ICEBREAKERS THE IDEAL EXPERIENCE OF CONVERSATION IDUS711: METHODS OF CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH - FALL 2018 PROFESSOR KWELA S. HERMANNS Vidur Hans, Kshanika Patel, Haleemah Sadiah, Jingbo Li, Chaitanya Ahuja, Nitesh Kashyap
“The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.� - William Hazlitt, Selected Essays, 1778-1830
Table of Contents 1. Pg 4 - 7
2. Pg 8 - 12
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3. Pg 13 - 16
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The Meet Cute
Meet the Team Contextual Research: What, How, Why? Project Overview
The First Date Initial Questions Preliminary Observations Factor Mapping Stakeholder Mapping Research Question(s)
Do We Want The Same Thing? Project Timeline Powerful Questions Matrix Guideline Questions
4. Pg 17 - 33
5. Pg 34 - 42
6. Pg 43 - 49
7. Pg 49 - 52
8. Pg 53 - 54
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Moving In
Interviews Cultural Probe Sensory Cue Kit
I Want To Make This Work Affinity Diagramming
(Re)Aligning The Stars Key Insights & Framework Storytelling
Looking Back Reflection
References
ch.1 The Meet-Cute (Introduction)
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Meet the Team Contextual Research: What, How, Why? Project Overview
MEET THE
TEAM
Vidur Hans M.A. Design Management Role: Devil’s Advocate Chaitanya Ahuja M.F.A. Design Management Role: Socrates Haleemah Sadiah M.F.A. Design for Sustainability Role: “Thinks it’s brilliant” Kshanika Patel M.A. Design Management Role: Timekeeper Nitesh Kashyap M.F.A. Industrial Design Role: The Cavalry Jingbo Li M.F.A. Industrial Design Role: The Perfectionist
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CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
Contextual Research of either type is standardly conducted in the following stages:
Relevance & Rationale
or Contextual Research is an ethnographic research method that helps to understand what people do and why they do it.
Data Collection
It is used to identify the unarticulated needs of the user.
Analysis
Generative Research: helps you deďŹ ne the problem for which you’d like to design a solution.
Framework & Visualisation
Evaluative Research: evaluates an existing design. Storytelling
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PROJECT OVERVIEW
The role of conversation in interpersonal communication is fundamental. The bedrock of even the simplest social structures, the subject of ‘conversation’ is ripe for ethnographic research. “IceBreakers” is such an inquiry into the nature of conversation, and where/if/how it can be bettered. Given our ever-expanding digital footprint, the lines between communication, conversation and connection have never been blurrier. Understanding the hierarchy between them, the “Internet Paradox” and defining the constituents required to qualify an interaction as a conversation, all form the first part of our research. This document details the research process employed, the application of basic ethnographic theory and the use of various data collection tools.
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ch.2 The First Date (Brainstorming & Ideation)
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Initial Questions Preliminary Observations Factor Mapping Stakeholder Mapping
RESEARCH QUESTIONS “What factors influence conversation, and to what degree?” “What are the different types of conversations, and how are they defined?”
“What specific areas/ types of conversation could be improved and how?” “How are conversations given the quality of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ ?” 9
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
SCAD BUSES
GROCERY STORE
ARNOLD HALL
ELLIS SQUARE
animated hand movements
Brief interaction with store rep, to no avail
Familiar students stood closer than strangers, when talking
Group of tourists discussing their schedule for the next day
Conversation ended well before their stops
looking at juice boxes, conversation around which flavour to get
Intermittent pauses while talking and walking
Everyone starts talking when a new person joins in
Frequent glances and smiles
Argument between mother and toddler about a purchase of sanding sugar
Conversation between 2 or more males louder than that of females
Reading news to each other
Most People used their phones, finger motions indicate scrolling through feeds
Compliment by stranger
13/15 students were on their phones, while only 2 engaged in conversation Body language became animated when people were talking about common interests
Classes, professors and SCAD were popular topics
Shoppers in a group stopped talking as others approached the same isle/ section
Classes, professors and SCAD were popular topics
Volume increased while talking about the climate
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FACTOR MAPPING
Internal Factors - Emotions - Mood - Personality - Health - Relationship to Participant - Sexual Orientation
External Factors A. Environment: Location, Time, Weather B. Physical Attributes: Appearance, Gender, Age, Race, Hygiene, Fashion, Body Language, Eye Contact C. Number of People D. Activity
Medium - Physical - Virtual Format - Verbal (Speech, Text) - Non-Verbal (Visual, Aural)
In order to determine the stakeholders in a conversation, we began by identifying the factors that inuence or impact conversation, and categorizing them as follows: Medium Format Internal State External Factors
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a i c So
C a lli n g
ine Onl
lf
Sh
/U op til pin /E ita rra ria g nd n s
m Co E-
Se
Sup
por
t
Tourism /Travel
Computers /Machines /A.I.
sity ver Uni llege /Co ool h /Sc
Vir t u a l
rt o p it s an ans r T Tr /
ct n i l t s Di ocia s S up o Gr
T r a ini /Gy ng m
M E
Se r v ice ues P r o v i d e rs
leag Col
a
Vi d e o
W or / kp O ffi la ce ce
il
ta
ain
A c qu
Person
Instant Messaging
Strangers
Entertainment Destinations
s
nd
Online Gaming
s
m
ru
s nt ra au s st fe Re /Ca ubs l /C ars
ly i m Fa
S.O. Part / ner
s
The positions of each segment is not fixed, and this diagram is best understood as three separately spinning wheels. This format best showcases the operational symbiosis between participants in a conversation, and their environments.
reas
nc e
Each segment of every ring can be further broken down into constituent elements, narrowing the scope of a final research choice. For example, Service Providers range from deliverymen and taxi drivers to on-call bank customer support and Broadband providers.
lic A
m
er ce
e m Ho
/B
Virtual Environments
Pub
s
ie
Participants
Blog
Fr
Conversationalist
Physical Environments
ia d e lM
Fo
STAKEHOLDER MAPPING
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ch.3 Do we want the same thing? (Research Plan)
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Project Timeline Powerful Questions Matrix Guideline Questions
PROJECT TIMELINE… Week 1 September 10 - 16
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Week 2 September 17 - 23
Week 3 September 24 - 30
Week 4 - 6 October 1 - 21
Week 7 October 22 - 28
Week 8 October 29 -
Week 9 November 5 - 11
Week 10 November 12 - 15
Understanding the relevance of Contextual Mini Design Challenge Observation Research Matrix
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Key Questions Interviews Cultural Probe Sensory Cue Kit Affinitization
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Framework Storytelling
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Open Questions
Closed Questions
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Yes or No questions Ask for single data points
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Require qualitative answers Often address the “How” and “Why”
Brain-Based Questions
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Relate to knowledge, rationality and opinion Often address the “think” and “know”
Heart-Based Questions
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Problem-Oriented
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Biographical in nature Address the past: expertise, experience based
Questions related to emotions and “feeling(s)”
Future-Oriented
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Address future states Range from “What if?” to “What’s Possible?”
DATA COLLECTION Having identified stakeholders of interest, the following methods of Data Collection were employed:
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Interviews Cultural Probe Sensory Cue Kit Survey
Using the Powerful Question matrix (left) we formulated an interview template.
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GUIDELINE QUESTIONS “Do you usually enjoy or avoid conversations?” “Are
you more of a listener or a
talker?” “How does that shape your conversations?” ”What do you love most about talking to
people?” ”What are some conversations you remember?” “What do you think made them memorable?”
“What is a conversation you will never forget?” “Who do you usually converse with? Which of these do you look forward to?” “What do you enjoy about them? What do you dislike about conversations?” “How do you start conversations?” “What are your basic expectations from
conversations?” “What kills a conversation?” “What makes a good conversation, good?” “When do you like talking to people?” “When do you miss talking to people?” “When do you hate talking to people?” “What kinds of conversations would you like to have?” “If
you could change how people talk to each other, how would you do it?” “How do your
conversations usually end?” “Is that a satisfying way to end them?” ”How has technology affected how you talk to people?” ”How has technology affected how you talk to people?”
“How has the way we talk to each other changed in recent times?”
“How has it changed the way we talk to each other?” “Do you think the overall impact has been largely positive?” “Do your customers ever have to interact with some kind of computer?” “Do you prefer physical or digital conversations?” 16
ch.4 Moving In (Primary Research)
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Interviews Cultural Probe Sensory Cue Kit
INTERVIEWS In order to stay true to the universal nature of conversation, we have tried to include a diverse sample of participants throughout our research, collecting data and connecting with 160 participants. Two similar sets of interview questions were prepared to address conversations in the order that they proceed, regarding approach, content and exit. Each Interviewee was asked questions regarding various participants and environments as outlined in our stakeholder map.
Weifan
Juyi Wang
Gulfstream Shop Monitor, SCAD Savannah
Industrial Design Graduate Student at SCAD Savannah
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“I don't talk to people if they dont fit into a category for me. There should be something that relates to me ”
Mallela Karunya
Industrial Design Graduate Student at SCAD Savannah
Q. Are you a talker or a listener? “If i am seeking something from that person the I will be the talker but if approached by someone else, then i will be the listener.” Q. What do you think is the future of conversations? “I hope it will get better. People communicate a lot via social media and don't have a lot of in person conversations which is not something i prefer.” Q. Do you have some tips/suggestions for talking to strangers? “I talk to a stranger like I would talk to a professor for the first time.”
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“I’m both a listener and speaker. That’s an important part of talking to people. You have to be both.” Q. When do you start conversations with people?
Ehsaan Atiq
Graduate Mentor at SCAD Savannah
“If I have enough time on my hands and the person has made eye contact. I only start conversations when I’m in the mood.” Q. What is it about strangers that makes you approach them? “I start conversations with people who look good - this can be anything - looks/ intelligence/ speaking/ language. If anything stands out about them in a positive way and they’ve made eye contact.” Q. Does the location make a difference to conversation with strangers? “I find people very welcoming here. You’re in Savannah, Georgia. It’s one of the friendliest cities. I don’t do this so often in India (talk to strangers) People are generally alone here, so they enjoy company and conversations.” Q. Any tips to improve conversations? “Be positive. If you start off with the assumption that people are bad and the world is cruel, then you are not going to have conversations.”
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“When I train people at work, I tell them you are in customer service. You don’t have to be best friends with them forever, only the next 10 mins. So suck it up.” Q. How would you approach a stranger?
Lori Cafiaro Driver at Uber
‘I just go for it. It could be anything, but depends on the situation is. Go to convo starter is usually a compliment. I wasn’t always this way, I am outside of the box now, life is short.” Q. How has the way we talk to each other changed in recent times? “People are very disrespectful to each other. Everything they do, say, act, there is no common courtesy. In 2700 rides over 1.5 years, I’ve had only 2 boys open the door for their girlfriends.” Q. Do you have some tips/suggestions for talking to strangers? “Listen, and don’t rush to judgment. Everybody has a right to their opinions and beliefs. Its not about what you believe, but about how you are going to meet your end. My being a good person doesn’t include judging someone - that just isn’t my business.
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CULTURAL PROBE Respondents were given two tasks as showcased alongside, providing us with quick quantitative results (from those less patient/busier) and insightful qualitative answers to our 4 key questions (from those intrigued). In order to maximize our data points, we designed a simple and engaging probe using the following components:
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10’ X 10’ Canopy Token deposit box & table Laser-cut Tokens Instruction + Token Standee & Easel Attached metal string as an answer display
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Day 1: Arnold Hall & Foxy Loxy
Day 2: Forsyth Park & Brighter Day
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CULTURAL PROBE RESULTS 20 & Under M
F
21-40
NB
Location
M
F
41-60 NB
M
F
TOTAL
3
1
2
17
1
2
27
9
4
1
Time
1
2
5
8
1
1
2
2
1
1
3
4
2
1
2
Race
NB
2
4
Accent
F
5
4
3
M
4 2
Appearance
60 & Over NB
Activity Weather
Quantitative 18 5
1
2
1
1
2
2
1
2
3
13
27
11
9
1
1
2
14 4 5
Gender
1
Personality
6
10
Fashion
2
3
Age
3
3
3
2
Hygiene
2
4
3
3
Body Language
1
6
13
19
8
9
5
1
62
Emotion
2
8
5
6
2
6
2
1
32
Mood
2
7
12
20
8
9
2
4
64
Personal Space
1
2
1
6
1
Instinct
3
1
7
13
3
Health
1
2
2
3
TOTAL
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79
129
55
1 1
9 2 3 1
53
5 51
2
80 9
1
0
146 Respondents
1
2
3
17 16
1
12
1
34
3
2
13
24
18
438
Top 5 Factors: 1. Personality - 80 Votes 2. Mood - 64 Votes 3. Body language - 62 Votes 4. Instinct - 34 Votes 5. Emotions - 32 Votes 25
CULTURAL PROBE RESULTS - Qualitative TELL US A CONVERSATION YOU’LL NEVER FORGET “A conversation with my mother about the day I was born and what it meant to her, the last conversation I had with my father before my parents got divorced, and the last conversation I had with my grandfather before he died.”
“My conversation with my ex about our divorce.”
“Discussing hope and anger in DC after the elections.”
“I was traveling and I met a Neo-Nazi who was just as comforted and enlightened as I was by our experiences. Both of us were changed.”
“I talked to man who had been living in a National park for 20 years. He lived an interesting life.”
“Learning the meaning of life from a taxi driver in Bangkok. Incredible man, great city.”
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CULTURAL PROBE RESULTS - Qualitative HOW WOULD YOU CHANGE THE WAY WE TALK TO EACH OTHER?
“I wish we can talk about things that inspire us rather than things that bring us down.”
“Listen to understand instead of to defend yourself.”
“We can listen and respond both with authentic love & understanding. Also, instead of "teach" mentality we can have a “share” + “enlighten" mentality. “Put down your phone.”
“I would like people to connect to each other the way we used to: Unedited.”
“We need more courtesy & empathy. When we listen only those we agree with, we cannot empathize with others or come closer together. Compromise. moderation.”
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CULTURAL PROBE RESULTS - Qualitative WHAT’S RECENTLY CHANGED ABOUT OUR CONVERSATIONS?
“Everything is electronic. My kids (teens) don't know how to have a conversation face-to-face.”
“People became preoccupied by screens + afraid of awkwardness.”
“We aren't as open/honest with each other. It's like we are saying what we think people want to hear rather than what you actually believe.” “One word - Trump.”
“We are too afraid to be honest out of fear of offending.”
“The immediacy of text/Snapchat/ Stories has put us in a perpetual 'verbal vomit’. We want immediate responses however ill-thought they are, and we often feel entitled to share our opinions however irrelevant they might be.”
“The conversations are no longer focused on the problems that need to be resolved but based on instinctive, emotional reactions.”
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CULTURAL PROBE RESULTS - Qualitative WHAT KILLS CONVERSATIONS?
“When the other is no longer interested or listening at you, also when he/she starts to be monosyllabic.”
“Seems like there is a discomfort with being quiet. As soon as there’s a lull in small talk, everyone reaches for their phone. There isn’t much quiet observation anymore.”
“Phones kill a conversation. When people pull them out during one or they don't interact in the conversation due to phones.”
“Strong minded political conversation.” ““Selfishness, every time people who fail to empathize lead conversation to dead ends.” “I believe hate kills a conversation.”
“Uncomfortable sexual comments.” “The conversations are no longer focused on the problems that need to be resolved but based on instinctive, emotional reactions.”
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SENSORY CUE KIT Set up at the Foundery Coffee Pub, respondents were invited and asked, one-by-one, to engage and interact with a variety of objects and images spread out on a flat table. Their task was to associate the objects of their choice, with one of the following factors that influence conversation, and explain their reasoning. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Personality Body Language Empathy Instinct Mood & Emotions
These four factors were selected as “anchor” points to help give direction to our research. The anchors were selected on the basis of data collected thus far.
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SENSORY CUE KIT Using these objects as a a starting point, we were able to involve our participants in quick questions about their movements, their answers, the deliberate and involuntary choices made.
Forming a three-point association between object, anchor and conversation, required each participant to spend at least 45 minutes to complete the kit. Notable responses and interactions were compiled into a process video.
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SENSORY CUE KIT
“I don’t want a one way conversation, whether I’m speaking or being spoken to.”
“There’s often a point, where I realize they’re never going to change their mind, or they’re never going to see the other side, because the point of conversation is to relate.
“I would inject myself into a conversation if I had something helpful, coming from a good place.”
“You need to know when to stop talking. I have a very bad habit of not knowing when to stop.”
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ch.5 “I Want To Make This Work” (Affinity Diagramming)
AFFINITIZATION Affinity diagramming enabled us to form a comprehensive macroscopic understanding of user needs, and build it into a single diagram of our insights, each of which then branches off into individual sections organized by frequency and hierarchy.
The Yellows: The messy mixture of all our research collected over 8 weeks, resulted in 800 data points, transcribed onto post-its. Next, we clustered or grouped these “yellows” according to emergent patterns. This process required the group to truly work together, have faith in the process, and remain unfazed by the lack of pre-existing structures and categories.
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AFFINITIZATION The Blues: Using only intuition and frequent discussion, we were able to cluster our raw data entires into “blues� which expressed the content of each underlying yellow, in the voice of the user. This step helped us understand what matters to our participants, without the need to separately refer to each yellow. Next, we clustered these in a similar manner, ensuring that no major distinctions were buried.
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AFFINITIZATION The Pinks: These were also written in the user’s voice, and had to be articulated very carefully, to sufficiently represent their constituent blues, “pinks” represent key issues for the participants.
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AFFINITIZATION The Greens: Not mandatorily in the user’s voice, “greens” were the last step of our affinitization process. They represent the core insights gathered from our research. In our case, the greens are written from the perspective of the conversation itself. For example: “I am empathetic” refers to the conversation being empathetic, or one with empathy.
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ch.6 (Re)aligning The Stars (Key Insights)
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Framework Storytelling
KEY INSIGHTS FRAMEWORK Design research frameworks show the entire research in an engaging manner that is easy to follow and understand. We have shown our research in a model emulating a solar system, as it is well suited to the constantly changing nature of conversation, and the idea of a “universal language�.
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KEY INSIGHTS FRAMEWORK Our 17 key insights were arranged as per their importance as factors in conversation, in the following order of desirability: Must Have, Should Have and Nice to Have. 45
KEY INSIGHTS STORYTELLING The framework has been expanded and discussed in detail in our ICEBREAKERS Magazine, with each part of the framework referring to pieces of our participants’ stories. These stories have been organised as per the following four focus areas: 46
STORYTELLING
1. The Approach Starting conversations, impediments, motivations and inuences.
2. Context & Content Circumstance, environment and relationships with participants, and how they all intermingle to shape conversation.
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STORYTELLING
3. Turn-Offs & Deal Breakers
4. Recall
Pain points in conversations and conversation ending scenarios.
The feelings and thoughts of participants felt after conversation, in reflection.
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ch.7 Looking Back (Reflection)
Vidur Hans M.A. Design Management “I thought I was keeping up with the class, until we began affinitization. Surrendering control over the process was difficult, but it took completing the framework and story, to see how all of these different elements come together to form a cohesive body of research.”
Nitesh Kashyap M.F.A. Industrial Design “I attribute the richness of our data largely to our topic, but the kind of insights we were able to get from our participants made abundantly clear the merit of ethnographic research. It’s clear to see how much useful information goes undiscovered by most quantitative research methods.”
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Chaitanya Ahuja M.F.A. Design Management “A classic example of learning by doing, the inductive method does not work without trusting this process, and allowing it to lead your work instead of your own pre-existing frameworks and structures. Adopting the user’s voice during the affinitization process, after having interfaced with them, came with a sense of responsibility to represent their words accurately. ”
Kshanika Patel M.A. Design Management “We started off slower than I would have liked, given our collective propensity to discuss every single point and detail. This was only exacerbated by our topic; not only were we in constant debate, but several of our participants had plenty to say to our probes. My primary takeaway has been that it does not have to be made difficult - at every impasse, we chose to go with the simpler option, a decision that repeatedly paid off in spades.”
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Jingbo Li M.F.A. Industrial Design “It took me a while to understand the purpose of every step of research, and understand how it contributes to user understanding. As an industrial designer, I am unfamiliar with working on non-tangibles. Watching our team execute our designs for the probe and cue kit, with so many people attending and eagerly participating, the non-linearity of the process started making sense. ”
Haleemah Sadiah M.F.A. Design for Sustainability “Conducting an interview was a truly enlightening albeit daunting task. Learning to balance your own participation and minimizing bias is a much more involved process than I had expected. A similar situation arose with observations, delineating the pure observation from any assumptive analysis. Working with a team of six requires you to monitor your time and effort, and I am happy to have had some experience there. ”
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ch.8 References
Derlega, V. J., & Chaikin, A. L. (1977). Privacy and self-disclosure in social relationships. Journal of Social Issues, 33(3), 102-115. Bortfeld, H., Leon, S. D., Bloom, J. E., Schober, M. F., & Brennan, S. E. (2001). Disfluency rates in conversation: Effects of age, relationship, topic, role, and gender. Language and speech, 44(2), 123-147. Buller, D. B., & Aune, R. K. (1987). Nonverbal cues to deception among intimates, friends, and strangers. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 11(4), 269-290. Images: Pg 47 (Left) Photo by Paula Brustur on Unsplash Pg 47 (Right): Photo by Kevin Curtis on Unsplash Pg. 48 (Left) Photo by Julian Howard on Unsplash Pg. 48 (Right) Photo by Photo by Julian Howard on Unsplash
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THANK YOU