Field Research
A good solution starts with understanding what people really care about, not just asking them what they want. This lesson covers how to get out of the building: where to look, what to write down, and how to notice the workarounds people have stopped noticing themselves.
After this lesson you can
- Choose between watching, asking and reading, and know what each can and cannot tell you.
- Write field notes that keep what you saw separate from what you concluded.
- Spot a workaround, which is the most reliable signal that a process is failing somebody.
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The film runs two or three minutes. Everything else on this page is open.
Module Overview
Field research is going out to find fresh perspective on what people actually care about, and it works better with a plan than without one. Decide first what you want to learn, then who you will observe and interview, when and where, whether in person or remotely, and which methods you will use. Extreme users, personas and journey maps are useful for narrowing that down before you go.
Then pick the approach to fit the question. An interview gets you an experience in someone's own words. Fly-on-the-wall observation surfaces patterns people cannot tell you about because they have stopped noticing them. Shadowing puts you in their context while they work.
Whichever you choose, four habits carry. Come with a beginner's mind, especially where you already have expertise. Follow the emotion, not only the facts. Split the team so you cover more ground. And capture everything visually, because photos and video are what bring it back to the people who were not there.
Where this usually goes wrong
- Asking people what they want, and then treating the answer as a requirement.
- Writing up conclusions while still in the field, so observation and interpretation arrive already merged.
- Booking a room. Research done in a meeting room is an interview with a view of a whiteboard.
Check it landed
3 questions, and one of them has no right answer. You get the reasoning either way.
You want to know how a ward handles its shift handover. Which of these is most likely to tell you something you did not already know?
A nurse tells you handover takes about ten minutes. You time three of them at twenty-six. What is the finding?
You have one day of access to a site. How do you spend it?
Sign in to answer these and see the reasoning behind each one.
Put it to work
9 templates go with this lesson. Each one has its own guide on when and how to use it.
