3.10 User Survey, Questionnaire, Persona

3.10 User Survey, Questionnaire and Persona

What’s a survey?

A survey collects usable information from the members of a large population of users (compared to interviews and focus groups). It is the most common instrument in collecting quantitative primary data.

Types of information

Quantitative
Qualitative

How do I start a survey?

The How

What design decisions?
Identify the design decisions that will be influenced by replies to the questionnaire.
- e.g. Do we need to incorporate game functions in the design of a mobile phone?

What info will be needed?
Identify the kind of information that is critical to take these decisions, and apply them in human function.
Present behavior (Facts)
- How often do they play games with mobile phone?
Consumer attitude (optional)
- Do they think game features are necessary for mobile phone?
- Why don’t the play games with mobile phone?

Who has the info?
Identify who has knowledge or access to the information needed.
- Users?
- Buyers (Parents)?
- Retail sales people?

Carry out a pre-pilot investigation to gain insight into the knowledge of potential respondents.
- By open-ended non-directive interview
- Try to avoid the investigation of designers assumptions
- Try to explore the full range of user experience

Draft the questionnaire
Start with a title and short introduction + Welcome.
- Who you are and why you are doing the survey

Reassure your respondent that his/her responses will not be revealed to your client, but only combined with many others to learn about overall result.

Start with general questions.
- Start with general information to the class of product, through brand awareness, purchase patterns, specific product usage to question on specific problems

Do not put two questions in one.
- like “Do you buy frozen meat and frozen fish?”

Avoid emotionally charged words or leading questions that point towards a certain answer.
- like “What do you think of the XYZ proposal by the liberals in the US Senate?”

Make sure your questions accept all the possible answers, including “Does Not Apply”

Categories of questions:

• Characteristic

- Demographic
- Technological
• Behavioral
- Usage
- Competing products
- Buying
• Attitudinal
- Satisfaction
- Preference
- Desire
....

Closed-ended questions
- A set of answers have been prepared for people to make decisions
- More precise, easier to interpret and tabulate

Answers need to be:
Specific
Exhaustive
Mutually exclusive

Opened-ended questions
- Ask the respondents to answer in his own work
- Often reveal more information on how people think

Be able to answered.
- Do you think the 4G cellular phone will be a success in the market?

Require an answer of a “yes” or a “no”, or a simple number, or something equally definite and precise.
- How many phone call do you usually make a day?
A. A few
B. Some
C. A lot

Be able to be answered truthfully and without bias.
- Are you fast or slow in accepting new technologies?

Lead questions should create interest when possible, difficult or personal questions should be asked toward the end of the interview so that respondents do not become defensive.

Check the flow of the whole questionnaire.
Respondents of different categories may have different paths. Make sure respondents of all categories
can complete the questionnaire following your requirements.
1. Does your mobile phone have game function?
☐ Yes
☐ No. Please continue from Question 3.
2. Approximately how often do you play the games with your mobile phone?
☐ More than once a day
☐ Once every day
☐ Once every 2-3 days
☐ Once every 4-6 days
☐Once every week
☐ Less than once a week
☐ Never
3. ...

Conducting

Test the questionnaire
Circulate a pilot questionnaire to test the questions, the variability of the answers, and the method of analysis.
- You test your questionnaire yourself
- Test on some target audience
- Measure the time needed
- Difficulties or confusion of questions?
- Cover all possible flows?

Select an appropriate sample of the kind of people having rapid access to the information that is sought.
- Random
- Representative
- Numerous

Though email, direct mail, telephone, websites...

Finishing

Extract from replies within the data that is most helpful to the designers.
Apply it!

Persona

Personas are fiction characters, which you create based upon your research in order to represent the different user types that might use your service, product, site, or brand in a similar way.

Creating personas will help you to understand your users’ needs, experience, behaviors and goals.

Five Tips to get started and create personas that work for you:

1. Don’t confuse demographic and persona

2. Start small, expand after

3. Don’t just “come up” with persona, base them on real people

4. Talk to your users in person, if you can

5. Keep an open mind