Column: Discovery

In the last edition of Discovery, I explained how to collect data during your early-phase prototype research using tally sheets. If you missed that column, you might want to read it before reading this column to ensure you’ll get the most out of this one.

In this column, I’ll cover data analysis for a completed tally sheet, focusing on the following key areas:

• findings versus insights—What’s the difference?
• methods of analysis—We’ll look at grounded-theory techniques, using codes, and constant comparative analysis.
• identifying themes in the data—These include the obvious, the less obvious, the not so obvious, and what didn’t happen. Read More

In “Rows and Columns, Part 1: Jump-starting Analysis Using Spreadsheets,” I revealed the magic of using filtering, drop-down menus, and checkboxes in analyzing your user-research projects. Now in Part 2, I’ll discuss how you can use formulas to make your analyses easier to understand. If you’re new to using spreadsheets, you might find formulas somewhat intimidating. Some of them tend not to be very intuitive.

In Part 2, I’ll continue using the fictional example that I used in Part 1, which focuses on the Vinyl Exchange, a digital marketplace for buying and selling music. Read More

In this edition of Discovery, I’ll review Jim Kalbach’s recently published book, The Jobs To Be Done Playbook: Align Your Markets, Organizations, and Strategy Around Customer Needs. If you know nothing or everything about jobs-to-be-done, I’ll provide enough information in this review for you to decide whether this book is right for you.

In addition to authoring two other UX books—Designing Web Navigation and Mapping Experiences—Jim Kalbach is a well-known speaker at UX conferences and workshop moderator. He is also Head of Customer Experience at Mural, a software company that develops digital collaboration tools for organizations. Read More