Still using user interviews? It’s time to try creative research methods
User interviews, observations, focus group… yes we all know these research methods, and a lot of the times it proves that these methods works well in getting insights from users.
However the insights that is being generated with those methods might not be enough to understand what users feel, hope and dream of.
What creative research methods do is to try to get tacit knowledge out from users, and here are a few methods that could help us do so:
1. Photovoice
Photovoice is almost like a diary studies, but instead of asking participant to write a diary, researchers would ask them to take pictures instead. Participants would take photos and write captions/ narratives to express their experiences and feelings, which allows researchers to analyses those data to identify themes and patterns.
2. Autoethnography
One of the best way to put ourselves into the shoe’s of the users is to become a user ourselves! Autoethnography is a method where the researcher is the subject and data is being collected via self-reflection. With these personal experiences, we are taking our own subjectivity into account and design better experiences by building empathy and compassion for our users.
3. Spidergram
Normally a spidergram is being used to organize findings, but as a research method, we could just pull out a large piece of paper with the topic at the centre, and allow participants to write/draw anything they want regarding the topic. It empowers participants to actively participant in the research which could lead to a more innovative and creative solutions being made.
4. Timeline
This method would be helpful for researchers who are looking to collect data regarding experiences at different moments in life. Use a long piece of paper and let the participants write/draw to indicate their past experiences and what they want in the future, etc.
To decide which research methods to go for, it really comes down to what data you are trying to collect. If you are looking for more creative research methods that you could use in your project, I would recommend reading Creative Research Methods: A Practical Guide by Helen Kara.
Thanks for reading!
