Research Beyond User Testing: Methods That Complement Usability Studies
- San Francisco: Wednesday, June 16
Christian Rohrer
Full-Day Tutorial
As companies continue to embrace user experience methodologies, usability studies are becoming much more common.
However, these lab-based methods have their limitations, and several other research options exist.
Today, companies are asking user experience professionals to better drive different phases of the design
process and answer different classes of questions. Given these increased demands, simply responding with
“test it in the usability lab” is no longer appropriate. Also, most companies now employ other
insight-generating techniques and teams, including market researchers, Web analysts, and corporate strategists.
Ironically, the more insights a company generates, the less likely it is to use those insights appropriately.
Companies need ways to more effectively determine what to do, how to do it, and how to assess how well they’ve done.
In this course, we’ll discuss an intuitive framework for better understanding all research and
insight-generating methods and engage in hands-on training in the most important user research approaches
beyond traditional usability studies.
What You’ll Learn
This course will teach both user experience novices and seasoned researchers how to
understand research methodologies suitable for a corporate setting. In addition, attendees will do hands-on
exercises to explore four key methods:
- Diary/camera studies
- Ethnographic field studies
- Online surveys (pop-up and email)
- Desirability studies (qualitative and quantitative)
We’ll also discuss
- Usability benchmarking
- Online user experience assessments
- Participatory design
- Focus groups
- Phone interviews
- Eyetracking
- Customer feedback via email
- Card sorting
- Analytics + AB testing
Course Outline
- Introduction to user experience research, with in-depth, hands-on training in important methods
- Data analysis for qualitative methods
- Combining with other types of data—when and how
- Surveys
- Field studies
- Camera/diary studies
- Desirability studies
- Communication techniques for large or small N
Format
This full-day tutorial includes lectures, large-scale visual representations and concepts, video highlights and research reports, and in-class exercises.
Handouts
Copies of all presentation slides
Who Should Attend
This course is suited to any user experience professional with an interest in understanding and using research methods in corporate environments. It’s designed to work well for both experienced research professionals and novices.
Instructor
Christian Rohrer is a veteran of Web user experience research and design,
having participated directly in the development of some of the world’s most popular Web
destinations, including Yahoo!, eBay, and Realtor.com. In his current role as Senior Director of User
Experience Design at Move, Inc., he leads a talented team of designers and researchers in developing
top real estate websites and applications. He previously served as eBay’s Director of Customer
Intelligence for Products and was a founding member of the eBay Research Council, an executive-sponsored
body that advises the company on best research practices and synthesizes insights from market research,
community outreach, international research, Web analytics, and user experience research. Prior to that,
he was Director of User Experience Research at Yahoo!, where he was also a founding member of the Yahoo!
Research Council. Before joining Yahoo!, Rohrer conducted design research and ethnographies for NCI (now
Liberate), focusing on the strategies employed by people learning to use interfaces on TV-based Internet
appliances. He also spent five years as an independent UNIX consultant and two years as a support
engineer at SCO. Rohrer has a PhD in symbolic systems in education (cognitive science) from Stanford
University and a BA in computer and information sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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