My Role
Contacted and scheduled interviewees
Prepared and collected the props that we need for the interview activities
Collaborated with three other product designers on the full research, analyzation, and presentation process
Knowledge Goals
Plan and Collect Information with Casual and Friendly Approach
We planned the interview activities according to our knowledge goals ahead of time, so we can guide the questions towards our goals.
We also provide a consent form for each of our participants to secure their rights.
In order to have a truthful and deep understanding of our participants, we started with general questions but ladder down as far as we can with open questions.
By the end of each interview, we gathered beside our cars to briefly review the interview to remind each other the main take-aways and the part we can emphasize while editing the materials we gathered
Team:
x1 interviewer
x1 note taker
x1 video taker
x1 photographer
(Every team member focused on his or her job of the day.)
Analyze and Visualize the Process
Explain Abstract Relationships with Diagrams
Laying out the data in different diagrams allows us to focus on one aspect at a time and think deeper. These diagrams help us explain various abstract relationships. This process makes more sense of the information we collected during the ethnographic interviews.
A&I + POEMS Framework
(Activity & Interaction) + (People, Object, Environment, Message, Service)
The diagrams below show the activities, interactions, people, objects, environment, the transformation of messages that are involved at home, and the system that enable the activities.
User Experience Framework
(Physical, Cognitive, Social, Culture, Emotion)
Physical, cognitive, social, culture, and emotion are five human factors. We captured the human values of our participants with the data we collected and five analytical diagrams.
The Ethnographer's Questions
(Meaning, Pattern, Sense of Order, Roles)
Answering a set of questions per diagram allows us to think and analyze the believes and behaviors of different generations with empathy.
Social Order
This diagram allows us to think through the hierarchy among different generations. Who is at the top and who is at the bottom? Who is in? Who is out? How do you know? How do you join the "in" crowd? Is there a rite of passage? Are there barriers to entry? What are they?
User Experience Journey Map
(Doing, Thinking, Feeling, Context, Devices)
This diagram allows us to think through the hierarchy among different generations. Who is at the top and who is at the bottom? Who is in? Who is out? How do you know? How do you join the "in" crowd? Is there a rite of passage? Are there barriers to entry? What are they?
Bordieu's Four Forms of Capital
(Economic, social, symbol, cultural)
We examined each type of capital with questions, "How are they presented?" "Who is powerful and who is not? Why?" " Are there different levels in each type? What are they?" "Which types of power are considered legitimate by different generations?
Reflection
Clarify the Questions in Analyzing Process and Dig Deeper
I realized that we did not fully answer the questions when we were analyzing the data. If we get them correctly, we can dig deeper and find more interesting insights and opportunities instead of repeating some common findings.
For example:
When we answered the Ethnographer's Questions, the question should be "What does the meaning of home mean to different generations," instead of simply "What is the meaning of home for different generations."
As for the question from Ethnographer's Questions, "What are the role of participants and non-participants?" We should not only think about the "role of different generations," but also "How would different treat different generations treat the different people who belong and do not belong to their home."
When we analyze the social order of different generations, we kept thinking about the contribution of each generation to answer the questions: "Who is in? Who is out? How do you know? How do you join the 'in' crowd? Is there a rite of passage?" However, we should also consider "who or what can be part of the home? Is there any barrier to be part of the home?"
Narrow Down the Topic
If we narrow down to a group of people with the same race, income level, or family formation, etc, we might be able to find better insights and opportunities that specifically help this group of people. The content would also be more unique.
Make Sure the Analytical diagrams stay close to our topic and goal
It would be better if we can turn our heads around and write on their relationship with "home" at each touchpoint when we were working on the User Experience Journey Map. Therefore, we can have a better understanding of their journey with "home" instead of only listing their journey over weekdays and weekends.