Flying Cars, User Experience Research, Attitude, and Behavior

Ask a user their opinion on the value of a feature and you may get a very different answer than logs analysis will show. Tomer Sharon explains why.

Engineers and product managers understand that products should solve real problems and provide an excellent user experience. They want to learn about customers needs and abilities. However, sometimes what a user says and how a user acts don't align.

In this talk, Tomer Sharon discussed the relationship between attitude and behavior - a concept that highly affects the quality of research.

Topics included:
What is User Experience?
- 3 types of User Experience Research questions
- Examples of discrepancy between attitude and behavior
- 6 factors that affect the relationship between attitude and behavior
- Tips for evaluating ideas in a valid and reliable way.

Transcript

1. FLYING CARS, USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH, ATTITUDE, AND BEHAVIOR
2. @tsharon
3. WHAT IS UX?
5. CREDIT: ERIK FLOWERS  
6. CREDIT: DAN WILLIS  
7. HOW PEOPLE FEEL WHEN THEY USE SOMETHING.
8. WHAT’S UX RESEARCH?
9. PROVIDING INSIGHTS INTO PRODUCT USERS, THEIR PERSPECTIVES, AND THEIR ABILITIES TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE AT THE RIGHT TIME.
10. 3 QUESTIONS UX RESEARCH CAN ANSWER
11. WHAT DO PEOPLE NEED?
12. WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT?
13. CAN PEOPLE USE IT?
14. FIRST RULE OF UX RESEARCH
15. DON’T LISTEN TO USERS
16. OBSERVE BEHAVIOR
17. I DON’T LISTEN TO USERS BECAUSE OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ATTITUDE & BEHAVIOR
18. STRONG RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR
19. STUDENTS WERE ASKED ABOUT THEIR ATTITUDE TOWARD CHEATING. A FEW WEEKS LATER, THEY WERE ASKED TO GRADE THEIR OWN TESTS. THERE WAS CLOSE TO ZERO CORRELATION BETWEEN ATTITUDE TOWARD CHEATING AND ACTUAL CHEATING. [COREY, 1937]
21. MANY STUDIES FOUND NO RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR
22. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGISTS STARTED ASKING WHAT AFFECTS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTITUDE & BEHAVIOR?
23. 6 FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR
25. ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP LEVEL OF MEASURMENT
26. A GENERAL ATTITUDE CAN’T HELP IN PREDICTING SPECIFIC BEHAVIORS
27. A SPECIFIC & UNIQUE ATTITUDE MIGHT PREDICT A SPECIFIC & UNIQUE BEHAVIOR
28. SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR NUMBER OF FRIENDS, LIKES, COMMENTS, AND SHARES ON FACEBOOK
29. GENERAL ATTITUDE TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A ‘SOCIAL ANIMAL’?
30. GENERAL & SPECIFIC ATTITUDES OF MARRIED WOMEN TOWARD USING THE PILL [DAVIDSON & JACCARD, 1979]
31. ATTITUDE USING BIRTH CONTROL THE PILL AS A BIRTH CONTROL USING THE PILL AS A BIRTH CONTROL USING THE PILL AS A BIRTH CONTROL IN THE NEXT 2 YEARS CORRELATION 0.08 0.32 0.53 0.57
33. ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP TIME BETWEEN MEASURMENTS
34. PRINCIPLE POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN ATTITUDE & BEHAVIOR INCREASES IF MEASUREMENT TIME- DIFFERENCE IS SHORT
35. REASON BECAUSE PEOPLE’S ATTITUDES ARE NOT STABLE AND CHANGE OVER TIME
36. HOW MANY TIMES DID A USER DRAW A SCREEN THEY WANT, ONLY TO REJECT IT 3 MONTHS LATER? [AFTER YOU COMPLETED CODING THE DAMN THING]
38. ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP WAY OF ACQUIRING ATTITUDE
39. JOEY, 10-YEARS-OLD, WANTS A VIDEO GAME HE PLAYED AT A FRIEND’S HOUSE; HIS FRIEND MARK HEARD ABOUT THIS GAME FROM JOEY; THEIR FRIEND ANDY SAW A COMMERCIAL FOR THAT GAME. WHO IS MORE LIKELY TO NAG THEIR PARENTS TO BUY THE GAME?
40. PRINCIPLE PAST EXPERIENCE CLARIFIES ATTITUDE AND INCREASES ITS POSITIVE CORRELATION WITH BEHAVIOR
41. APPLICATION 1 TO UX IN USABILITY TESTING, ASK ABOUT OPINIONS ONLY AFTER USERS ACTUALLY EXPERIENCE THE PRODUCT
42. APPLICATION 2 TO UX ASK ABOUT PAST EXPERIENCES RATHER THAN PREDICTIONS OF THE FUTURE
44. ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP CLARITY OF ATTITUDE
45. PRINCIPLE ATTITUDE & BEHAVIOR CORRELATION INCREASES WHEN ATTITUDE IS CLEARER
46. STUDENTS PARTICIPATED IN ELECTION IF THEY HAD MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CANDIDATES COMPARED TO STUDENTS WHO WERE NOT VERY UP-TO-DATE WITH CANDIDATE INFORMATION. [DAVIDSON ET AL, 1985]
47. RESEARCHERS MEASURED PREGNANT WOMEN’S ATTITUDES TOWARD BREASTFEEDING, THEN MEASURED WHO OF THEM BREASTFED. A STRONGER CORRELATION BETWEEN ATTITUDE & BEHAVIOR WAS FOUND AMONG WOMEN WHO GAVE BIRTH BEFORE. [MANSTEAD, PROFFITT & SMART, 1983]
49. ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP ACCESSIBILITY OF ATTITUDE TO CONSCIENCE
50. PRINCIPLE CONSCIENCE- ACCESSIBLE ATTITUDE BETTER PREDICTS BEHAVIOR
51. COMPUTER GEEKS SPEND A LOT OF TIME THINKING ABOUT THEIR OWN COMPUTER SOFTWARE PREFERENCES. PEOPLE’S ATTITUDES BETTER PREDICT BEHAVIOR WHEN THEY ARE ASKED OR HEAR ABOUT THEM REPEATEDLY. [POWELL & FAZIO, 1984, BORGIDA & CAMPBELL, 1982]
53. ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP PERSONALITY
54. PRINCIPLE PEOPLE WITH HIGH SELF MONITORING DO NOT DEMONSTRATE CONSISTENCY OF ATTITUDE & BEHAVIOR
55. PEOPLE CONCERNED WITH THEIR SELF-PRESENTATION CLOSELY MONITOR THEMSELVES TO ENSURE DESIRED PUBLIC APPEARANCES
56. IT IS HARD TO PREDICT BEHAVIOR BASED ON ATTITUDE OF PEOPLE WITH HIGH SELF-MONITORING SCORES. [SNYDER, 1974, 1979]
57. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU?
58. NEVER ASK WHAT THEY NEED DO YOU THINK THIS IS A GOOD THING TO HAVE?
59. BECAUSE HUMANS SUCK AT PREDICTING THE FUTURE YET THEY ARE HAPPY TO GIVE YOU THEIR OPINION
60. INSTEAD OBSERVE WHAT THEY DO SHOW ME THE MOST FREQUENT TASK YOU TYPICALLY DO.
61. NEVER ASK WHAT IS THEIR FEEDBACK WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS COOL “SHARE” BUTTON?
62. BECAUSE THEY’LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR AND THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT
63. INSTEAD WATCH THEM USE IT CAN YOU SHOW ME HOW YOU DO THAT?
64. RECAP
66. HOW PEOPLE FEEL WHEN THEY USE SOMETHING.
67. WHAT DO PEOPLE NEED?
68. WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT?
69. CAN PEOPLE USE IT?
70. DON’T LISTEN TO USERS
71. IF YOU WANT TO BE A GREAT ARCHEOLOGIST, GET OUT OF THE LIBRARY!
73. OBSERVE BEHAVIOR
74. OTHERWISE YOU’LL PERFECTLY EXECUTE THE WRONG PLAN
75. AND BUILD A GREAT PRODUCT THAT NOBODY NEEDS
76. LAST THOUGHT
77. “DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON A POWERPOINT SLIDE JUST BECAUSE THERE’S A PICTURE WITH A QUOTE NEXT TO IT.” - WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
78. DANKE! @tsharon
79. @tsharon Facebook.com/itsourresearch http://itsourresear.ch speakerdeck.com/tsharon/wuc-graz