#UXRConf Preview: Meet Maia Ottenstein
A Q&A on setting up for success with guerilla research and a glimpse into Maia’s talk in June
Summer is just around the corner and so is the 2019 UXR Conference. This year, we’re excited to be publishing some sneak peak, pre-conference conversations with all our speakers. And the next sneak peak is with Maia Ottenstein!
Maia is the Digital Experience Design Lead for UX Research at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and a strong believer in well-organized and well-executed guerrilla research. I had the chance to chat with her about her passion for this type of research, common misconceptions behind it, and tips and tricks for carrying it out successfully.
To find out what she had to say, read more below 👇
Tell us a bit about yourself and how your passion for research came to be.
When I was young, I wanted to be a psychologist because I wanted to help people, but I was also drawn to art and working with my hands. I began exploring different programs and soon found out about product design. It was the perfect combination of creativity and logic, and seemed like a great opportunity to have a positive impact on people’s lives.
At school, I really enjoyed the research phase of my projects. In the beginning, I thought this was the wrong approach because product design puts a lot of focus on sketching and rendering. My designs were always really well thought out, but because I struggled to create flashy sketches, I felt less talented than my peers.
After school, I got a dream job opportunity to work for a social enterprise doing research in Mumbai. When I got back and started my job search in the US, UX research was considered very niche and it was hard to find a research role. Now it’s blowing up! 💥
Tell us about your role at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and your favourite part about conducting UX research there.
I am the Digital Experience Design Lead for UX Research at DICE Group: the Digital Innovation and Consumer Experience group at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. I work on my own projects and manage the design research team.
The best part of my role is knowing that the solutions we’re creating are improving people’s experiences and helping to shape their healthcare journey. Being able to impact patients directly, as well as their families and their care teams, is incredible. Care teams work very hard and are in very stressful situations, so anything we can do to reduce their workload is great.
Working at a hospital is also endlessly fascinating — I’m able to observe surgeries and talk to people from all different parts of the healthcare system.
“The best part of my role is knowing that the solutions we’re creating are improving people’s experiences and helping to shape their healthcare journey.”
You will be speaking about guerrilla research at the Research Foundations track. Can you tell us a bit about what inspired your talk?
Guerrilla research is essentially research that uses non traditional methods. You’re not using recruiting services or testing in labs, it’s all DIY, like the type of research you would do in university. Because of this, a lot of people see guerrilla research as something you only do when you don’t have any other options.
Through my experience working in India, and now again working at the hospital, I’ve learned that sometimes this kind of research is actually more appropriate and beneficial than using professional resources. Sometimes those resources just don’t make sense, and the best resource is your own resourcefulness. You need to be able to figure out how to find the people you need to talk to and the places you need to go, especially for projects where context is really important. At DICE, guerilla research is all we do; we don’t use recruiters because we don’t need to. Our users and stakeholders are all in our healthcare system.
There’s a misconception that guerrilla research means setting up shop in a cafe and talking to whoever comes up to you, but that’s a terrible representation of this awesome approach! For this type of research, identifying your users and stakeholders and knowing where to find them is the most important place to start, and it must be done well to get accurate results.
I believe research is the most important part of any project. Just because you aren’t using professional resources, doesn’t mean that you can’t get the insights you need to create a great product. What inspired my talk is recognizing that the research I’m doing is different from my peers, and realizing that using unconventional methods doesn’t mean my work is any less professional. I want to encourage other researchers and designers to learn about these methods because they are life-savers when time — or budgets — are tight. I also recognize that it takes a bit more work than traditional methods, and I want to set my peers up for success by giving them the information they need to plan and conduct their guerrilla studies. The main risk is poor planning and failing to accurately identify the people you need to work with.
“The main risk with guerrilla research is poor planning and failing to accurately identify the people you need to work with.”
Can you tell us about the most interesting or surprising guerrilla research experience you’ve ever had?
During one of my research projects abroad, I was working on creating a community-centered service learning program for youth in Mumbai slums. Part of our goal was to build community ties and get to know the people. We met a few of our research participants through the doorman to my co-worker’s building. He asked us about our project and when we told him what we were doing, he told us he lived in the slums nearby and offered to show us around his neighborhood. He walked us through town and introduced us to some kids who were “the bad kids” in town. This was exactly the demographic we wanted to engage with in our research.
One day when my partner and I were conducting observations, trying to see what the everyday lives of these young people were like, one of them offered us weed. I declined, as you should always decline anything that makes you uncomfortable during research, but it was a tough situation to navigate. As outsiders, my co-researcher and I didn’t want to stand out, we wanted our research participants to trust us and we were trying to build relationships for a long-term research project with that community.
It’s hard to be prepared for situations like this and for me, when it comes to research, part of the fun is that you’re never fully prepared. My advice for navigating potentially tough situations like this one is to always be genuine and never judgemental. There are always ways to get out of situations you aren’t comfortable with.
“My advice for navigating potentially tough guerrilla research sessions is to always be genuine and never judgemental. There are always ways to get out of situations you aren’t comfortable with.”
What are some reservations you’ve found other researchers have about guerrilla research? Is there any advice you would give them to combat these reservations?
An assumption I hear often is that guerilla research is poorly planned and haphazard. I gave a talk at a meet up last year, where I shared a couple of case studies. At the end of the talk an audience member asked, “It seems like those research studies were really well thought out, would you still consider that ‘guerrilla’?” I said yes, of course! Guerrilla research has to be well thought out.
The easiest way to start is by asking yourself unbiased questions — that’s how you’re going to figure out your research plan. What is the problem? Who is it affecting? How might I get in touch with them? You can also use your connections for this recruitment.
How do you see the role of UX research in Healthcare changing in the next 5–10 years?
I see every hospital that can afford it getting their own UX team. It’s already starting: Jefferson has one, Boston Children’s Hospital has one, I’m sure Mayo Clinic has one. Hospitals are starting to realize that design can completely change their patient and staff experiences. It will take some work because hospitals get stuck in the ‘we’ve always done it this way’ thinking. The sooner they get out of this mindset, the sooner they can start changing their systems.
What is the most exciting thing about UX research right now?
I think the most exciting thing right now is how quickly it’s growing! It’s completely blowing up! 💥 When I was looking for jobs, there were none. I would tell a recruiter what I do and they would have no idea what it was. It’s becoming so much more valued and I’m excited for this field to become something everyone is interested in.
Learn more about structuring and carrying out guerrilla research at Maia’s talk in the Research Foundations Track: “Doing Guerrilla Research Right” on June 6th.
Join Maia at Strive: The 2019 UX Research Conference
📅 June 6–7
📍 Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St, Toronto, ON, M5J 2H5
