Research Methods

In order to design truly effective solutions that can solve problems and help improve lives, research is absolutely necessary throughout the process. We can’t build effectively on assumptions. A fabulous resource for this is the book Universal Methods of Design by Bella Martin and Bruce Hanington. This book has dozens of research techniques to help the project along through all phases of design.

Content Inventory and Audit

My project is pretty complex, with six deliverable categories each requiring different types of research and testing. I’ve created a Materials Matrix (which you can view here) that gives a broad overview of all of the components. Each component requires content however, and when you have this many moving pieces, sometimes you need to take inventory to make sure things don’t get missed. As I prepared this semester’s schedule, I went through all of my notes and files from Thesis 1. I found an outline I had created listing content I had planned to put in the Resource Guidebook, but was somehow missed. A content inventory and audit can help me visualize where my project stands by helping identify what I actually have, what I still need, and the quality of existing materials. I think this would be especially useful while compiling my process book and gearing up for the final push in Spring.

Questionnaires / Surveys

Questionnaires are a great way to get feedback either in isolation or as a part of a user testing session. I love how they are reasonably simple to create and launch, and you can just let them collect responses while you work on other tasks. I used this technique last semester to test social media posts and the general visual system before I got too deep into designing the deliverables. I found it really helpful to get lots of feedback and differing opinions from my target audience. I plan on using this technique again in conjunction with user testing the app,

Think-aloud Protocol

This protocol requires participants to describe what they are thinking and doing as they perform a task. It allows the moderator of the user test to get a better understanding of both the thought process of the user, as well as the friction (or sometimes even positive things!) they encounter while trying to complete tasks. This can either be done in the moment while completing a task, or they can watch a video of what they were doing and explain the thought process. I used this method when testing my initial flows, and will use it again for prototype testing.