Learning session 21: Qualitative Research Methods

🚁 Topic

There are many different qualitative research methods, including ethnography, phenomenology, grounded theory, and case study. Each of these methods has its own strengths and weaknesses, and can be used to study different research questions. In general, qualitative research is used to gain a deep understanding of a particular phenomenon, and can be used to study both individual experiences.

🤓 What I learned

The difference between quantitative and qualitative research is that quantitative research is expressed numerically and graphically. It is used to validate or test theories and assumptions. At another hand, qualitative research is expressed in words. It is used to comprehend ideas, thoughts, or experiences. This type of research allows you to gain in-depth knowledge about poorly understood topics.

Qualitative research answers questions like why does your user behave in a specific way? What is their goal? What are their pain points? etc.

Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis is an excellent way to assess your competitors’ stand in the market and identify ways to give your product a competitive advantage. It typically entails gathering information about competitors, such as their user demographics, product features, tone, style, and language used in their content, as well as the visual design of their product, among other things. The precise nature of the information analyzed will be determined by the objectives of your study.

Competitor analysis can reveal:

- The market landscape, including numerous user types and potential users

• Your product’s unique selling proposition and features
• The weakness and the strengths of your branding and UX strategies
• The recent industry trends and innovations

Content audits

A content audit is a comprehensive process that evaluates the content of your product. It provides various data about your product work and what doesn’t.

To begin, create a content inventory of the parts of your product that you want to audit — this is essentially a list of product pages, their URLs, page type, and any relevant notes. After that, you can evaluate your content based on your objectives, such as determining whether it is readable, findable, accessible, understandable, and so on.

If you discover that some of your content does not meet any of your established standards, use available data to develop actionable solutions.

Card sorting

Card sorting is a method to understand how users categorize information into logical groups. Participants are usually given labeled cards and asked to sort them into groups that feel appropriate to them.

A card sorting study should have 30–60 cards and 15–20 participants.

There are several types of card sorting methods:

1. Open card sorting
   Users are requested to group cards into groups they believe are relevant. They are then asked to label each group with a label that perfectly represents that group. This method is commonly used for new/existing information architectures, organizing products on a website, or starting from scratch to create a new IA.

2. Closed card sorting
Users are given content and category cards and asked to sort them into the appropriate categories. This method is typically used to add new content to an existing site or after an open card sort to gain a second round of perspectives.

3. Remote card sorting
During a remote card sorting session, users work independently on their computers to sort the cards provided by an online software tool. Several online software tools available on the market today allow you to set up and test as many users as you need.

Ethnography

Ethnography is a user research method that involves observing users’ behaviors and tendencies in their natural environments.Ethnographers observe life as it unfolds rather than attempting to manipulate it in a laboratory.

Ethnographers frequently find it difficult to document their projects in a protocol that the Board can review. Nonetheless, to approve a study, the Board requires a thorough explanation. Helping the Board understand the study’s parameters, the situations in which participants will be contacted and participate, and the risks involved will allow them to approve studies that require some flexibility.

Before you choose an ethnography study, you should first consider some questions:

• What are your goals?
• For how long your study will take place?
• How long will the research last?

Contextual inquiry

A contextual inquiry involves the researcher observing a participant performing a task. The researcher asks follow-up questions to the participants to better understand their actions.

Observing people in the environments where they live, work, play, or learn is the foundation of contextual inquiry. Researchers use this method to combine observations of real people engaged in topics of interest with periodic questions better to understand their specific actions, behaviors, and thoughts.

Contextual interviews primarily concern how people accomplish tasks in their unique way. You can use data from a contextual inquiry to determine user needs and personas and lay the groundwork for your product’s features, architecture, and content strategy.

Cultural probes & diary studies

Cultural probes, also known as a diary study, are a type of ethnography where participants self-report their behavior. They record their actions as well their thoughts about the activities being studied.

Depending on the intended audience, it may be appropriate in many cases to request that participants provide their recordings using smartphones or record observations using apps.

A diary study, like an ethnography, is conducted much longer. It can aid in identifying user needs, goals, personas, and behaviors. It enables researchers to identify how users perform and complete specific tasks.

Heuristic evaluation

Heuristic evaluation is the process by which evaluators determine a product’s usability. This is accomplished by assessing the interface’s adherence to generally accepted rules, or “UX heuristics.”

The distinction between heuristic evaluation and usability testing is that usability testing is done with potential users. On the other hand, heuristic evaluation involves evaluators who are subject experts, particularly UX professionals.

The heuristic evaluation contains:

• Deciding what you are evaluating
• Choosing your Board of evaluators
• Having evaluators complete a task and rate usability issues numerically on a scale
• Comparing each evaluator’s results
• Prioritizing the issues based on the severity
• Working with your team to find solutions to the issues

Participatory design

Through simple exercises, participatory design involves users in the design process. The objective is to gain a better understanding of their needs and objectives.

Your choice of exercise will be determined by the specific nature of the information you seek from your users.

Participatory design exercises include the following:

• To map out their perception connection and interaction with your product, ask users to create visual empathy collages
• Requesting that users draw a visual hierarchy of their goals and needs
• Role-playing and acting out users’ problems and potential solution
• Brainstorming and improving ideas and solutions in groups

In-depth interviews

An in-depth interview is an adaptable research method in which you interact with your users one-on-one. It allows you better to understand your users and their reactions to your product. It can be done both online and offline.

The in-depth interview can be:

• Predefined questions structure
• Unstructured and in the form of an unstructured conversation
• Semi-structured, allowing for discussion of both planned and unplanned topics.

Usability testing

Usability testing, also known as user testing, is a research technique used to assess how easy a product is to use. It entails having users perform a task or series of tasks, observing them, and soliciting feedback from them.

Tasks involve asking users to do things like:

• Purchase something
• Remove an error message
• Find a specific piece of information

Usability testing insights can reveal user interests and preferences, product usability issues, potential solutions, and improvements. Usability testing is typically performed in the later stages of product development, but it can also be performed during the development stage using low-to-mid-fidelity prototypes or wireframes.

🤺 What challenged me

One of the challenges I faced when learning qualitative research methods was understanding all of the different techniques and when to use them. There are a lot of different techniques and it can be overwhelming trying to learn and remember them all. Another challenge was understanding how to analyze and interpret qualitative data. This can be difficult because there is often a lot of data and it can be hard to know where to start.

Thank you for coming this far. Any feedback or critique is appreciated.❤️