Dickson Fong

User Research For The Web, Part 1

Tue

Apr 15

2008

The first in a three-part series. I’ll explain why user research can help us design better web interfaces.

This is the first in a three-part series about using research to design more effective web interfaces. Today, in Part 1, we’ll discuss why user research in the preliminary stages of the project can help us design better web interfaces. This will serve as a primer for Part 2, in which I’ll teach you the basics of conducting ethnographic research. Finally, in Part 3, we’ll talk about how your data can be consolidated and analyzed for use.

The power of informed design

There are two schools of thought: those who think research data can help us make informed decisions to create better designs, and those who think data-driven design processes have killed innovation by taking the designer’s gut instinct out of the equation. I myself have rallied on behalf of subjective “gut design”, which is a little strange considering my formal experience with user-centered design practices. But although I recognize the pitfalls of the data-driven approach, I’m not going to disregard its ability to educate us about the people we’re designing the web for.

Many tangible products have benefitted from research because it encourages designers to understand and empathize with the needs of users. Because the web is essentially an interface for accessing information, it’s only logical that the same methods can be applied with equally rewarding results.

Informed design can help us create web applications that better meet users’ needs. By doing so, we are helping people live their lives. Ultimately, that’s what our job is all about.

Questioning questionnaires

There are several methods for obtaining information directly from users, including questionnaires and focus groups. I have no experience with focus groups, so I have no credible opinion on their effectiveness. However, I’ve created and analyzed many questionnaires before, and I’m aware of their popularity among research groups.

That said, I don’t think questionnaires provide the best results. In my experience, the quality of the information you get in return for your time is pretty poor. The information is offered without context, and you end up with quantitative and qualitative data that reveals little about people’s goals and workflows. There are situations when questionnaires are the best tool, but in the case of understanding user experiences, there are better options.

Cognitive ethnography

An ethnographic approach to user research provides the context that questionnaires fail to deliver. Let me explain why.

Our intelligence is never wholly self-contained within our brains. We rely on objects in our environment to aid our memory and help us communicate. This is because our brains are efficient and only processes information that cannot be consumed directly from our environment. We don’t bother remembering phone numbers stored in our phone’s address book. We would rather tie a string around our finger than commit a to-do-list item to memory. Similarly, we don’t need to know the look of every stop sign around the world—we just know they’re red signs with bold white lettering placed at road intersections. By relying on surrounding information to serve as cues and guides for basic conceptual models, we significantly reduce the cognitive load on our brains.

So human cognition involves interaction with people, objects, and environments. The combination of these three elements forms a system, and the goal of ethnography is to present qualitative and quantitative data in the context of the system. Ethnography is a tool that allows us to understand how knowledge is created, shared, and interpreted within social groups, and its methodologies are rooted in social anthropology.

How does this apply to the web? Well, think of the web as a system. Website interfaces provide cues and guides that tell us where to click, where to type, and how to get the information we need. The organization of the elements in this environment can facilitate or interfere with users’ tasks. These include:

Navigational tasks—actions involved with getting around our environment. We like knowing where we are in the system, and we’re more comfortable when we’re provided the means to get to where we want to go. Consequently, we need navigation bars, intuitive information architecture, typographic hierarchy, attractive aesthetics, etc. Effective navigation helps us achieve our…
Goal-oriented tasks—what we want to accomplish. Examples of goal-oriented tasks include going to my cousin’s wedding, baking cookies for tonight’s birthday party, finishing a financial report, etc. The internet contains the information that we need to accomplish these goals, respectively online mapping tools, a searchable directory of recipes, and last quarter’s earnings reports for a publicly held company.

Effective design seamlessly integrates these tasks so that users can accomplish their goals.

The design of a website that effectively meets users goals begins with a solid understanding of these types of tasks. Simply knowing that people want to find information through your website is not enough. To design effective interfaces, we need to have an in-depth understanding of user’s goals and actions in the context of their knowledge, skills, and environment. Ethnographic research helps us do this.

Be sure to check back this weekend when I post the second part in the “User Research For The Web” series, where I’ll teach you the basics of conducting ethnographic research. If you’d like any clarification on what I’ve discussed today or have any feedback for this series, I encourage you to leave a comment below. I’ll do my best to accommodate your questions and requests.