative Fast Meaningful Slow Advanced Customizable Flexible Motivating Sophisticated Annoying Cutting edge Fragile Not Secure Stable Appealing Dated Fresh Not Valuable Sterile Approachable Desirable Friendly Novel Stimulating Attractive Difficult Frustrating Old Straight Forward Boring Disconnected Fun Optimistic Stressful Business-like Disruptive Gets in the way Ordinary Time-consuming Busy Distracting Hard to Use Organized Time-Saving Calm Dull Helpful Overbearing Too Technical Clean Easy to use High quality Overwhelming Trustworthy Clear Effective Impersonal Patronizing Unapproachable Collaborative Efficient Impressive Personal Unattractive Comfortable Effortless Incomprehensible Poor quality Uncontrollable Compatible Empowering Inconsistent Powerful Unconventional Compelling Energetic Ineffective Predictable Understandable Complex Engaging Innovative Professional Undesirable Comprehensive Entertaining Inspiring Relevant Unpredictable Confident Enthusiastic Integrated Reliable Unrefined Confusing Essential Intimidating Responsive Usable Connected Exceptional Intuitive Rigid Useful Consistent Exciting Inviting Satisfying Valuable Controllable Expected Irrelevant Secure Convenient Familiar Low Maintenance Simplistic

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Ask: •  How does using this product made you

feel? •  How does this service made you feel? •  How would you like to feel when using

this product? •  How would we like users of this product

to feel about the product?



Prompts Invite participants to pick 5 words

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The only word that’s ever misfired is Simplistic Google search dictionary: “treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler than they really are.” The meaning is negative But ”simplistic” is often misinterpreted as a fancy word for “simple”. So people think it’s positive.



A caution – “Simplistic” "is confusing

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Beware the word cloud Word clouds are misleading and not helpful for summarising qualitative data Phrases get split and lose meaning or context e.g. “Not helpful” or “Easy to use” “don’t like” Some words have different meanings in different contexts

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1.  Form product teams 2.  Each team has a secret product. Shhhh! 3.  Open your teams’ secret product

envelope. 4.  Each person picks the five words that

would make you love this product 5.  Combine your words - vote using

coloured dots 6.  – which words got the most votes for

your product? 7.  Fill in your product poster (five minutes)

Report back: “My ideal [product] is (word 1, word 2, word 3, word 4)



Activity: Describe desirability for your secret product

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Two minutes to guess the products "Put post-it notes with your guess next to the poster

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Product Reaction "Card usage

Use Microsoft Product Reaction Cards to: •  Understand the feeling you are trying to

create •  Test or demonstrate a prototype or

product with users •  Compare products (e.g. against

competitor’s products) •  Talk to current customers

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Wrap up

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Wrap up

Responding to "briefs

In groups, review your brief: •  What questions do you want to answer? •  What risks do you see in this project? •  What research methods could you apply?

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Wrap up

Why did we learn these techniques?

Personal Journey Maps to: •  Explore the past •  Understand emotions •  Increase empathy •  Find new opportunities •  Avoid assumptions

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Wrap up


Magic Thing to understand: •  Pain points •  Explore opportunities for design •  (Sometimes) generate ideas

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ClosWrap upe


Microsoft Product Reaction Cards: •  Elicit the desired and actual experience

qualitatively •  Get positive and negative feedback •  Allow comparison between participants

and products •  Make it easy to summarise qualitative

data

. . Wrap up


What worked well?

What could be improved?

Session feedback