IN FRONT OF OUR VERY EYES:

THE VALUE OF UX RESEARCH METHODS

Andy Priestner | @andytrainingLIASA, 4 October 2017

There is no perfect anything for EVERYONE

Stop trying to create the perfect library service

Stop trying to create the perfect spaghetti sauce

There is no perfect anything for EVERYONE

We need to identify and respond to these different groups and provide a library service that is varied enough that it works despite that diversity of expectation and behaviour.

The world has mostly moved on but libraries have not caught up yet

The world is now pursuing variability, exploring differences of experience and opinion and

celebrating diversity

The world only used to pursue universal truths and absolutes

(I said mostly - politics is an obvious exception and is as binary as it ever was!)

Example: FOOD AND DRINK IN THE LIBRARY

Libraries often seek one binary solution – Yes or No:• Banning food and drink or allowing food and drink

Asking users doesn’t solve the problem:• Want food and drink / don’t want food and drink /

don’t care

Alternative approach – embracing complexity:• We allow food and drink in certain areas within

certain parameters to ensure the food and drink preferences and behaviours of all our different user groups are supported

preferences AND behaviours

only meeting expressed needs can be a big mistake

‘The mind knows not what the

tongue wants’

Howard Moskowitz(market researcher and psychophysicist)

‘What people say what people doand what people say they do are entirely different things’

Margaret Mead(anthropologist) 1901-1978

Is anyone here looking for

love?

Shayan Zadeh (co-founder and co-CEO of Zoosk)“There's a gulf between what people say they want, and what their behaviour reveals about what they actually want.”

Zoosk chooses to watch what their customers do, instead of just focusing on what they say.

Zoosk actively ignore what people initially state as their preferences.

Instead they track user behaviour – searches and profile views - and this feeds into an algorithm which dictates which recommended profiles are shown.

Zoosk have noticed that the profiles users view and the people they choose to go on dates with are often completely contrary to the preferences they initially stated.

What is going on?• Peer and societal pressure• People don’t know what they want until they see it

https://flic.kr/p/drRjwmhttps://flic.kr/p/drRjwm

What has this got to do with libraries?

Well...unfortunately most librarians only really conduct:

attitudinal research (what our users think and say)

rather than

behavioural research (what our users actually do)

Also we feel most comfortable using the least reliable attitudinal methods available…

Attitudinal research can be valuable but we tend to conduct it very poorly

Step forward…surveys and focus groups

What are the problems with surveys?

problems with surveys

• self-reporting is unreliable• only filled in by a percentage of users (mostly pro or anti users)• leading questions• qualitative questions are not answered• there are far too many of them• they do not represent a real or full picture of experience

Let’s take a look at a typical library survey…

What we ask…

• How would you rate the library?

• How would you rate library staff?

• What library services need to be improved?

• Would you use the new <blank> service?

• What do you think of our training programme?

• Have you got any other comments?

What they say

‘Very good’

‘Good’

‘More books’

‘No’

‘Great’

<blank>

What they are probably thinking

I get most things I need… I think

I’m not really sure what they do beyond shelving, but they’re nice

I can’t think what else to put here

No idea! I’m gonna put ‘No’. Or maybe ‘Yes’. No, I’m putting ‘No’

I didn’t even know there was one

I don’t really think about the library all that much

“Users don’t think about libraries all that much. They use them but they don’t think about them. They have got much more interesting things to think about than how to help us improve our services.”

Andy Priestner

What are the problems with focus groups?

Imagine the worst library you can possibly think of.

Double it!

Focus group questions:

‘Is the Department of Engineering library service fit for purpose?’

‘Are any changes needed to its services, spaces or staffing?’

problems with focus groups

• context and options are often not offered• pleasing the convenors• groupthink• introverts are not heard (or are just not there!)• people are completely awful at predicting their future behaviour

But most importantly focus groups and surveys are attitudinal research methods – what people think NOT what they actually do

The solution is to open your eyes to what is actually going on in your libraries and on your digital platforms: conduct more behavioural research into the experience of your users

The hardest thing to see is what is in front of our eyes- Goethe

UX RESEARCH:

literally user experience research

attitudes AND behaviour

trying to get into the shoes of our users more

https://flic.kr/p/7rzrY7

User Experience is everything that happens to your users when they interact with your service in any way (physically or remotely)It includes everything they see, everything they hear, everything they do, as well as their emotional reactions.

https://flic.kr/p/dt2Smp

How do users actually feel when they interact

with the library website, spaces,

collections, WIFI, furniture, signage and

staff?

These can all be termed

‘TOUCHPOINTS’.

And you have to ask yourselves whether

each touchpoint results in a GOOD or

BAD user experience

Website

Collection

WIFI

Furniture

Staff

Psychic experiment:

Which of your library touchpointsare currently failing users?

Total Fail

Some Fail

Signage

What are the main UX methods?

behavioural UX research methods

• observation• behavioural mapping• shadowing / journey mapping• usability testing• touchstone tours

OBSERVATION and BEHAVIOURAL MAPPING

METHOD:Spend concentrated time observing how people actually use and move about the library.

Record and map the results over several hour-long sessions to gather insights into potential improvements.

Books as furniture…

Entranceway activity…

Food and drink requirements…

Behavioural map: routes and destinations

10 maps combined show the most popular seats, services and routes through this library…

Desire lines should dictate layout…

Design guidelines for spaces with different study intensities

USABILITYTESTING

METHOD:Observe and record how a user navigates a digital library platform (e.g. website, catalogue, discovery layer) while performing simple search tasks.

Identify confusing/failing elements.

Conducted remotely or in person.

• Finding the Library on the University website: ‘I can’t find it anywhere, its like they’re deliberately hiding it.’

• Opening hours page: ‘so complicated – I think it’s been designed to induce distress’

• The discovery layer: ‘it feels like the librarians are maliciously offering bad content’

• Jargon: ‘I don’t know what any of that means. Jeez! Stop with the acronyms!’

USER JOURNEY

MAPPING

METHOD:Observe how a user completes a common library task or activity e.g. Finding a book, booking a study room

What do they find difficult? How long does it take? What makes them give up?

Students wore eyetracking glasses so we could see exactly where they looked as they tried to find a book on a reading list

• optimistically browsing shelves• ignoring signs• reluctance to use catalogue• giving up on task• self-doubt: ‘I can’t library’, ‘I’m not very

good at libraries’

• importance of colour

‘Work like a patron day’

…to discover how it feels to walk around in their shoes

TOUCHSTONE TOURS

METHOD:Ask a user to give you a tour around the library.

What do they show you? What do they say? What’s important to them? What do they/don’t they like?

UX research also incorporates attitudinal methods that go much deeper than surveys and focus groups

attitudinal UX research methods

• user research interviews• cognitive mapping• card sorting• cultural probes

• love and break-up letters• grafitti walls• photo elicitation studies• generative research (e.g. LEGO)

USER RESEARCH

INTERVIEWS

METHOD:Conducting 1-2-1 interviews with users in order to understand their preferences, issues and priorities

Not a conversation. Letting the user have the floor and detail their experience in depth.

Going beyond what they initially tell you - about detail, empathy, culture and context

If you don’t dig deep enough you may as well just do a survey

Example: recent design workshop at the University of Wolverhampton

• 3 happy Chinese visiting students • 3 PhD students angry about the PhD room• 1 PhD student who didn’t like the discovery layer• 1 Professor with database authentication issues

COGNITIVEMAPPING

METHOD:Asking a user to draw a map of either the library or their wider study experience.

Drawing brings out different aspects to verbal or written research techniques.

Drawing brings out different aspects to verbal or written research techniques.

Focus is on the the drawing not the user so they feel more comfortable

Different coloured pens used to denote priority

Not about artistic skill just simple expression

LOVE AND BREAK

-UP LETTERS

METHOD:Learning about the experience of a user through the medium of a handwritten love or break-up letter to a product or service.

’It’s not me. It’s you…the lack of comfort I feel. Are you hot or cold? Comfy or hard? Make up your mind!... the lack of space when I just want to study and spend time with you… the lack of reception and poor WIFI when all I wanted was a connection with you… I could go on but I’m done with trying to make things work’

however well you conduct attitudinal research you must supplement with behavioural methods

commonbarriers toUX research

https://flic.kr/p/2j4Ryz

I already know what users are doing

It’s an invasion of user privacy

People won’t agree to help

It’s boring

It takes too long

I’m not a researcher

I’m too busy to do it

BARRIER/OBJECTION MY RESPONSE

You probably don’t. I am routinely surprised.

If you explain why you’re doing it, people are generally fine

Recruitment is an issue, but more people will help than you imagine, plus ad hoc is better than pre-arranged

It’s actually pretty fascinating and addictive

Should be done quickly, UX is not about gathering final proof, but identifying actionable insights to test (fail fast, fail cheap)

You don’t need to be, these methods are easy to conduct

Is what you’re busy doing more important than learning about user behaviours and preferences?

Why does UX matter now? Yes, it’s interesting, but so what?

https://flic.kr/p/5cQ6tF

• because today’s users are very different (the world is changing more rapidly) and there is much more of a disconnect between them and us

• student experience is on every University’s agenda

• methods are engaging and participative

• relatively inexpensive

• pragmatic, evidence-based approach

• can use reliable data to design services and products that are more relevant and much needed

Why UX..?

‘the library in the life of the user not the user in the life of the library’

Lorcan Dempsey

Also… UX takes a more holistic approach

WHAT CHANCE UX IN SOUTH AFRICA?

Culture of Tradition Culture of Innovation

Infrastructure Immobility Infrastructure Agility

Library Staff Focus Library User Focus

Fear of Failure Acceptance of Failure

UX ADOPTION IN LIBRARIES: institutional character & the opportunity for UX adoption

UXADOPTIONSUCCESSFULUNSUCCESSFUL

surely user-centricity should be the core mission of libraries?

https://flic.kr/p/nSDsAZ

RICHER AND DEEPER KNOWLEDGE OF USER EXPERIENCE

If you are interested in holding UX research training days at your institution please get in touch: info@andypriestnertraining.com

Thank You.