User needs Analysis

Focus Groups

User Needs Analysis

Four primary activities:• Investigation: Do background research to

determine your audience and business needs• Analysis: Analyse this information to

understand the priorities• Specification: Specify your objectives,

assumptions and design constraints• Documentation: Document lessons learned,

goals and design decisions

User Needs Analysis

• By the end of this phase you will have:• Defined your audience• Identified user goals• Defined business goals• Set usability objectives• Identified design constraints• Defined functional specifications

Setting Your Objectives

• Having defined your audience, you need to define goals for the site– Why are you creating a web site?– Who is it for?– What do they need to do on the site?

Setting Your Objectives

• Need to look at the following areas:• The Stakeholders• Business goals• User goals• Define Usability objectives• Define Functional Specifications

The Stakeholders

• Indirect Stakeholders are affected by your site, but don't, as a group, use it. E.g.: The shipping company, your distribution network, investors, customers' spouses, wholesalers...

• Direct Stakeholders are the people who actually use the site – the site owner, his various staff in various departments, the ISP, the customers

The Stakeholders

• ALL stakeholders need to be investigated• If a stakeholder has been invited to take part,

they'll be more content with your work• If a stakeholder has been ignored, they will

feel badly about it• There is a risk of nasty surprises – an ignored

stakeholder may introduce nasty surprises / constraints at a late stage

Business Goals

• What are the business reasons for the site?• How might you measure the success of the

site?– Hits per day– Sales per day– Average length of time spent on site– Reduction in phone calls to user support– Brand recognition?

User Goals

• If you can't think of a reason why users might come, they probably won't

• If you can't think of a reason why users might prefer to come to your site, then they still won't come

• Try adding value to your core services

User Goals

• Why might users come?– To be entertained?– To get work done?– To learn something?– To create something?– To interact with others?

• Set up initial expectations, then check them out

Define Usability Objectives

• Determine how well the site needs to work for users– How much time does it take to learn the system?– How easy is it to make mistakes?– If they get confused, will they leave and not

return?

• Put numbers on the targets. Try to be realistic

Define Usability Objectives

• Learning time/task time"First time users will find their topic of interest within 2

minutes of entering the site"

• Number of errors"Users will visit no more than three incorrect pages"

• Subjective impressions"On a scale of 1 – 10, users will rate the site >=7.5"

• Success in tasks• Revisits

Define Functional Objectives

• Functional design is more about software engineering than web design (see other modules for this), BUT:

• If a user can't do something that they need to do, then the system is (in that respect) unusable.

• System functions are usually prioritised using MoSCoW.

Focus Groups

Focus Groups

• Good for early in the web design process• Requirements gathering before design starts• Discover what your audience wants, needs

and likes• Addresses whether the idea behind the design

makes sense• Addresses whether the site mission statement

is attractive

Focus Groups

• A focus group is NOT good for telling if your site works and how to improve it.

• A focus group is not a usability test.• It is about image, feelings and wishes

What happens

• Small group of 4 – 12 (ideally 5 – 8) people sit around a table.

• Led by chairperson/ leader• React to designs / ideas given to them• Value comes from reacting to each others'

opinions• Sampling users opinions and feelings

What happens

• Proceedings may be audio-recorded, videoed or observed through a one-way mirror. At least get someone to take notes.

• A focus group will NOT give an even coverage to all aspects – they will discuss topics in depth, chosen seemingly at random

• If you want a balanced view, hold at least three focus groups with different people.

What happens

• In some kinds of interview, closed questions are asked. This is not one of those – Focus group questions are non-directive

• There are no specific answers – no list of alternatives – no right answers

• Discussion encouraged where anything goes• Permissive environment for openly sharing

feelings

What happens• Participants:– Interact– Share ideas and thoughts– Stimulate new ideas which would not have otherwise

appeared• Synergy = "the working together of two things

(muscles or drugs for example) to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects"

• Scribe notes the level of agreement / disagreement for ideas put forward

What the Moderator does

• Moderator asks open-ended questions and helps manage the group

• Tries to create an environment of openness• Should not be a person of power and

influence outside the group• Encourage participation, stimulate discussion,

keep the group on task.

What the Moderator does

• Moderator keeps in check anyone who:– Dominates the discussion– Won't let others speak– Mocks others

• The art is to do this gently

Video

• (show focusfliptop.asf)

Problems

• Some may not want to talk at all• Someone may try to dominate and shut

others up• If members know each other, there may be a

pecking order inhibiting free discussion• Participants may echo the views of their

superiors• Better that they don't know each other

Electronic Focus Groups

• There exists a Group Decision Support System.• GDSS automatically records everything• Discussion takes place on a set of computers

in a room• Comments are anonymous• System supports idea categorisation, idea

ranking and categorisation• They are so expensive you will never see one

Advantages of Electronic Groups

• Widely dispersed geographical locations without travel expenses

• Can use cheap chat-room software, possibly using shared drawing tools

Disadvantages of Electronic Groups

• Communication is only through text – no expressions or gestures. This inhibits communication (try using web-cams?)

• All must possess the software and know how to use it

Interviews and Focus Groups

• Both are good for getting subjective reactions to your designs

Advantages of Interviews

• Interviewees do not influence one another's responses

• For the same level on confidence in the results, fewer people are required to sample a broad range of viewpoints

• In-depth exploration of individual tasks and problems is possible

• Each interview can refine the questions for following interviews

Advantages of Focus Groups

• Group members can react to one another's ideas.

• Can be prompted by other group members into considering an issue that the interviewer could not have foreseen

• For the same number of interviewees, time and cost are smaller

• Incorrect facts (that the interviewer may not know) can be corrected quickly

Advantages of Focus Groups

• Noncontroversial issues are quickly resolved• Controversial issues are quickly identified

How to run a focus group - Preparation

• Choose a representative sample of users – preferable ones that don't know each other

• Pilot the questions with your colleagues first• Find and use a scribe• Tell participants about recording

arrangements• If there are observers in the room, introduce

them as assistants

How to run a focus group

• They'll be nervous – start with introductions• Get everyone to introduce themselves – so

they get used to talking• Wear a name badge so they don't need to

remember (give one to everyone?)• Signal the end with a written survey. (Putting

it at the start may bias the session)

How to run a focus group

• Ask people what they want from your site• Ask people why they would go to your site• How does the site fit their lifestyle?• Ask when and how they would use the site• What features would you like? (Offer

suggestions if no answer forthcoming)

How to run a focus group - Mockups

• Explore preferences, opinions and subjective reactions

• Ask people to look at the designs and say what they think

• Anonymise competitors' designs and have them compare them with your own (comparisons are easier than straight evaluations)

How to run a focus group - Mockups

• Ask about colour, ease of use and appeal of the site

• If you want a specific feel, ask how the site fits that feel.

• If you want a certain image, how well does the site fit it?

How to run a focus group - Mockups

• Get them to comment on:– Text they don't like– Layouts they don't like– Inefficient tasks– Concerns about privacy– Own design tastes

How to run a focus group

• Encourage debate but don't let people suffer hurt feelings

• Encourage everyone to participate• Invite two more people than you need, in case

people don't turn up (Invite ten, expect eight)• Bring drinks and snacks

How to run a focus group - Facilities

• Quiet room, non-distracting atmosphere• A way of displaying mock-ups– Mount on boards and pass round– Display on large screen

• Central table to sit around• Dedicated facilities may have an observation

room behind a one-way mirror

Videos

• (focuscartoon.asf) – note observers behind one-way glass

• (stevecornell.asf)

References

• Brinck, T., Gergle, D., and Wood, S. T. (2002) Usability for the Web: Designing Web Sites that Work, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, USA

• Garrett, J.J, (2003) The Elements of User Experience: User-Centred Design for the Web, New Riders, Indianapolis, USA.

• Lazar, J., (2001) User Centred Web Development, Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury, USA