The 'Subjective' Researcher

UX Y'all 2021 Session with Jasmine Stammes

Transcript

1. The ‘Subjective’ Researcher
   Jasmine Stammes, UX Researcher
   

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2. Our Path
   ● What is “Subjective” Research?
   ● How can I practice “Subjective” Research?
   

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3. What is “Subjective” Research?
   

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4. Wait..shouldn’t we be talking
   about objective research?
   No, that is so last
   century!
   

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6. A ‘Subjective’ Approach
   ‘Objective’ Research
   ● Observer
   ● Emphasis on not being influenced by
   emotions and feelings
   ● Emphasis on objective facts
   ‘Subjective’ Research
   ● Positionality
   ● Emphasis on Empathy
   ● Ethics
   ● Emphasis on subjective experience
   

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7. Positionality
   “Positionality is the notion that personal values, views, and location in
   time and space influence how one understands the world. In this context,
   gender, race, class, and other aspects of identities are indicators of social
   and spatial positions and are not fixed, given qualities.”
   

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8. Benefits of Positionality
   How do specific parts of my identity advantage
   me?
   ● Relationships, acceptance, trust
   ● Motivation, perspective, knowledge
   ● Societal benefits
   How do specific parts of my identity
   disadvantage me?
   ● Biases I hold, closed mindedness
   ● Relationships, acceptance, trust
   ● Societal disadvantages
   

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9. Empathy
   Empathy is the ability to fully understand, mirror, then share another
   person’s expressions, needs and motivations.
   

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10. “In UX, empathy enables us to understand not only our users’
    people's immediate frustrations, but also their hopes, fears,
    abilities, limitations, reasoning, and goals. It allows us to dig
    deep into our understanding of the user and create solutions
    that will not only solve a need, but effectively improve our
    users’ lives by removing unnecessary pain or friction.”
    

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11. Empathy isn’t Sympathy
    

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12. Research Ethics
    Research ethics is the careful consideration of the rights, well-being, and
    dignity of people involved in research activities.
    

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13. Background
    ● Nuremberg Code
    ● Thalidomide
    ● Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932- 1972)
    ● National Research Act (1974)
    

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14. How can I practice “Subjective”
    Research?
    

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15. Practice #1 Position yourself
    ● Take a moment to list and reflect on
    your identity.
    ● Understand the way in which your
    lens impacts your work. What are
    the benefits and disadvantages and
    how can you mitigate.
    ● Don’t try to escape your identity --
    lean into your identity and do the
    internal work to escape the -isms
    instead.
    

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16. Practice #2 Practice Empathy
    ● Learn to be a good listener.
    ● Improve your observation skills.
    ● Don’t be afraid to ask other
    people for input.
    ● Be mindful of your own attitude.
    ● Learn how to adopt humility.
    ● Do your research.
    

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17. Practice #3 Be ethically grounded in your research
    practice.
    ● Be respectful to your users; Honor
    participants’ limits and value their
    comfort.
    ● Be responsible to your users; act to
    protect people’s current and future
    interests.
    ● Be honest with your users; Be
    truthful and timely in your
    communication.
    

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18. May your next
    research engagement
    be just a little more
    subjective.
    Jasmine Stammes
    UX Researcher
    UrbanFootprint
    

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