Chapter 16: Emerging Techniques


Overview

Every technique described in this book is designed to provide a different insight into people's perceptions, desires, and abilities. Usability testing gives you fine-grained information about people's abilities and expectations. Surveys broadly paint your users' desires and hopes. Contextual inquiry helps you understand the full environment in which the experience happens.

As described here, the methods work at specific times using a set of common techniques. However, what's written here is not gospel. There are many situations that call for drastically different approaches than I have described. Please do not feel constrained by the methods described in this book. Invent, experiment, and explore the possibilities of the methodologies. Adjust them to your situation.

In addition, although each technique can be used alone, it's not a single all-purpose entity. Just as a sawmill makes planks with attention to the strengths and needs of hammers and nails, the tools of user research exist symbiotically. Each tool is drawn from an array of many tools and should be used with them in mind. Combining the information you gain from various techniques lets you leverage the strengths of each technique and hone your understanding in specific, targeted ways.




Observing the User Experience. A Practioner's Guide for User Research
Real-World .NET Applications
ISBN: 1558609237
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 144

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