Brief Overview
Icebreakers is a part of the course Methods of Contextual Research. This project focuses on using various data collection tools to understand the current and ideal experience of conversations. The team started the project researching the basic concept of conversations and the factors that affect conversations leading towards primary and secondary research. We hired participants for personal interviews and sensory cue kit and organized a cultural probe at high frequency areas. The team affinities the human-centered data to create a detailed framework.
Timeline
September 2018 - November 2018
Services
Ethnographic Research, Interviews, Sensory Cue Kit, Cultural Probe and Framework.
Hunt & Gather
To familiarize ourselves with the subject at hand, the team conducted preliminary secondary research on the nature and constituents of a conversation, influencing factors and their respective degree of impact, the four basic kinds of conversation: Dialogue, Diatribe, Debate and Discourse, and how these distinctions are created by the mixing of different participants and environments.
Observe & Report
Through pure observation in various environments and detailed one-on-one interviews, we began to create a picture of peoples current experience of conversation, covering memorability, recent changes and pain points. We compiled a short list of guiding questions to inform the remainder of the process.
Poke & Probe
Given a more holistic view of conversation and it’s associated factors, we built them into tasks in a cultural probe. We were able to ascertain the factors’ order of priority, and gather qualitative data on our focus areas. The interactivity of the probe, and its deployment in public spaces helped gather information from a larger sample set, and provided a starting point for respondents to express themselves thoroughly. We followed this up with a final probe: A sensory cue kit, comprised of objects and images.
Coding, Analysis and Synthesis
Data from all 4 methods was compiled into dedicated documents, coded for high frequency responses, common associations were noted and used to uncover patterns, and identify anchor points.
Story Telling
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.