Index_R

R

Random selection JavaScript, 337–339

Rapid application development, 30–31. See also iterative development

Raskin, Oliver, 305

Rational unified process, 30–31. See also iterative development

Recognition, promotion and, 25–26

Recruiting

anonymity and, 112

basic steps, 83–84

bias in, 111–112

building and space preparation, 113

building your database, 87–88, 90–94

for competitive research, 426–427

for contextual inquiry, 163–164

defined, 83

by email, 88

finding your audience, 87–103

for focus groups, 211–213

friends and family for, 88, 211

for friends and family usability test, 12–13

as full-time job, 84

importance of, 83

incentives for participants, 108–109, 110

no-shows, avoiding, 108, 110–111

pitfalls, 109–113

prescreening, 94–95

professional recruiters for, 87, 113–117

questionnaire for building database, 88–90

schedule for, 84

scheduling participants, 103–109

screeners for, 95–103

target audience for, 84–87, 97–98

teenagers, 112

testing, 94

time requirements, 76, 84

tips, 93–94

for usability testing, 265–268

for user advisory boards, 386–387

wrong group, 109–110, 117

See also professional recruiters; scheduling research participants

Redesign, competitive research before, 420

References, identity design and, 52

Referrer site statistics in log analysis, 410

Refined surveys, 358

Reiman, John, 379

Relevancy of survey questions, 317

Reminders for diary study participants, 382

Remote (virtual) usability tests, 370, 464–466

Reports

addressing research process limitations in, 482–483

audience for, 480–482

conclusion section, 492

evaluator profiles section, 487–488

example for usability test, 484–493

executive summary section, 484–485

format and organization, 483

interesting quotations section, 493

newpaper style for, 484

observations section, 488–491

participants' confidentiality and, 488

procedure section, 486–487

for surveys, 323–324

testing, 493

time requirements for preparation, 76

usability test example, 297–302

See also presentations

Reputation, user-centered processes and, 516–517

Request for proposals (RFPs), 450–454

Requirement gathering

competitive research for, 420

in research plan, 66–67, 68

Research lab

budget lab, 529–530

as destination, 531

physical layout, 529

video equipment, 530–531

See also microphones; videotaping

Research paralysis, 526

Research plan

budgets, 75–76

example, 77–82

formal vs. informal, 57

format of, 74–75

functions every plan should fulfill, 75

goals, 57–65

importance of, 57

maintenance, 82

output as input for the next project, 66

schedules, 65–75

as set of parallel projects, 73–74

short-term and long-term goals in, 73–74

user profiles in, 79, 131

See also budgets; goals; schedule for research plan

Research questions

asking across multiple projects, 73–74

asking in focus groups, 232–233

binary, 121–122, 125

common problems, 124–126

common survey questions, 533–538

in contextual inquiry, 169

determining which questions to ask, 65

expanding general questions with specific ones, 64–65

for focus groups, 215–216, 220–223

leading, 119

nondirected, composing, 120–122

open-ended vs. close-ended, 121, 124–125

organizing into usability testing projects, 68–73

probe questions for usability testing, 282

rewriting goals as, 62–64

simplicity in, 124

for surveys, 307–321

See also interviewing; writing survey questions

Response rate for surveys, 326, 335

Restating

answers to interview questions, 123

ideas in focus groups, 231

Retention rate, 412

Reticent focus groups, 234

Return on investment (ROI), 522–525

RFPs (request for proposals), 450–454

Roles, as audience attributes, 139–140