[Sigia-l] Does geography effect usability and user testing

[Anthony Hempell]

Certainly the "Bollywood" technique is providing context, but the point
is that it's a specific context that would resonate with a certain
cultural group.

To most participants in N.America having the moderator create such an
overly dramatic pretext would make them feel uncomfortable, but
apparently to many Indians having the license to become engaged in the
fantasy lets them override their cultural bias against criticizing
another's work.

Cultural differences are huge within the US. Last year one of my
colleagues ran a focus group in Nashville where participants (seriously)
suggested that they would prefer not to find out about a company's
product from emails or other marketing material on the web site, but by
having a LIST OF OTHER SUBSCRIBERS IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD on the site
that they could call and ask questions.  Stunned, the moderator asked
them if they would be willing have prospective customers call them at
home, and they said 'yes'.  The perception was that material from the
company was tainted, but if you found out information from your
neighbor, it was trustworthy.

Let's just say that in our focus groups in Los Angeles nobody suggested
this option!


-----Original Message-----
From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On
Behalf Of Todd Warfel
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 9:26 AM
To: 'SIGIA-L'
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Does geography effect usability and user testing

I think this is less of a geography issue and more of a moderator style
issue. For us, the script is just a guideline of questions we want to
get
answered, or issues we want to investigate, but it's not hard and fast.
We
don't necessarily ask the question directly. We've found instead that
through the natural course of the dialogue we have with the participant,
the
questions will get answered. We do probe when necessary, but it's not
that
often. 

This "Bollywood" effect is something we refer to as "providing context"
to
the participant. We do this w/every task we ask them to attempt.

On Nov 22, 2005, at 4:58 AM, Matthew Goddard wrote:


My experience and that of my friends is that in the UK we prefer a more
inquisitorial approach (which I've heard called a cognitive interview)
where
the facilitator constantly probes for information over the think aloud
method, where the users are primarily left think out loud with the
facilitator only asking questions when they need to clarify a point.


Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel
Partner, Design & Usability Specialist
Messagefirst | making products & services easier to use
--------------------------------------
Contact Info
Voice: (607) 339-9640
Email: todd at messagefirst.com
AIM: twarfel at mac.com
Blog: http://toddwarfel.com
--------------------------------------
In theory, theory and practice are the same.
In practice, they are not.






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