Observation: Field Study - Discovery or Development Phase

Owned by Magdalene Schifferer (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Mar 03, 2023
4 min read

Phase: Discovery or Development

Summary: Researchers observe users in their natural environment

 

What is a Field Study?

A field study is a UX method that allows researchers to observe users in a “natural environment” in which your product might be used (e.g. homes, workplace, neighbourhoods, streets, stores). Researchers travel to the participant to observe them in their environment, rather than asking them to meet the researcher in a lab or office to conduct the study.

When to use a Field Study

Researchers should choose to conduct a field study when they need an objective understanding of what users actually do in their environment (vs. what they tell you they do). Three main reasons for choosing a field study are as follows:

  • Need to find out how users compete tasks in the field that might not be replicable in a lab or office setting (e.g. how to cooks slice onions, observing staff actions to see how to cut costs)

  • When you need understand users in their own setting to ask good questions and understand their needs

  • When you will not get accurate results testing a product in a lab (e.g. onboard ship navigation)

As this method can be time consuming, researchers generally choose this method when other techniques cannot provide similar data. Field studies are often conducted early in the development process to provide contextual overview but can also be used in other stages of the development process to inform adjustment to product details, signal a change in product direction, or add additional product layers.

Benefits and pitfalls

Benefits

  • Useful in providing a foundation for future topic and feature-specific (e.g. account for temperature changes when product is in use) research

  • Assists researchers in learning the product-specific language used in the field (e.g. technical language

  • Understand context in which users are trying to solve a problem (e.g. trying to book an appointment while caring for two children under 5)

  • Circumstances users face in their environment (commonalities and differences)

Pitfalls

  • Potential high costs involved in conducting a field study (e.g. travel expenses)

  • Possible complex analysis of research data (e.g. several hours of analysis may be necessary)

  • Cannot conduct field studies in certain scenarios such as:

    • Unpredictable circumstances (e.g. earthquake)

    • Involves places researchers cannot visit (e.g. battlefield)

    • Need to collect sensitive information that is best suited for a lab environment (e.g. personal data)

  • Be careful not to design a research plan that requires many observers, as this can destroy the “naturalness” of the setting

Planning

In general, field studies are more open-ended in comparison to other types of UX research methods. As such, a predefined list of research questions is generally not necessary. Instead, researchers should prepare designated topics of study. The level of researcher participation varies depending on the type of data required - from purely observational to direct interaction with participants (e.g. conducting user interviews and product testing).

There are generally considered to be three broad categories of field study research methods, although a single study may involve techniques from multiple categories. Research methods are outlined below.

1. Direct observation - researcher does not interact with participants

  • Researchers watch participants (individual users or group of participants) to observe how they behave and why. In an ideal scenario, participants act naturally as though researchers are not watching.

  • If observing participants without their direct consent (e.g. watching shoppers in a mall without their knowledge), researchers will need to keep in mind any ethical and practical limitations involving this method.

  • Data gathered from this method can stand alone, or it can be used to inform later research phases.

2. Participant observation - observer interacts with individual or group as participant

  • Observer joins the individual or group of people being studied and records field notes or diary entries at the end of day (e.g. market researcher who attends barbeques to identify grill design flaws).

  • Ethnographic method – combines informal qualitative interviews with direct observation. Observer is no longer a “fly on the wall” and hopes the research subjects will still act normally and consider the observer to be one of their own.

  • From an ethical perspective, participant-researchers must let the group know they are researchers, and hope they act naturally.

3. Qualitative interviews - observer interviews the individual or group

Conducting the Interview

In many cases, when arriving on site, researchers will need to introduce themselves and get participants comfortable with the situation. Introduce yourself to participants (if necessary) and explain what you are doing. Try to get the participants comfortable with you. At the end of the study, be sure to say goodbye and follow-up with them as needed over the next few weeks. Always be sure to give something back, whether it be a simple “thank you”, or a material (e.g. product, food) or monetary gesture.

Analysis

At this stage, researchers organize their results into data, highlighting key observations and looking for patterns. After completing your initial round of research, you may decide to complete another topic-specific field study or use a different research method. Additional information on analyzing qualitative data can be found in the “User Interview” guide.

References

“Field Studies.” User Interviews, https://www.userinterviews.com/ux-research-field-guide-chapter/field-studies. Retrieved 8 Nov. 2021.

Additional Resources

Farrell, Susan. “Field Studies.” Nielsen Norman Group, 23 Oct. 2016,
Field Studies.

“Field Research.” UX Design Templates,
https://uxdesigntemplates.com/evidence/method/field-research. Retrieved 8 Nov. 2021.

“Field Studies vs. Ethnographic Studies vs. Contextual Inquiry.” YouTube, uploaded by NNgroup, 1 Jan. 2021, Field Studies vs. Ethnographic Studies vs. Contextual Inquiry.

Laubheimer, Page. “Doing Field Studies Remotely.” Nielsen Norman Group,
https://www.nngroup.com/videos/remote-field-studies/. Retrieved 8 Nov. 2021.

Pasia, Tania. “How to prepare for a (last minute) field user research.” UX Collective, 12 May 2018,
https://uxdesign.cc/how-to-prepare-for-a-last-minute-field-user-research-38006654ddaa.

“User Interview Launch Kit.” User Interviews,
User Interview Templates by User Interviews. So Meta.. Retrieved 8 Nov. 2021.