[IxDA Discuss] Field research question

[Alexander Baxevanis]

Hi Gary,
I did such a study in London during the summer of 2006. It was part of my
MSc project work, related to the user experience of digital photography. I
opted to visit people in their homes because I wanted them to show me and
talk about a selection of their personal photographs, and it would have been
unreasonable to have them bring their entire digital photo collection with
them. I interviewed 10 people, each of them twice (once talking about their
photos in general, and a follow-up interview shortly after they had been out
to some event and taken more photos).

I was a bit scared that something would go wrong but in general everyone was
quite friendly and it was easier than I expected. I didn't have to touch
their computers, they were using them and showing me the photos, only in the
end I gave them a USB memory stick and asked them to copy some of their
photos in it, everyone agreed to do this, especially knowing that I would
use them for research only and would not publish them without permission.
Also everyone happily let me set up a camcorder and record our interview.


On the downside, it was a hassle to travel all around London to see these
people (although I it's a hassle to travel around London to do anything,
anyway). Transcribing more than 10hrs of video material that I gathered was
also tedious, maybe would have been easier if there was a second person with
me, but then again people may start to react if you bring in too many people
in their house.

In the end, of course, It Depends :) What are you trying to achieve with a
field study that would not be practical to do in a lab? If you have a good
answer to this question, I think it's worth going through all the logistical
issues.

Hope this helps,

Alex

On 9/25/07, gary_beck at vanguard.com <gary_beck at vanguard.com> wrote:
>
> Our user interface team is seeking information from those who have
> conducted user research field studies - in particular, research and
> interviews within people's homes.
>
> For instance:
> - How often have you conducted such studies?
>
> - What examples can you point to as key benefits to doing field research?
> (over lab-based near equivalents)?
>
> - What kinds of problems have you encountered when doing such research?
> (e.g., users claiming a malfunctioning computer system after the visit;
> reassuring management of proposed field procedures to minimize risk, etc.)
>
> - What have you determined to be best practices, both:
>    -- to initiate this type of research?
>    -- to promote continuing this type of research?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Gary
> x37588
>
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