Overcoming fears when conducting user research with a ‘challenging’ audience
This article was written based on the story of a user researcher working in the healthcare industry.
People say: “User research is easy. ‘Just talk to people’”
As user researchers we spend a lot of time speaking to people to learn about their behaviours, motivations, needs, and even step into the context of their lives. During these conversations, we are silent most of the time, patiently asking questions while participants do the talking.
At first sight this sounds simple; we all have done small talk with a stranger to kick start a conversation. The hard part of interviewing is getting the information you need in the available time frame.
Researchers define objectives, specify participant criteria and create interview guides to ensure ‘conversations’ are purposeful and yield meaningful insights for the challenge at hand. We take special care to ensure that questions are not leading and reflect true opinions and experiences.
“User research is simple. It just requires preparation”
Preparation is key. However, in the field, we are faced with challenges that aren’t so ‘common’ or easy to plan for. Some things you only learn through experience. For instance, dealing with an expert audience or people in positions of power. A challenging situation where aspects like hierarchy, life experience, and mastering a complex topic play a role in the conversation.
This article tells the story of a user researcher in the healthcare industry, who shares her tips to overcome her fears when conducting research with doctors.
An audience that is not easy to ‘just talk to’
As a user researcher in healthcare, most of the projects I had worked on focused on patients. This time was different. We wanted to impact the employee experience by focusing on the physicians.
At first, I was not nervous at all. I had been working as a user researcher for about 3 years, had conducted interviews with patients, and the healthcare industry was not a novelty to me. However, I soon realised that interviewing physicians is not the same as interviewing patients.
The thing about Physicians is:
- Most of them have a Ph.D. and years of experience in what they do
- Some are greatly respected experts in the field of medicine
- Some are award holders
- They are busy, have little time, and will likely remind you about it
- They have changing schedules
- Something can always come up that restricts their availability
Picturing myself talking to physicians made me feel intimidated, unprepared and inexperienced. What if doctors use terminology or words that I can’t understand? Would I have enough background or technical knowledge for the interview to be productive? What if I end up not collecting the information that I need? What if the doctors find the interviews boring and a waste of time?
I knew I had to deal with these fears to successfully conduct the study. I went back to the research objectives and reflected: I was not doing the research to be an expert on technical matters but to understand how to improve the physicians’ work-life. This gave me perspective.
I reached out to my internal network and found someone close who worked as a physician. We had a chat where I discovered that speaking about their routine and none of the technical aspects was a refreshing experience. They never had the time to think or even talk about these “mundane” matters, which made them interested in the project.
Now, I just needed a way to keep them engaged throughout the session, and show them their time was being well invested.
By running these interviews I also learned that the physician’s environment is very hierarchical. Actively expressing respect, explicitly acknowledging their expertise and experience, or just calling them ‘Doctor’ helped build rapport.
Turning fears into strengths
“User research is simple. It just requires preparation and flexibility”
With a change of perspective, I was able to identify and work around my limitations. Let me share some tips based on my experience:
Working with unfamiliar technical concepts and complex terminology:
Educate yourself — Read about the topic before the interviews or talk to people who are familiar with it; understand participant’s specialties, have an overview about what they do and get acquainted with their vocabulary. This knowledge is useful for interview planning and to follow the conversation. This does not mean you should be an expert on the topic. Quite the opposite, adopting a beginner’s mindset is your best ally to see things objectively.
Be upfront about knowledge gaps — Remind participants about the scope of the interview, you are there to learn about and understand their experiences. Tell them you are a newbie on the field, ask them to use simple terms. If they use unknown words, ask for clarification when relevant to your research objectives or interest.
Stay focused on the objectives — You might not be an expert on their field or terminology, but you are in user research. Remember that, trust in your abilities, and keep the conversation purposeful.
Working with time limitations:
Prepare an ‘executive’ version for the session — If your audience has limited time and a changing schedule, plan a shorter interview in case the session goes from 45 to 20 minutes. Reflect on your interview guide to identify crucial questions by asking yourself:
- What is the essential information we need to collect?
- Which are the key questions that provide us with the most data?
Run tryout interviews covering only the critical questions in order to refine them and make sure you collect the information needed. If you don’t have time or participants for the tryouts, do them with your team or a friend.
Breaking the monotony:
Experiment with the format — Interviews don’t have to be a Q&A. Using other techniques can help break the monotony and encourage conversation. Roleplaying is a great example. Ask people to enact a situation with you to create a space where participants can show you what happens rather than just tell you. Including exercises using physical stimuli, like card sorting or drawing a timeline together, is another way to make sessions more engaging.
Collect feedback and refine the sessions — Don’t be nervous about your audience’s reaction to different formats. Find the balance between making it fun and on point. You will be surprised by the effectiveness and the richness of the talk triggered by these exercises. Collect evidence, ask participants for feedback and refine the set-up as needed.
“User research is simple. It just requires preparation, flexibility and self confidence”
When conducting user research, planning is an ally which helps you set up for success. But you can’t plan for everything. As a researcher, you have to be flexible and adaptable, like a chameleon. Trust in your ability and skills to respond to the unknown. When speaking to a challenging audience, focus on the goal, identify limitations and tackle these to turn them in your favour.
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Written by Victoria Vivas and Maria Hock, with the support of Shruti Nivas.
