So you want to talk with people?

User research for design borrows many tools from anthropology, ethnography, psychology and many other fields of expertise that involves learning about people. For this class we will focus on 3 methods.

1. Fly-on-the-wall
2. Talk/think aloud
3. Directed story telling

During any of these sessions, you should have a note pad to take notes, pens/markers etc. to write/sketch, and when appropriate a voice recorder/camera to take record/photos/video.

From that point, you will need to synthesize the research you gathered. Quick and easy tools for this are stacks of colored post-it notes, preferably the square ones, and permanent Sharpie markers.

With this, you will record one fact/observations on 1 post-it notes and generate a pile of post-it notes per each participants you spoke with. With that you will construct an affinity model/diagram to analyze your findings.

What to do with all these Post-It notes

From there, you can start seeing patterns, discover needs, etc. from your conversations with your participants.

I've included 3 PDF's for your reference under User Research Examples.