2 Researching Users and Contexts

Plan research around decisions

User research helps designers understand who uses—or may use—a product or service, what they are trying to accomplish, and how their circumstances shape their actions. It is most useful when it answers questions that matter to a design decision, rather than simply collecting opinions.

Plan around decisions

Agree with the team on the problem and what it needs to learn. Turn assumptions into open research questions and prioritize questions that will inform a specific next decision. For example, replace “People find the application confusing” with “How do applicants currently complete this task, and where do they encounter difficulty?”

A Research plan should identify:

• Objectives and questions: What needs to be understood?

• Participants: Which current or potential users can help answer the questions? Include people with differing abilities, levels of experience, and access needs.

• Methods and setting: Would interviews, observation, or a combination provide the best evidence, and where does the activity naturally happen?

• Practical arrangements: Plan recruitment, accessibility, timing, equipment, note-taking, and analysis.

• Ethics and data handling: Explain the study, obtain informed consent, respect privacy, and store notes or recordings securely.

Choose methods to fit the questions. Interviews reveal experiences and reasoning; observation shows actions and conditions in context. Research is often planned in successive rounds so the team can refine its questions as it learns. A small qualitative round can uncover useful patterns, but it should not be treated as a statistical estimate of how common a behavior is.

Conduct in-depth interviews

An In-depth interview is a guided conversation, usually with one participant at a time. Prepare a discussion guide with an introduction, a logical sequence of topics, open starter questions, and possible follow-ups. Test the guide beforehand and adapt it when the conversation reveals something relevant.

Ask neutral questions about real experiences, such as “Tell me about the last time you tried to book an appointment,” “What happened next?” or “Can you show me how you usually do that?” Follow up with prompts such as “Can you tell me more?” or “What made that difficult?”

Avoid leading questions, such as “Was the form frustrating?” Also avoid questions that invite guesses about hypothetical future behavior. Listen more than you speak, and ask for concrete examples rather than general claims. With consent, record or take notes; otherwise, capture notes without identifying details wherever possible.

Observe activity in context

Contextual observation means watching an activity where it normally occurs—for example, someone organizing a delivery at home or a staff member handling a customer request at work. The setting can reveal influences that conversation alone may miss, including tools, interruptions, workarounds, other people, accessibility barriers, and local rules.

Before a visit, agree on the activity and questions to focus on. Explain the purpose, obtain consent, and minimize disruption. Depending on the research question, observe quietly, ask occasional clarifying questions, or invite the participant to explain steps as they go. Each approach changes the natural activity to some extent, so record how the session was conducted. Ask follow-up questions when an action is unclear rather than assuming its meaning.

Interpret evidence carefully

Evidence can include observed actions, participants’ words, artifacts they use, and relevant existing information such as support logs or service data. Keep observations separate from interpretations. For example, an observation might be: “The participant reread the delivery options, then called a family member before choosing.” The interpretation might be: “The options may not provide enough information for a confident choice.”

An interpretation is a hypothesis to examine, not a fact established by one observation. Compare notes across participants and methods, look for recurring patterns and meaningful differences, and consider contradictory evidence. A single memorable comment does not prove that a need is widespread. Organizing observations by theme or by stages in an experience can help a team see patterns and identify unanswered questions.

For example, when investigating how people arrange prescription refills, interviews may reveal that participants rely on reminders from family members, while observation may show that medication packaging and a phone calendar are both part of the routine. Together, these findings give a more grounded picture of the task and its context than asking only whether people would use a proposed reminder feature.

Use findings to inform design

Decision-focused questions and an appropriate plan provide a foundation for useful research. Interviews help explain experiences, while contextual observation reveals behavior and surrounding conditions. Inclusive recruitment, ethical practice, careful notes, and a clear distinction between evidence and interpretation make findings more trustworthy and useful to design.