UCD Bristol : 4 - Designing the user research participant experience

About the workshop

We know it’s essential to conduct research with people who use our products and services. But what’s it like to be a participant in our research? How does the research participant’s journey affect the insights we gain?

Participants have needs when they are in a research interview. The words we use to set the scene can affect the participant’s understanding of what is being asked. The method of gaining consent can affect the participant’s comfort which will impact on how much they may divulge. What is less clear is the impact that the whole journey of taking part in research can have on our chances of getting the best insights.

We conducted a discovery to answer the question “what journey does a user research participant take?” so that we could understand how we could design future research that will get deeper insights.

Our research questions were:

Where does the journey of a user research participant begin and end?What do user research participants need and when?What’s it like to be a participant in a user research interview?Are these needs being met today, how and by who?How might we better meet these needs, and what would happen if we did?

We spoke with participants of research, Lab managers, Recruitment specialists and User researchers.

In this workshop we’ll share what we discovered about our participants’ whole journeys and their needs. We will identify the effects on the quality of our research insights if we don’t meet participants’ needs.

Workshop attendees will then collaborate to use service design principles to create alpha ideas that aim to better meet the needs of participants.

Attendees of this workshop will learn:

What taking part in research looks like from the participant’s point of viewHow to design research that meets participants’ needsHow to capture deeper insights from research

Together let’s design a UX research participant experience that meets the needs of participants and gets deeper insights as a result.

Ben Cubbon
A Senior User Researcher in Government, currently at HM Courts and Tribunals Service leading on the Strategic Service design of a Reformed Justice System. Previously from Office for National Statistics. I’ve expanded and led research teams of various skills. I have a strong methodological background with a Masters in Investigative Psychology.

Nic Price
A Veteran π-shaped webhead, information architect and service designer. Headed up digital product and service teams at the BBC. Since 2007 has worked as a consultant and contractor, researching, designing with clients large and small in both public and private sectors.

Schedule:
• 18:45 - Doors open, pizza, drinks, discussion
• 19:15 - A word from the organisers
• 19:20 - Workshop
• 20:35 - Networking, drinks, etc.
• 21:00 - Doors close