UX newsletter — September 2019

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Message from the Editor

Over the Summer, I've been working on a new online training course on design research. The idea behind the course is to help researchers plan, execute and analyse field studies.

During the development of the course, I read about dozens of different methods and tools from academic programs like ethnography and anthropology. I then spent time examining how to adapt them to work for UX researchers.

Because I want the course to be highly practical, I included a description of "What's in my bag?" on a field visit. I thought newsletter readers would be interested in this too, so I wrote about it in this month's article. I hope you find it useful.

— David Travis

The minimalist field researcher: What's in my bag?

When carried out in a lab, user experience research is gear heavy. You need technology to record audio, video and the screen of the device under test. In contrast, when carried out in the field, user experience research is more lightweight. Even so, there are a few non-obvious items of kit that I find essential on a field visit. Read the article in full: The minimalist field researcher: What's in my bag?.

From our archives: Anatomy of a user research consent form

We've always treated the informed consent process seriously and we have always gained explicit consent from people that take part in our field visits and usability tests. Although I think we do a good job of gaining consent, the advent of GDPR gave us an opportunity to review what we do. We were interested if there was a way we could improve our practice. Read the article in full: Anatomy of a user research consent form.

What we’re reading

Some interesting UX-related articles that got my attention over the last month:

• Using 2- and 3-point scales in surveys results in less reliable data compared to 5- and 7-point scales. In addition, respondents think shorter scales are harder to use.
• The problem with designing for the average: "Drugs are not best evaluated by the average effect over thousands of patients. Social care will fail if it is designed only for the average recipient, or education for the average pupil."
• Any time you feel tempted to use a dropdown, ask yourself if one of these 12 controls is better — plus 3 other visual design guidelines to help you "speak interface".
• Usability testing is the wrong thing to do in the first instance — and the best thing to do first in many instances. Find out more in Gerry Gaffney's UXPod Podcast where Philip Hodgson and I talk about what makes good UX research.
• This is an interesting (ie somewhat crap) Lickert scale from a YouGov survey. It confused me so I wonder what a colour blind user would think?
• "Hearing the data isn't the same as understanding the data. For every hour of listening that I do, I generally do about eight hours of dwelling in the data."

Like these? Want more? View more posts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The UX Tea Break

Some videos I published on YouTube last month:

• How do you do user research with a brand new product?
• Preference Testing Debunked
• Choosing users for research
• 5 Users — Myth or reality?

Like these? Want more? Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Upcoming UX training courses

Foundation Certificate in User Experience, Jan 21-23 2020, London.

In this fun and hands-on training course, you'll practice all the key areas of UX — from interviewing your users through to prototyping and usability testing your designs — while you prepare for and take the BCS Foundation Certificate exam. View the full syllabus: Foundation Certificate in User Experience.

UX quotation of the month

"Quantitative research reduces complexity, qualitative research articulates it." — Emmet Ó Briain.

Did I mention I've published a book?

It's titled Think Like a UX Researcher. Grab your copy here.

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