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Some questions we want you to answer:

1. Which stories were most surprising, revealing, or inspiring?

2. What is the significance of exercise to the people you spoke with?

3. What are some contradictions between…– people saying one thing and doing another– what exercise means to people and how they act– a product or service that portrays one thing and does another

§ Why do people struggle or succeed to incorporate exercise into everyday life?

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Observation and Needfinding

Innovation Barry-Kahn

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Ask/Answer Exercise:

1. Pair up

2. Spend 5 minutes interviewing your partner:

Topic:

• What was it like for you to do the observation and talk to people you don’t know?

• If they didn’t talk to strangers, why not?[Remember to get the why behind their answers.]

3. Switch roles.

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Ethnography Guidelines

What are the keys tohaving a successful interview?

Reflect on what just happened with the Ask/Answer Exercise

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Ethnography Overview

Ethnographic Research

• Ethnography is the rigorous study of the routine daily lives of people in a culture.

• To understand a group from their point of view as well as our own.

• Ethnography uncovers user’s needs, and explanations for “why” people do what they do.

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Ethnography Overview

What is a need?

• Most simply, a need is something missing

• Users typically cannot articulate what’s missing

• Our process is as much like detective work as research

• Looks broad and deep• Infers models to explain• Identifies gaps and inconsistencies

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Ethnography Overview

Needfinding: Process for getting beyond what people say and do

• Like an iceberg, some needs are apparent and easy to see; other needs are deep and “hidden”

• Explicit needs come from above the waterline and lead to incremental improvements Explicit needs come from direct

techniques

• Understanding implicit needs leads to unique insights and big new ideas Implicit needs come from stories. People can not always tell you

what’s important

“Cultural Iceberg”

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Ethnography Overview

Getting to Why

• Ethnographic research starts with basic questions

• Then moves beyond the what’s

• To understand the why’s

• From actions to feelings

• People make sense.

• Designing for usability addresses “what”. Innovation comes from understand “why”.

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Methods

• Interviews

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Interview

• An extended open-ended interview exploring needs, emotions, and aspirations

• The interview is a partnership with the participants. This requires empathy, listening, and openness.

• The interview is more than data gathering. You must be ready to hear something new and be changed by it.

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Interview

• Semi-structured

• A field guide is developed and used but interviews are flexible and feel like conversations

• Respondents should do 80 - 90% of the talking

• Encourage storytelling, get failure and success stories

• Ask simple or “naïve” questions that often start with “what, how, who, or why?” or “tell us about…”

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Interview

time

Wrap-Up

KickoffIntro

Build Rapport

ReflectionGrand Tour

Anatomy of an Interview

The ethnographic interview shares this structure.

Introduction

Rising Action

Climax

Denouement

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Interview

Good interviews require a broad repertoire of questions.

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Interview Questions (1 of 4)

• Sequence — “Walk me through a typical day… then what do you do next?”

• Specific Examples — “Let's take yesterday for example, where did you get you exercise.”

• Peer Comparison — “Do your colleagues share your exercise habits?”

• Other Viewpoint Comparison — “What would other mom’s think about that?”

• Projection — “What do you think would happen if…”

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Interview Questions (2 of 4)

• Naïve Outsider Perspective — “I’m not from Boston, tell me about this Dunkin’ Donuts thing”.

• Quantity — “How many of your relatives fall into that category?”

• Changes Over Time — “How are things different than they were a year ago?”

• Tasks and organizational structures — “Can you draw me a diagram of your daily interactions at work?”

• Reflecting Back — “So, what I hear you saying is….. is that right?”

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Interview Questions (3 of 4)

• Suggestive Opinion — “Some people have very negative feelings about checking email during class, while others don't at all. What are your feelings about it?”

• Native Language — “Why do you call your office ‘the command post’?”

• Clarification — “…and when you say ‘walking is not exercise,’ what do you mean exactly?”

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Interview Questions (4 of 4)

• Participation — “Can you show me exactly how you prepare your coffee each morning?”

• Exhaustive List — “What are all the activities you do for exercise in an average week?”

• Point to Their Reaction — “Why do you roll your eyes when you say that?”

• Characterization and Comparison – “Could you characterize your exercise habits and compare it your husband’s?”

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Interview

Common pitfalls: Being an expert

“When I was a paramedic we administered IV’s this way.”

• This interview is about the informant not you

• Technique: better to appear ignorant and ask for a simple explanation, than to be overly knowledgeable and get nothing

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Interview

Common pitfalls: Suggesting an answer to the question

“How was that decision reached? Was there a meeting? Did your boss decide by herself?…”

• Let the informant paint his or her own categories of meaning

• Technique: Avoid suggested answers. Trust the question -- ask it and and stop talking; let there be silence

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Interview

Common pitfalls: You are talking too much

• Ask succinct questions

• Minimize number of “uh-huh’s”

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Interview

A good interview combines the discipline of covering the “research agenda” and “going with the flow.”

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Interview

At the end of the day a rich interview is less about structure than good interviewing techniques:

• Humility• Respect• Empathy• Active listening• Curiosity• Excitement

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Field Guide

What are we interested in learning about Charlotte?

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Your Turn

Develop a brief field guide

Each group will be interviewing two people: one an “everyday” person and the other is an “avid exerciser.” range of people.

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Observation and Needfinding

Innovation Barry-Kahn