The big idea: The guide names six research methods: field research, task analysis, user observation, interviews, surveys and focus groups.
Listing them is one mark. Choosing the right one for a stated purpose is the rest.
The six plotted by how many users they reach against how deep an understanding they give. Position on this chart is what decides which to use.
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Field research
Task analysis
User observation
Interviews
Focus groups
Surveys
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The distinction that decides everything: Asking methods tell you what users say. Watching methods tell you what users do.
The gap between the two is where most design opportunities live — and users are not lying, they simply cannot see their own habits.
Watching — field, observation, task analysis
- Reveals workarounds users never mention
- Shows the environment doing its damage
- Few users, so it cannot tell you how common it is
- Slow and needs access to the real setting
Asking — interviews, focus groups, surveys
- Reaches more users, faster and cheaper
- Gets at motives and preferences you cannot observe
- Limited to the questions you already thought to ask
- Filtered through what users choose to report
Triangulate: The strongest research pairs them: observe a handful of users to find out what matters, then survey many to find out how common it is.
How this is tested — choosing research methods for a stated purpose and justifying the choice. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — multiple choice
- Match a described activity to one of the six methods.
- Pick the method that suits a stated purpose.
Paper 2 — analysing a product
- Explain which methods a designer should use for a named product, and why.
- Explain the limitation of relying on one method alone.
The trap: Naming a method with no reason. The mark is in why that method for that purpose — and the strongest answers pair a watching method with an asking one.
A manufacturer wants to redesign a domestic iron because customers report burning their clothes. Explain two research methods it should use and why.
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