Week 3 Summary: Research and Refine the Problem
- In research, you seek to:
- Understand the target user’s needs and desires, both explicit and latent
- Develop empathy for the target user
- Understand the context (environment, circumstances, processes) of the problem and user
- Explore the three focus areas = viability, feasibility, and desirability
- Collect benchmark information
- Iterative investigation, analysis, and sharing helps refine the problem.
- Research methods:
- Interviews – 1:1 conversation, good for personal perspective on experiences
- Participant Observation – watch users, good for understanding actions in context
- Focus Groups – guided group discussion, good for quick and non-sensitive information
- During research:
- Be ethical (respect privacy, allow participants to opt out, be clear in your intentions, etc.)
- Conduct research in the user’s environment at the time the activity normally occurs
- Be open to hearing other people’s experiences without judgment
- Spend time with users so they feel more comfortable
- Avoid leading questions
- Allow users time to think
- Go in with a goal but let users lead the conversation
- Seek multiple perspectives from multiple users
- Record audio and video, if possible
- After research:
- Review and categorize your data
- Share findings with stakeholders
- Create personas to refer back to throughout the process
- Write a reframed problem definition that includes findings from the research (may also write a design brief)
design thinking 