Mission Impossible? - People for Research

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Feb 3, 2017 - Digital transformation holds the promise of ... to it, schedule alerts and use Excel! 2. Focus on the hard
Issue 3 - February 2017

Mission Impossible? Three steps to prevent testing nightmares Pages 6 & 7

Unmoderated vs. moderated usability testing Page 5

New kid on the block: User Research London Page 8

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A digital magazine produced by People for Research

Editorial

HUMANS AT THE HEART OF DESIGN Why can't all technology be successful? At the start of the new year, I read with interest the news stories about artificial intelligence (AI) and the impact it will make on our lives over the next few years, leading to many everyday jobs being replaced by AI. This is similar to the robust debate I have with people about virtual reality (VR). I’ll declare now I consider myself pro-gadget and love nothing more than new technology. However, I don’t share the full enthusiasm of others about AI and VR, based on my experience in dealing with emerging tech and how people adopt it. Over the years I have learnt that there are certain things that tech will just not be able to do: empathy and emotions are just two. Putting the user at the heart of design is essential, and for AI it’s vital that they use this to see how humans react or

interact with the technology. How many times have you witnessed sessions where the participant just can’t “see it” and the pantomime screaming of the team can’t change the fact that the design doesn’t work? Great tech – like the 3D TV – doesn’t always get adopted. It shows that, just because we can, doesn’t mean it will be a roaring success. Interesting times ahead and I, for one, am really excited that People for Research are playing a vital part where humans meet tech. Paul Gooding CEO at People for Research

By Jess Lewes, Director of Projects 

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times – the amount of times people are more likely to climb Mount Everest than to click on a banner advertisement

85%

of adults think that a company’s mobile website should be as good or better than their desktop website

£1.73BN in loss of sales each year for online retailers due to slow-loading websites

Sources: Visually, Business Insider and eConsultancy.com

The bigger the UX industry gets, and the more complex the recruitment requirements are across all projects, the more important it will be to share knowledge on what actually goes in to recruiting users for research and testing. This is the main reason I am excited to be speaking at User Research London about the journey we have taken over the last four years. Common recruitment requests include participants with wearable tech, people engaging with the Internet of Things (IoT) as well as people at the opposite end of the scale, who choose to avoid the digital world. We have also shown a strong capability in recruiting business owners and professionals to participate in usability testing for leading technology companies as part of their global UX strategies. We are now developing a consultancy service to further support companies with complex user recruitment requirements, and I am also a UXPA mentor. We are leading the way with user recruitment, and if you want to know more… read on. 

Follow us @people4research

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A digital magazine produced by People for Research

CREAM OF THE CROP Freshly picked news and blogs

The problem with digital transformation By Simon Norris, Nomensa Digital transformation holds the promise of revolutionising business, revolutionising society and revolutionising the way we live.

World IA Day: the changing landscape of information architecture By Stacey Hirst, People for Research Information architecture is going global! Each year, World IA Day is celebrated across the world in over 50 locations, from technology hub San Francisco to our very own Bristol.

Banking future is in digital channels and UX strategy Albert Pumpur, Finextra 2016 has just ended and 2017 has started. For most of the companies that means new strategic plans for the possibility to grow in future. The banking industry is no exception.

PFR NEWS Unmoderated or moderated usability testing. Which to choose? Paul Randall, Senior UX Architect at Evosite, recently shared some tips on how to make the most of a testing budget by exploring different usability testing options. 1. Budget If budgets allow, I would always choose moderated, especially in the early scoping stages where you’re still trying to figure out where the issues are and the underlying questions people have. However, the further you progress into a project, the more unmoderated tests come into their own because of the speed in which you can turn them around. You can make quick changes and study them ad-hoc within a day; and at much lower cost than a moderated test would be. 2. Insights With moderated, you can gain more valuable insights and it gives you the chance to explore topics of interest and talk to the individuals face-toface. When you hear an interesting comment, you can ask more questions and get better insights 

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Do some testing, rather than no testing at all! Ideally moderated usability testing if budgets allow, but don’t use time or money as an excuse. Your product will be better for it. Paul Randall 

Senior UX Architect at Evosite

from them. You can even use eyetracking technology to understand exactly where the user’s attention is focused, and this is something you don’t have access to in remote testing. Yet. On the other side, unmoderated tests are the most financially viable if you want large numbers of participants or regular tests. They still reveal plenty of valuable insights, but don’t offer the full scope of moderated tests. Read the full version on our blog

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A digital magazine produced by People for Research

CASE STUDY

YOUR MISSION, 

SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT...

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This remote user testing will self destruct... unless you pay attention to detail. The mission: recruit 90 participants spread across the UK to take part in remote usability testing, plus help the Government Digital Service (GDS) to coordinate dozens of sessions over the course of four weeks. We felt like Ethan Hunt in “Mission Impossible”. In late 2016, GDS came to us with a special request. They needed the feedback of 90 stakeholders in the education industry (head teachers, parents, childminders, etc.) on a new way of categorising online information. The participants would take part in remote sessions, with the PFR Team managing the participants on behalf of GDS. Once we were able to find them, the participants were given a link to the prototype page so they could take part in the 30-minute research task.   PFR’s Victoria Karran lists three       ingredients that turned this           project into a winning recipe.

1. Plan ahead Start with a good plan and focus on organisation. With 90 participants to recruit and manage, it was vital to have a solid strategy. Set up a calendar and stick to it, schedule alerts and use Excel! 2. Focus on the harder tasks first At PFR, we use a set of techniques developed in-house to recruit niche participants outside our database. In this case, we invested time and resources in ‘free finding’ the niche personas first, leaving us time to source the broader groups from our database. 3. Keep in touch Staying in touch with both the client and the participants is key. Although it was challenging to manage 90 people, we kept the participants engaged. Also, we shared daily updates with the client and made sure everyone involved knew their roles. All in all, the mission was not only possible, but a big success.

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Organisation was the key to success in this case. Working alongside the client to ensure the data movement was efficient. It definitely put my Excel skills to use, cross referencing a number of documents. This included confirmation, distribution of links, completion rate and tracking of noncompletion. Victoria Karran

Project Manager at PFR

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A digital magazine produced by People for Research

WHAT'S TRENDING?

EVENTS What's next on the calendar?

Simon Norris  CEO at Nomensa

USER RESEARCH LONDON The UK's very first full day conference focused on user research. The event will bring together some of the world's top user research speakers, including our very own Director of Projects Jess Lewes. We'll be cheering on from the sidelines!

@simon_norris “Digital transformation thinking is dominated by technology thinking when it should be experience thinking. It needs completely reframing!”

PFR will be sponsoring! Tickets available here: http://userresearchlondon.com/

Courtney Jordan Senior UX Lead & Strategist Storytelling for a better UX

Q&A

David McCrae, User Research London

What is unique about this event?

Why did you decide to organise User Research London?

This is the first conference specialised on user research in the UK. We've got some of the best user researchers in the world and they're going to spend a day sharing their experience. Our talks are varied, but all of them focus on using user research as a tool to create better design and cultures. It doesn't matter if you're an experienced researcher or just interested in the subject: there will be plenty to get from the day. 

For a while I've been talking with other user researchers about our feeling that most UX conferences focus on design as an outcome. We all felt that there was an opportunity to share our experience with an audience. User Research London is in its first year, but we're planning for it to become a regular event on the calendar. 

"Most stories in user experience start with really listening to other people. With a deeper understanding of a person's tasks, you can examine the design problem from that new enlightened perspective."

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Quote of the week Lindon Leader, Graphic Designer

"I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things"

0117 921 0008 [email protected]

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