ah teaches user experience design (Why research? lecture)

Why research?

Lecture outline

Research approaches and methodologies. Lecture slides will be made available on the day of the lecture.

In preparation for lecture...

Please close up any laptops, cellphones, iPads, Game Boys and other 'beep-boop' devices.

Reviewing P1

For the first portion of today we are going to spend time reviewing last week's P1 process.

Please form groups of 4-5 working on the same brief to review your deliverables.

Review P1

Research questions

Please share and discuss your research questions, have one another assess:

• Is reasonably concise (1-2 sentences at most).
• Key terms are defined or understood.
• Address a gap in knowledge.
• Has a measurable or definable outcome.
• Answerable in the given timeframe.

You have 10 minutes.

Review P1

Sources

Please share and discuss your sources, have one another assess:

• Does this source exist? (click on links)
• Does the source appear to address the research question?
• Does the source seem reliable?

You have 10 minutes.

Review P1

What do you know?

Please start to collect things that you have learned (new unknown knowns and unknown unknowns). Use the post-its provided to generate a collection of this information.

You have 10 minutes.

Review P1

What do you not know?

Please start to collect things that you know you still need to explore further. Use the post-its provided to generate a separate collection of this information.

You have 10 minutes.

Review P1

What to discuss?

During our check-in time later we will have approximate 10 minutes per group:

1. Generate a list of things to discuss or ask.
2. Ensure each group member has at least one item on the list.
3. Prioritize the list.

You have 10 minutes.

Research ethics

As we may be doing research involving humans as part of this course, considerations of research ethics are key.

Risk

All research carries some level of risk. Our role as researchers is to ensure this risk is minimized.

Do we need people?

Consent

A reminder that consent to participate in research must include:

• How long it will take.
• That they can leave at any time.
• That their information is private.
• What you will do with what they share.
• Why you are doing this.

Data privacy

Data that you collect should remain private. This needs to be done through a couple of different layers:

• De-identification of the individual.
• Storing it securely (on Canadian servers).
• Destroying the data once you are done with the project.

Obligations to participants

You have collected information from individuals who consented. You are obligated to:

• Maintain and destroy their research responses ethically.
• Report back about the outcome of the research if they request.
• Not share their identity and involvement with anyone outside of the researchers.

Questions?

Research methods

Your reading for this week in addition to online resources in the project brief talk about a wide variety of methods. The challenge with selecting methods that answer the questions you want.

Picking methods

A suggested (succinct) approach:

1. Ensure you know what you are asking (what is your question)?
2. Outline what information would help answer what you are asking.
3. Search for methods that provide the information you need.
4. Consider reliability and feasibility.
5. Plan the analysis.

Picking methods example

(Part 1)

Applying interviewing as a method without 'searching' for methods:

1. Method: Interviewing
2. Question: I want to understand why those living in poverty are not afforded enough opportunity to move out of poverty.
3. Information I believe that it would answer:
   • Reasons individuals in poverty are unable to escape it.
   • Their experiences with living in poverty.

Picking methods example

(Part 2)

Applying interviewing as a method without 'searching' for methods:

1. Reliability and feasibility:
   • I will be gathering their lived experiences.
   • They are a sensitive population, potentially ethically problematic.
   • Will they be able to describe why they are where they are?
   • Reaching out to this population could be difficult and ethically questionable.

Planning data collection

Do think about what kind of information you are collecting and how you are going to process it into something usable.

Triangulation

Your reading this week talks about the concept of triangulation — having multiple methods employed to make a better case for why a given insight or discovery is valid.

While it is not required of the project that you do this, do consider how you can make a stronger argument using triangulation.

Questions?

What to discuss?

We will be shortly completing our check-ins for P1, with each group receiving 10 minutes.

Please revisit your list as a group and see if any new questions or concerns have arisen during the presentation.

You have 5 minutes.

Check-in

The remainder of our class time is for the following:

• Completing the in-class activity.
• Final rubric review.
• Project check-in (10 minutes per group).

You have 10 minutes.