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The strategies for UCD:

DesignKit has a good explanation and case studies

Field research

• A first hand observation of customer’s user experience.
• It is essential for the research to be conducted in the user’s environment.
• These can be field trials, ethnographic interviews or observations in the real world

Advantages	Disadvantages
Gain first hand knowledge Gain first hand experience Obtain detailed data of people and processes It emphasizes the role and relevance of social context.	Data will be very narrow emotional taxing as relationship between interviewer and client has to be established.

Method of extremes

• A common sampling method where users are selected to represent the extremes of a user population, typically the 2.5th and 97.5th percentile.
• Products are then designed and/or tested to ensure that they function efficiently for those users.
• Design equipment for general use
• Another explanation from DesignKit
• A an interesting blog post

Slideshow on Extremes

Advantages	Disadvantages
greatest number of users are accommodated	maybe sensitive for extreme groups to be involved

Observation

• Essentially is  a user trial where the intended client uses the product and the expert observes.
• This can be in the field (natural environment) or in a lab (controlled environment)

Advantages	Disadvantages
Help to unveil usability issues Tested under conditions of use	Data collected maybe difficult to analyse

Interviews and Focus groups

• A collection of responses from users, a trail of observation of users interacting with the product

Advantages	Disadvantages
It is  dynamic Face to Face Body language and gestures can be observed Easily measure reactions Clarifying questions can be asked	Expensive as interviewees are often compensated Participants may not wish to share sensitive issues Small sample size may not be truly representative of the whole Moderator bias

Questionnaires

• A series of questions to solicit information

Advantages	Disadvantages
Cheap Easy to administer large numbers of questionnaires can be administered sent easily to a wide local, national, global regions	Static poor number of responses maybe only interested people fill out the survey thus perhaps a bias

Affinity diagramming

• A graphical tool that identifies a general theme to collect facts, opinions and ideas.
• They express data and infromation in a common format by creating clusters and groups of common information.
• It represents a text based map which shows aspects of the product that has been/will be taken into consideration in the design and manufacturing of the product, thereby presenting the results.
• Usability.net of affinity diagrams

Advantages	Disadvantages
Simple Cost effective Easy to get data from a group builds teamwork	time consuming can get quite large

Participatory design, prototype and usability testing session.

• Participatory design  is an approach to design attempting to actively involve all stakeholders (e.g. employees, partners, customers, citizens, end users) in the design process to help ensure the result meets their needs and is usable. (Wikipedia)
• An example of participatory design is when users representing the target market for a product perform realistic tasks by interacting with a paper version of the user-product interface manipulated by a person acting as a computer who does not explain how the interface works.

• Prototype see Topic 3 on modelling
• Usability testing is carried out in a usability laboratory. Typically, users are seated with an instructor who observes them performing a particular task with the product. Another group of observers is behind a one-way mirror, where they can record the activity and note insights. Often the tests are recorded for later reference and analysis.

 

Natural environments and usability laboratories