Fake Your Research

In April 2012, Czech TV launched a new logo. They ran a last-minute research. The purpose was clear – prove that the new logo (already scheduled to launch) is good. And they succeeded!

They used several cool tricks to do that. I‘m gonna show you two of them.

Kliknutím na ikonu přidáte obrázek.

Imagine you are taking a survey and you see this picture of a TV screen and they ask you „which TV channel is on?“

Now you show you this picture and ask you „What does this remind you of?“ Hands up those who think of TV

More than half associate this with a TV (hoorray!)

The survey reported that more than half people answered „TV“. More than half! What a beautiful intepretation. What if I take the same data and say – almost half of the people didn‘t associate the logo with a tv screen. Even after they had just seen one!

I will give you a set of useful tools to manipulate the results of your researchSome will directly influence the results, others will simply spread chaos (useful for covering the former)And for the good guys…This is a list of things you should never doAnd fire your research agency if they do them

Framing

Take advantage of the fact that question order and wording influence the way subjects answer

Answer this…

● Do you think it is easier to find work in a city?● Is the average salary higher in a city than in the

country?● Is it nature-friendly to use public transport to get to

work?● Is it good to have many cultural events to choose

from?● Do you want to be able to choose from high-quality

schools for your children to go to?● Do you enjoy meeting new people?

Now tell me… Would you like to live in a city?

Then answer this…

● Is the air in cities polluted?● Do you think there is too much technology in our

lives?● Are city streets safe for children to play?● Do you like the nature?● Are the people in the country more open and

friendly?● Would you like to have a network or neighbors

you know and you can count on?

Now tell me again… Would you like to live in a city?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=G0ZZJXw4MTA#t=30

Learn framing from Sir Humphrey

Lesson 1Randomize questions in surveys

Ask open-ended questions

Ask What If

The anwer people choose doesn't have any real consequences, just like in a computer gameAsk people how they would behave if they were rich, how would they react if they got a discount etc. The answer will be very inaccurate.

Are you racist?

Let me ask you this: Are you racist?Now let me ask you another question: Imagine you see a white guy cutting the lock of a bike in a park. Think what you do.Keep the answer to yourselves and let me show you this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ge7i60GuNRg#t=32

Lesson 2Ask people about past behavior. The

answer will not be 100% accurate, but it will be much more precise than

asking about future

Mention Interface Elements in Wording

Now add this item into cart

When giving tasks, mention parts of the interface to make it really easy for the participants to find the information. This will help you prove that your design is good

Look at this page.1) Find maps2) Imagine you want to find something about Mick Jagger. Where do you click?3) Compare how much time each task took

Lesson 3Never use interface elements in

task wording

Ask about the Unknown

Great TerribleAverage

Imagine you are taking a survey and they ask you to rate a bank

Great TerribleAverage

And another one

Great TerribleAverage

And another one… Most of which you have no experience with. Imagine how useful the answers from such survey must be.

Lesson 4Ask people what they know first and then about their experience

with it

Ask Irrelevant Questions

Just like this picture is totally irrelevant to this talk

Imagine they show you a page. Like this one…

And then they ask you to select the emotions you had when looking at the page. From 41 emotion altogether! Sorted on a mysterious scale! Does that really allow you to express you experience with the design? I doubt it.

Anothe popular type of survey. Look at sets of photos and select brands (banks in this case) and select the ones that go together with the photos. My answer? None!

Ask People What They Want

Saying yes costs nothing. It‘s like taking children to a toy store. Participants will say yes to a lot of stuff they would never actually want. Ask „do you want a newsletter“ or „do you want 28 new features“ to get yourself something to work on „because people want it“

In 1985 Coca Cola released „New Coke“. They ran a set of focus groups asking people what kind of coke would they want. Since they were asked (and paid to reply) people said they wanted a different kind of coke. A new one. The product was a failure. It turned out that people didn‘t want a new one, the like the good old coke just fine.

Home Simpson‘s brother asked him to help engineers develop a new car. So Homer went and told the engineers about all the features his dream car should have. And they built it…

Summary

Randomize questions

Ask about past behavior

Avoid irrelevant questions

@adlowww.adamfendrych.cz