Professional researchers are not unlike journalists. While many people have sufficient skills to observe, analyze, and write, it’s allegiance to a set of standards that sets the pros apart. In addi-tion to being professional and respectful in your work, there are just a few responsibilities to keep in mind.
Cover your bias
Wherever there is research there is bias. Your perspective is colored by your habits, beliefs, and attitudes. Any study you design, run, or analyze will have at least a little bit of bias. Your group of participants will be imperfectly representative. Your data gathering will be skewed. Your analysis will be colored by selective interpretation.
Don’t give up!
You can’t eliminate it completely—but the simple act of not-ing potential or obvious bias in your research process or results will allow you to weigh the results more appropriately. In lieu of a trained eye, use the following bias checklist, or make your own. Grade hard.
Design bias
Design in this case refers to the design of the studies themselves, how they are structured and conducted. This is the bias that creeps into studies when you don’t acknowledge bias, or if you include or leave out information based on personal goals or preferences.
Sampling bias
Since we’re talking about quick and dirty qualitative research, sampling bias is almost unavoidable. Counter it by being mindful in the general conclusions you draw.
If your app for science-minded new parents is intended to serve men and women in equal numbers but all your subjects are women, that’s a biased sample.
Interviewer bias
Conducting unbiased interviews is difficult. Inserting one’s opinions is easy. Make sure that interviewers remain as neutral as possible.
thE BasIcs 29 This is something to watch out for particularly at the begin-ning of interviews when you are trying to establish rapport.
Maybe the interviewer is super enthusiastic about one aspect of the museum. Practice interviews and critiques with an internal team are the best way to develop a neutral interviewing style.
Sponsor bias
This is one of the biggest issues with onsite lab usability tests, because going onsite feels special and can be exciting or even daunting to a participant. If the Fantastic Science Center is invit-ing you in to their facility, offerinvit-ing you snacks, and writinvit-ing you a check, it is very possible you will be gentler in your evalua-tions. To decrease sponsor bias without being deceptive, use a general description of the organization and goals of the study without naming the specific company until and unless it appears in materials you are evaluating. (Once you get to the point of showing a website design featuring the Fantastic Science Center logo, the secret will be out.)
For example, begin a phone interview with “We’re interested in how you select and plan activities for your family,” rather than “We want you to tell us what would entice you to visit the Fantastic Science Center.”
Social desirability bias
Everyone wants to look their best. People want to be liked. It can be hard to admit to an interviewer that you don’t floss or pay off your credit card bill every month, so participants will sometimes give the answers that put them in the best light. Emphasize the need for honesty and promise confidentiality.
The Hawthorne effect
The behavior of the people you are studying might change just because you are there. Staff who typically goof around and chat during the day might clam up and shuffle files if you’re hanging
about to observe their workflow. Do your best to blend into the background and encourage research participants to go about their normal day.
The ethics of user research
What harm can come of asking people how they decide what to have for dinner or how they use their phones to find directions?
We aren’t talking about clinical trials of dangerous, new cancer drugs, but all research that includes people and their personal information should be conducted ethically and conscientiously.
It’s our responsibility as professionals to proceed without de-ceiving or injuring any of the participants.
Below is a starter set of ethical concerns you should keep in mind whenever you are doing research. (For more thorough guidelines, take a look at the ICC/ESOMAR Code on Market and Social Research, which is available in fifteen languages: http://
bkaprt.com/jer/3/.)
The project as a whole
Maybe this goes without saying, but it is worth saying neverthe-less. Is your overall goal, the project that the research supports, ethical? Will your success lead to harm for others? If it will, don’t participate in it. Designers have a role to play as gatekeepers.
You should be intentional about your position. Conducting a completely above-the-board study on women to induce them to buy a diet aid with dangerous side effects doesn’t make it right.
The goals or methods of the research
A certain amount of user research and usability requires keep-ing certain facts from the participants. Usually this is benign, such as hiding the name and description of the product you’re designing, but sometimes it’s a problem. Will concealing these facts lead those users to participate in anything they might not otherwise agree to? Are you tricking them or setting some un-realistic expectation about the real world? Are you presenting false information as true?
thE BasIcs 31 Consent and transparency
Informed consent is the rule. This means that participants must understand and agree in advance to the overall goals of any study and how their information will be recorded, used, or shared.
Let them know if they are being watched by unseen observers.
Make sure that research participants are of sound mind and able to give consent to participate. This means that working with underage research participants is very tricky, and requires the parents’ consent.
Safety and privacy
Ensure that participants know what is required of them in ad-vance and will be comfortable and not fatigued. Verify that your presence in a home or workplace will not lead to any risks or danger. For example, if you’re observing someone taking care of small children, make sure that your actions don’t distract in any way that would interfere with proper care.
And for the love of all humanity, never, ever agree to do telephone interviews when anyone involved is driving. Not participants, not interviewers, not passive observers. No one.
As soon as you learn that someone is on the phone while driv-ing, end the call, and follow up by email or another means to reschedule if necessary.
Be a skeptic
Get in the habit of asking a lot of questions. Question all your assumptions and determine whether you need to check your facts. If you’re constantly on the lookout for threats and poten-tial points of failure, you and your products will be stronger.
This is a type of critical thinking that will serve you well at all times. You need to be aware of how much you don’t know and what that means.
Awareness of your own limits will allow you to be as effective as possible within them.