CN15: Beyond Anecdotes: Analyzing Qualitative Data from Field Studies

Wednesday, 8 April 2009, 9:00

4 units

Instructor

David A. Siegel, Ph.D., Dray & Associates, Inc.

Benefits

Field studies are essential to user-centered design, but the data from these studies can be overwhelming and ambiguous. As a result, conclusions are all too often impressionistic or anecdotal, with vague or even misleading implications for design. This course will teach you techniques for analysis to improve the credibility and validity of your findings, to keep them focused on design, and to help you avoid drowning in your data. The course is an excellent follow-up to Susan Dray and David Siegel’s course “Understanding Users in Context: Fieldwork in User-Centered Design,” also being offered at CHI 2009.

Origins

This course is updated from a tutorial that has been presented successfully at CHI and many other international conferences.

Features

• Why we need a more disciplined approach to analyzing fieldwork data
• What "scientific rigor" means in relation to qualitative data
• How to archive data to maintain the link between data and conclusions, and to facilitate analysis; and how software tools can help in this process
• How to triangulate in on valid conclusions through iterative use of complementary analysis techniques, including coding strategies, clustering and affinity diagramming, extracting dimensions, and exploring networks of relations
• How field research findings can drive concrete decisions in strategic planning and design of products
• How to deal with common validity concerns regarding qualitative field study data, such as the small sample problem, “outliers,” and appropriate generalization from qualitative data
• Tips and tricks for managing organizational issues in communicating fieldwork findings

Audience

This tutorial is intended for practitioners who want to improve the validity and credibility of their field user research. Ideally, participants will have some experience in doing field research of any type with a practical focus on any aspect of product definition and design. It will also be useful for people who have a background in more structured forms of research, such as lab usability, who want to prepare for the less structured world of field research. For those with less field research experience, our course, “Understanding Users in Context: Fieldwork in User Centered Design,” is excellent preparation.

Presentation

Lecture, demonstration, discussion, and hands-on exercises built around simulated field research.

Instructor's background

David is well-known as a presenter, teacher, and consultant who has done field research, both in the US and internationally, to drive product planning and design for a long list of clients. He has taught courses and tutorials on this topic at many international conferences, and has published many articles and several book chapters on user centered design topics. He was co-editor of the Business Column of interactions magazine from 2001 through 2005, and has served on the editorial board of UX, the magazine of the Usability Professionals’ Association.