1. Conducting Design Research
Jon Kolko Director & Founder, Austin Center for Design

2. To empathize with people who are not like you are.
Research
Transcription
Utterances
Patterns & Anomalies
Interpretation
Insights
Ideas
Stories
Designs
Ethnography
Synthesis
Prototyping
The goals:
To understand what people do, why they do it, and how they feel about it.
To empathize with people who are not like you are.

3. Getting Prepared You can never be overly prepared.
Broad Focus
Focus Statement
Participants
Context
Script/Plan
You can never be overly prepared.
Organize your equipment:
Video/audio recording
Tapes/memory cards
Batteries (and backup batteries)
Pens/paper
Digital camera
Script
Questions
Have a list of questions you desire to have answered
Try to anticipate the flow of the inquiry
Be open to following the direction the work takes you
Consent Form

4. Informed Consent Protects both you and the participant
Explains any compensation that will occur
Explains the scope of the study
Explains how the results of the study will be used
Explains exactly how the individuals name, image, company, and words will be used
Print two copies per participant; you keep one, they keep the other.

5. Roles and Responsibilities
Moderator
Establishes rapport, makes the participant comfortable and keeps the conversation on track.
KEYS TO MODERATION/
Be the primary point of communication.
Be conversational, but not chatty.
Ask 1 question at a time.
Be patient; count to 5.
Ask open-ended questions.
Ask “why,” even if you know the answer.
Summarize, interpret and reference.
Note:
It’s hard for people to understand that you actually want to watch them do the thing, rather than just have them talk you through it.

6. Roles and Responsibilities
Audio/Videographer, Photographer
Visually documents everything. Responsible for all audio being recorded and of quality. Makes sure everything is backed up, charged, etc.
KEYS TO CAPTURING AUDIO, VIDEO, PHOTO/
Know your equipment.
Get your settings in check beforehand.
Shoot from the hip!
Take a portrait.
Over-shoot.
Back-up every day.

7. Roles and Responsibilities
Note Taker
Captures everything that’s happening in the environment and the conversation. Is accountable for all data.
KEYS TO NOTE TAKING/
Capture everything (within focus).
Support the moderator.
Capture direct quotes.
Differentiate your thoughts from the data.
Document a full piece of data.
Work flow & tasks that you observe
Work opportunities and problems
Tools used
Design ideas, and validation
User’s words
Your observations
A-E-I-O-U
Activities
Environments
Interactions
Objects
Users

8. Basic Flow of a Contextual Inquiry
Introduction
Introduce yourself
Explain informed consent form, receive signature
Get permission to record, and then start recording
Articulate your focus
Establish your master/apprenticeship relationship
Observe work and interpret
Remember your roles
Follow your focus; draw the user towards your foci questions
Interpret and get validation
Co-design with the user
Ask to try things
Don’t judge
Wrap-up
Summarize your understandings
Thank the user
Leave the door open for future meetings

9. Engaging With People
When you approach someone, have a plan for what you will do and say. Consider the difference in these approaches:
“Hi. I’m researching the types of food people like to eat. Can you spare some time to discuss food with me?”
“Hi, my name is Jon. I’m researching the types of food people like to eat. Can you spare some time to discuss food with me?”
“Hi, my name is Jon, and I’m a student. I’m researching the types of food people like to eat. Can you spare some time to discuss food with me?”
“Hi, my name is Jon, and I’m a student. I’m researching obesity. Can you spare some time to discuss your weight with me?”
“Hey, can I talk to you about something?”
“Can I ask you about your weight?”

10. Moderation Techniques
Participants can easily answer things they know about.
What they do
How they do things
Their opinions about their current activities
Their complaints about their current activities
How much they like or dislike something they know about, as compared to another thing they know about

11. Moderation Techniques
Successful techniques for interviewing include:
Repetition/Rephrase (So what you mean is..)
Ask for an example (Can you show me an example?)
Determine steps in a sequence (What do you do next?)
Question a term or concept (When you say ‘doohikie’, what do you mean?)
Summarize what was said and draw out a conclusion or a concept (So what you are saying is… is that right?)
Question pronoun references (Who is “She” or “Bob”?)
Ask for anecdotes & stories; check for deviant cases (Can you remember a situation where that didn’t work?)

12. Photography Techniques
Successful techniques for the photographer include:
Shoot from the hip; keep your camera out of their face.
Take lots and lots and lots of pictures. Overshoot.
Take pictures of people, things, and places.
If something looks sensitive, ask first.
Realize that your picture-taking will cause anxiety for some people. Tread lightly.

13. Note-Taking Techniques
Successful techniques for the note-taker include:
Establish a code for yourself (circling, underlining, star, etc) to differentiate from normal stream of thoughts to important insights or observations
Write direct quotes when possible
Sketch pictures to help you remember things

14. After the Contextual Inquiry
Directly after the inquiry, in your team (when possible), meet and regroup; discuss the inquiry, and document key takeaways:
How did you feel about the inquiry? Good? Surprised? Confused?
What were the top three things you learned that you weren’t expecting?
What were the top three problems you saw, or opportunities for design to positively impact change?
Print your photos and start your war-room process. Make sure you have a good picture of the participant; label it with their first name and the date of the research.
Send a thank-you note to the participant (if possible), and confirm that you may contact them again in the future.

15. To formulate a verbatim copy of the research
Transcription
Utterances
Patterns & Anomalies
Interpretation
Insights
Ideas
Stories
Designs
Ethnography
Synthesis
Prototyping
The goals:
To formulate a verbatim copy of the research
To create a research artifact that can be manipulated through synthesis

16. After the Contextual Inquiry
As soon as possible, transcribe your inquiry. A full transcription is best.
Don’t let the transcriptions build up – they take a loooong time!
List all participants
Include line numbers and, if possible, time stamp from video
Write exactly what was said and done

17. Jon Kolko
Director, Austin Center for Design
Download our free book, Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving, at 17