Somewhere between bulk demographic analyses and detailed anthropological studies lasting months or years lies the important and challenging area of user research. It’s challenging for a number of reasons: you can’t just ask users what they want – particularly for novel solutions, verbal communication is fraught with complexities and understanding the bigger picture of how our interventions fit into users’ lives requires patience and effort. We need to actively engage with our users, putting a heavy emphasis on what we observe rather than what is said. In this clip Alan explains our focus on users and observation.
Download this step-by-step guide on how to carry out user observations effectively:
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NASA, Public domain
