UX nerd

One of the toughest recurrent moments in my job is the “qualitative research moment”. The moment when I have to convince someone to do some in-depth user study with a few participants to produce a list of qualitative results and derive design recommendations. Whether I suggest observing users or interviewing them, the moment I stray outside A/B testing there it comes… the disbelieving look™, like I needed three degrees to become a fortune teller :S

I want to write a full post about prototype fidelity and testing methods later, and some (approximate) guidelines about when to do which thing… so I’ll try to keep digression to a minimum ;) Now, without further ado… my humble best attempt at explaining why qualitative research can be objective, reliable and produce useful insights about how users experience systems and products (and take that look off your face already, I can see it in my crystal ball and I’m not liking it ;) Continue reading ‘Qualitative research’