Observing the User Experience – Book from Mr Baumann
Last week I challenged myself to read “Observing the User Experience” (Goodman, Kuniavsky, Moed, 2012). This was not easy, but necessary, because my Master’s research depends on strong qualitativ methods. The book is known in the UX community and the authors are recognized experts, as Mr Baumann told me (He owns this book and borrowed it to me). When I borrowed it, my plan was to dive deeper into UX research methods and figure out which techniques are honest and suitable for my thesis, not just the easiest way to get quick results.
What I read and learned
The book is well structured and does a good job keeping things clear, organized and easy to navigate. It offers an overview of many UX methods but for my research, I was most interested in Chapter 6 (Interviewing), Chapter 9 (Field Visits and Observation) and also Chapter 12 (Surveys). In Chapter 6, I learned about how to select the right people for interviews: there are three steps to do this → define the target group, find representatives, and convince them to join. The most important filter is user behavior, not demographics or random criteria.
The part about structuring interviews gave me a simple but powerful model:
- Start every interview with a short introduction and make clear you are a neutral, professional and respectful partner
- Warm-Up: Help the user focus and step away from daily routine.
- Ask general questions about their experiences, expectations and opinions.
- Go deeper with specific questions on the product or service.
- Always wrap up so participants are not left confused or stressed.
I realized that many surveys and interviews fail because researchers do not prepare correct (who to ask, how to ask, what order to ask things). The books structure for interviews (S. 129f) actually makes it much easier for me to plan honest conversations that show the real pain and frustration users have, not just surface level feedback.
Why is this important for my Master Thesis?
I want my research about the User Experience of EV Charging to be meaningful: not just collecting some survey numbers and simple opinions, but really finding out where users struggle, what confuses them, what they need and what can I improve. This is only possible if I use well designed or/and structured interviews and observations. Just sending out a Google Form will never be enough.
Because EV charging is both a technical and emotional experience (as I wrote in Impulse #1), interviews and field visits help me to see both sides. Users might tell me about real technical problems (errors, slow speed, location issues), but also about fears and annoyances that are invisible in hard data. The book convinced me that i need to pick honest, difficult methods, not just “easy” online surveys. Obviously online surveys arent always that “easy” but you know what i mean 😉
Taking action for my Research
For my next steps I want to:
- carefully plan my user interviews using the structures from the book
- not just ask easy questions. I want to challenge users to speak about pain, failures, and surprising moments
- use a mix of interviews and onsite observations at charging stations. (maybe for a next impulse event i could actually observe a EV Station for one or more hours)
- I must recruit the RIGHT people: real EV drivers with different backgrounds and experiences.
My goal is now clear that i not only want data as research, but direct contact and uncomfortable truths. This will make my Master Thesis stronger and more useful for future designers and researchers.
References:
Goodman, Elizabeth, Mike Kuniavsky, and Andrea Moed. Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research. 2nd ed. Waltham, MA: Morgan Kaufmann, 2012.
AI Disclaimer: AI helped to brainstorm, review structure, and improve clarity.
