8 Methods and Techniques of User Studies Part-2

Dr Kishor John

     Introduction

 

The use studies can be conducted through number of ways to identify what users want from a library. The methods given in the previous module are the methods which are being used continuously in the libraries and information centers, and these methods are conventional types of methods, and the methods/techniques given in this module are not popular but being used to gather the data of use/user studies in meaningful manner and have scientific background. This module covers discuss Functional Analysis; Empathic Modelling; Scenario based Design, Cognitive Walkthrough, Heuristic Evaluation, Focus Groups, Workshops and Longitudinal studies. This module also presents the description about How to Conduct a Use Study, and the process of the use study involves Identify Problem, Setting Objectives, Step 3: Selecting Suitable Technique, Collecting data, Analyzing data and Reporting. The main object of this module to presents the unconventional methods of use studies and to familiarize the students about the process of use studies.

  1. Other Techniques of Use Studies

Apart from the methods discussed in the previous module, some more methods are given below, these methods are very useful and can be used as and when required and the situation arises so:-

 

3.1   Functional Analysis

 

Functional analysis is commonly used to better understand behaviour, this is a decision making approach which is broken down in into its components such as circulation, reference/information service documentation service, etc. These services can also be divided into sub-components or part of service. This is necessary to solve the problem or know the status of service in user’s point of view. Functional analysis can be performed on a group of user to know the status of new service or the service is being provided by the library, this can be performed in two ways First informed consent, Second this can be performed without informed consent. If users are informed then they should know about characteristics of the library service; user group; the purpose of the study and the process of the service. Prior to this Library Staff or Research Scholar or Agency should discuss the functionality of the service which is in question. After completing the study the result should be notified to the concerned regarding feasibility of the service. Functional Analysis focuses on two main aspects Target Group/ Users and the purpose of the service (new or old).

 

3.2  Empathic Modelling

 

Empathy stand for deep emotional understanding of another’s feeling about any problem or situation, and empathic modelling can also be applied in the user study. In this type of user study research scholar has to put himself in the position of the user at one point and observe or examine or understand difficulties faced by the while using the different library services. It is better way to judge the problem of the users instead judge through some artificial means. It is very useful to understand the problems being faced by the users while using the services of the library, such as problems in circulation system, reference service, information service, documentation service, and on any service of the library. This method hales to get fast easy impression of the problem.

 

3.3  Scenario based Design

 

Scenario Based Design is a very practical kind of method, in this the Library Administration has to create a story on a tasks basis, suppose a library want to judge how user searches his information, for that a story has to be built involving tasks to be performed, like first inspect catalogue/inspect through computerized catalogue (online/offline), search book/periodical/online information, satisfied or not, if yes task is over if not then again go through the whole process. This method can be applied in each and every sphere of library activities. Text and drawings can be used to describe the scenario. The core of library user studies designed scenario is a description around a user, trying to achieve a task goal involve user study within a  given context environment. The effectiveness and efficiency of any service can be assessed by this method.

 

3.4 Cognitive Walkthrough

 

The cognitive walkthrough method is used to identify usability issues in any interactive systems, and it is also applicable in libraries. It has been observed that some time users tend to learn or handle on their own rather than reading manual, instructions given by the libraries. The cognitive walkthrough is a very useful method to conduct user study and this is useful when it is applied with first time users and what kind of problems he/she encounters while completing task or understanding the task. This cognitive walkthrough method is developed in structured way, means every step is predefined, because scholar/library/designer has to examine the task while walking through and question themselves the following questions:-

  • Will the user know how to carry out the task?
  • Will the user notice the elements to use?
  • Will the user understand the information on the interface?
  • Will the user receive feedback after every action?

This method can be applied for the new library and any new service which is going to be initiated by the library.

 

3.5 Heuristic Evaluation

 

Heuristic evaluation is a kind of informal method, developed by Nielsen and Molich in 1990. This method can be applied where we want to examine or recognize the possibilities of failure according to the users’ point-of-view with respect to their purposes. Heuristic evaluation is simply looking into an opinion about what is good and bad, Nielsen and Molich 2 have developed the following nine basic usability heuristics:-

  • Simple and natural dialogue.
  • Use the language that the user understands.
  • Keep the user’s memory load to the minimum.
  • Be consistent.
  • Provide feedback.
  • Provide shortcuts.
  • Provide clearly marked exits.
  • Prevent errors.
  • Good error messages.

This method can be applied for studying users to examine possibilities of failure or success of any library service. Heuristic evaluations of the users required skilled evaluators, because it involves direct interaction with the users. Nielsen recommends that this heuristic evaluation should include at least three to five evaluators and they should have expertise in the design and the system which is being evaluated.

 

In the field of library and information science several studies have been conducted like website designing of a library, User oriented evaluation of library and information centre Web sites, feasibility study of the digital library and Evaluation of Web-Based Library Instruction Programs.

 

3.6         Focus Groups

 

A focus group can be performed with group interview or group discussion, in this method the participants are to be expected as end user of the library and the services being provided by the library. The researcher or evaluator has to introduce the topics of the study or discuss about library and its services and through this interaction undertake users’ views. The whole interaction or discussion is well designed and contains all questions and aspects on which the users’ views have to be undertaken.

 

Focus groups are a useful method to:

  • investigate complex behaviour
  • discover how different groups think and feel about a topic and why they hold certain opinions
  • identify changes in behaviour
  • investigate the use, effectiveness and usefulness of particular library collections and services
  • verify or clarify the results from surveys
  • suggest potential solutions to problems identified
  • inform decision-making, strategic planning and resource allocation
  • to add a human dimension to impersonal data
  • To deepen understanding and explain statistical data. 3 (http://www.evalued.bcu.ac.uk/tutorial/4b.htm)

A focus group is an exploratory, guided interview and interactive conversation with participants on common interests or characteristics. The main object of the focus group is to obtain the result of hypotheses about what users expect towards particular service of the library, some time complex issues and behaviour can also be included in the focus group. Moreover the library can organize several Focus group studies on a particular topic or area to obtain a broader view of users. Focus group can be conduct offline and online mode, and it has been find that several studies by following this methods, which are Usability testing of an academic library web site; Use and users of electronic library resources; and From the other side of the reference desk.

 

3.7         Workshops

 

Workshops which bring stakeholders together like experts and users in a creative setting to discuss new ideas, design options, costs and benefits, screen layouts and other things relevant for design, development and application. Starting from critiques on the situation the fantasy and wishful thinking should bring forward new ideas and a collective view which are then evaluated and – if appropriate – used for further steps.

 

Design workshops help to facilitate communication and increase the awareness between users and designers or developers. A group of professionals and end users together can interact to trigger ideas. Designed workshops are being broadly used in the participatory and interactive design. They extend participants a chance to experience new concepts and technologies. Normally workshops consist of different activities including discussions, generation of ideas and implementation of simple prototypes.

 

3.8 Longitudinal studies

 

A longitudinal study is a cross sectional study, in this method researchers conduct several observation, survey of the same subject over a period of time, sometimes lasts many years and the researchers should not interfere or alter the subject and the criteria except the time. In this method the researcher is able to observe the development and the changes in the attributes of the target group/population after every fixed interval of time.

 

Libraries of University of Southern California 4 are regularly conducting users study and explained that: –

  • Longitudinal data allow the analysis of duration of a particular phenomenon.
  • Enables survey researchers to get close to the kinds of causal explanations usually attainable only with experiments.
  • The design permits the measurement of differences or change in a variable from one period to another [i.e., the description of patterns of change over time].
  • Longitudinal studies facilitate the prediction of future outcomes based upon earlier factors.

The same method can be applied in any library and information centers, because every library has to observe all important aspect of service at every interval of time, such as users approach towards reading material to develop collection development policy of the library.

  1. How to Conduct a Use Study

The method of users study depends on the policy of the Library or its administrator, the library can conduct users its own or can conduct through any outsource agency. How data of users study is gathered and analyzed depends on many factors, such as the types of users, area of users study, service to be analyzed, initiation of new service, etc. Every study should be conducted in ethical way, participates should be informed in advance and should be allowed to maintain their privacy. It is better to gather information through accepted data collection techniques to maintain the authenticity of the users study and to protect the credibility and reliability of users study.

 

4.1 Step 1: Identify Problem

 

The first step is to identify problem or issues to be investigated in library, it is helpful because the process of identification of problem extends the better understanding about what to be examined to assess internal and external environment of the library, the problems and the issues may be vary from library to library. It is helpful to conduct an internal and external assessment to understand what is happening inside and outside of your organization. The problems or issues may be related to the user study on Users Behavior, Users Satisfaction, Research Behavior or any.

 

4.2 Step 2: Setting Objectives

 

At this stage organization or Library has to determine that the users study will be done on a single problems or multiple or problems. The library has to set certain objectives to complete this study; it may include why this study will be conducted and what are the priorities of this study. The specific goal(s) has/have to define for issue/issues.

 

4.3 Step 3: Selecting Suitable Technique (s)

 

The whole result of the study is depend on the suitable research technique, thus the library may opt any method or technique for data collection, this may be a qualitative or quantitative method or further may select any technique such questionnaire method, observation, interview etc. The following points can be considered for selecting of proper research technique:-

  • Who will collect the data?
  • What will be area of comparison?
  • What locations?
  • How should data be collected?
  • Qualitative data
  • Quantitative data
  • What sources should be used to collect data?
  • Pre-existing or official data
  • Survey data
  • Focus groups and interviews
  • Observed data
  • What should be the timeframe for the study?

4.4  Step 4: Collecting data

 

After due consideration of the research technique agency/library has to collect data, implementation of the data collection plan requires attention of the following points:-

  • Data collection through own employee or through outsource.
  • Identifying the population/sample
  • Maximum participation of the population/sample.
  • Protecting privacy and personal information
  • Minimizing the inconvenience for the population/sample.
  • Choosing the best time to collect the data?
  • Flexibility.
  • Considering a test period to allow you to improve/ modify data collection methods.
  • Distribution and collection of data as per users’ convenience.

4.5   Step 5: Analyzing data

 

This step involves analyzing and interpreting the data collected through technique employed in previous step. Again this analysis can be done at the library or can take the help of external consultant. The data collected should be analyzed in a way to fulfill the objective of the study.

 

4.6 Step 6: Reporting

 

After analyzing and interpreting the results of the data collected, it may be reported in report form so that the outcome of the result can be applied or implemented for the improvement of the library or its services. It should consider including the following elements:

  • A summary of the analysis and interpretation.
  • identification of the barriers, gaps and opportunities
  • Steps to eradicate barriers, gaps and possibilities to achieve opportunities.
  • Setting short-term and longer-term goals
  • How progress will be monitored and evaluated.

Apart from the above consideration the report should contains important suggestions and the conclusion.

  1. Conclusions

Though valuing users opinion and suggestions is comes under the purview of every library, this can be done by using a variety of methods and techniques of users studies. It is in practice that libraries are using the experiences of users to identify their expectations. Apart from the traditional methods and techniques of users studies are also being utilized by the libraries and information centres. Because the traditional methods are not able to satisfied or fulfilled library’s objectives of user studies. In that case the methods are given in this module can be supplemented or utilized to conduct users’ studies.

  1. Summary

As we have already discussed regarding teaching methods of use studies in previous module. The use studies can be conducted through number of ways to identify what users want from a library. The methods given in the previous module are the methods which are being used continuously in the libraries and information centers, and these methods are conventional types of methods, and the methods/techniques given in this module are not popular but being used to gather the data of use/user studies in meaningful manner and have scientific background. Apart from the methods discussed in the previous module, some more methods are Functional Analysis; Empathic Modelling; Scenario based Design; Cognitive Walkthrough; Heuristic Evaluation; Focus Groups; Workshops , and Longitudinal studies, these methods are very useful and can be used as and when required and the situation arises so. The method of users study depends on the policy of the Library or its administrator, the library can conduct users its own or can conduct through any outsource agency. How data of users study is gathered and analyzed depends on many factors, such as the types of users, area of users study, service to be analyzed, initiation of new service, etc. Every study should be conducted in ethical way, participates should be informed in advance and should be allowed to maintain their privacy. It is better to gather information through accepted data collection techniques to maintain the authenticity of the users study.

 

References

  1. Nielsen, J, and Robert L. Mack. Ed. “The cognitive walkthrough meTthod: A practitioner’s guide.” In
  2. Usability inspection methods. New York: Wiley, 1994. 105-140.
  3. Nielsen, J, and R Molich. “Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces.” In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: ACM, 1990. 249-256.
  4.  “An evaluation toolkit  for  e-library  Developments.”  Valued.http://www.evalued.bcu.ac.uk/tutorial/4b.htm (accessed August 8, 2014).
  5.  “USC Libraries.” Home. http://libguides.usc.edu/ (accessed September 6, 2014)