Week 2: User research

UXD720

---

This week is the start of formulating my concept and user research.

User research methods

User research is understanding the type of users who will use the product or service. The process uncovers the users' needs, goals, pain points and behaviours (Buley 2013: 7). There are two types of research methods, quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative research focuses on gathering numerical data using surveys and observations. Qualitative research involves in-depth insights into experiences and emotions (Streefkerk 2021). The techniques include interviews, focus groups and literature review.

Step 1: Interviews

I focus on the qualitative method, user interviews. I recruited five users aged between 25 to 40 interested in improving their health. The questions were related to their diet, experiences with other health apps and knowledge of their heart rate. I enjoyed carrying out the interviews in person because you can see the real emotions of the participants, and it puts them at ease when I talk to them informally.

The interview results helped eliminate the assumptions that I had about my users. I assumed that they understood some context about heart rate, but in fact, many did not know the meaning of a high and low value. Users thought their heart rate was fine because the device had told them without further information.

Step 2: Synthesising the research

I created an affinity map by noting each significant insight on a post-it note in Miro based on the interviews and grouped each finding according to similarities and context. I enjoyed using the affinity map method because it helps me visually see the results and reveal patterns that help form the persona.

The main results included:

• People did not have a smart watch to measure their heart rate

• People did not have any knowledge of heart rate

• People wanted a way to self-manage their diet easily

• To be able to access food information quickly

• People were interested in using an app to improve their heart health

Figure 1: Affinity map

Step 3: Problem statement

I created my problem statement for my assignment concept based on the interviews and affinity map.

How might we measure, educate and support people to self-manage heart rate by creating a more accessible, personalised and effective solution using nutrition?

The problem statement covers many areas to support users’ in self-managing their heart health. Giving the user a way to measure their heart rate makes the product more accessible. Educating users on their heart health will provide them with the knowledge to understand the importance of self-managing their lives. Moreover, nutrition will be the foundation of the product as this will be the change that users make to enhance their heart health.

Reflection

Reflecting on this activity, I have enjoyed learning about my users. It was very insightful and gave me some experience conducting user interviews in person. This gives me confidence when interviewing users in real job settings and projects outside of the master's programme.

The one task I would like to improve is asking the right questions. Some of my questions didn’t obtain the answers I was looking for, so I need more practice. A way to solve this is by looking at existing research and reviewing UX practitioners' work. Moreover, referring to research guidelines to support my interviews and go deeper by asking more ‘why’ questions to understand how (Burnam 2021).

References

BULEY, Leah. 2013. The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide. Rosenfeld Media.

BURNAM, Lizzy. 2021. ‘Diving into UX Research and Why We Ask “Why”’. User interviews [online]. Available at: https://www.userinterviews.com/blog/diving-into-ux-research-and-why-we-ask-why [accessed 1 May 2022].

STREEFKERK, Raimo. 2021. ‘Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research | Differences & Methods’. Scribbr [online]. Available at: https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/qualitative-quantitative-research/ [accessed 4 Feb 2022].