[IxDA Discuss] How would you use this report?

[Jon [GMAIL]]

Tom,

> Yes, they are. Our sites are marketing/school sites that people 
> are using to research and apply to our schools. Many of the 
> features listed are things they already do on our site (and some 
> are not).

When I was teaching, we administered the Noel Levitz survey once a year in
classrooms. Like any survey, their core questionnaire has huge problems -
the first and foremost being that the participants simply don't care while
they are answering it, and therefore fill out all of the first answer, or
abandon the thing halfway through, or put A-B-C-D-A-B-C-D for fun. It was
interesting to hear the students say things like "what a waste of time" or
"I can't believe I'm paying for class and they are doing this - I'm going to
put random answers". I can only imagine the online version fails due to the
same problems - the participants have little vested interest in putting
forth a complete effort to produce the results. 

If I were in your shoes, I would push very, very hard to do even the most
rudimentary user research: find yourself three or four college students and
watch them use your sites. Then talk to them. It will take you a day, tops,
and while the data certainly isn't quantitative, it is probably a lot more
useful. 


Perhaps the bigger question is - are surveys really a good tool for
Interaction Designers to be using?

 
Jon Kolko  |  http://www.thoughtsOnInteraction.com