Intro to the Role of Body Language in User Research
1. Do you have tips for remaining neutral in your own body language without coming off as standoffish?
First and foremost, as the moderator it is important for you to not perform any of the posture movements, gestures, or facial expressions to an extreme during the session. To that point, you don’t need to be completely dull the whole time by not responding to anything the user says or does. The key is to follow along with the user as they react to things, while not mirroring them completely. What I mean is that if a user were to become frustrated with something, you can adjust your tone of voice and facial expressions slightly to indicate to the user you are aware of their frustration, but you don’t want to go too far by giving off the idea that you are frustrated as well. The key here is to make sure the participant feels you are engaged and genuinely interested in what they have to share.
Some general tips for maintaining a good level of neutrality while not being standoffish:
· Stand/sit up straight
· Don’t face away from the participant
· Don’t bring your hands to your chin, face or head to prop yourself up
· Maintain eye contact when the user is speaking to you
2. How do you best encourage a user to continue with the session and continue providing feedback after a task has frustrated them?
The best way to initiate this is to first make sure you know what it was that led to the frustration by probing with something like “So walk me through what just happened?” – Allow the user to explain what occurred so you can have a better idea of where exactly in the process the user became frustrated. After the user is finished, you can begin the process of finding out from the user how they were expecting it to work by simply asking something like “How were you expecting it to work? Why is that?” Then, you can ask something like “What changes, if any, would you make to improve that process? Why?” – This is a great question to ask in case the user has not already shared suggestions for improvement. This will ideally prompt them to verbalize their thoughts and offer up ideas for how they would like or would expect it to work.
Keep in mind, don’t be afraid to stay on a certain task or topic with a user for a little longer than you had planned. A nice thing to say to the user in a situation like is “This is exactly why we’re here today, to understand your thoughts regarding how this is currently working as well as how you would like it to work.” – This reassures the user that their time and feedback is valuable and it should empower them to continue providing useful feedback.
3. Some cultures do not make eye contact. Do you take that into account on assessing body language?
In each research study you do, you should always be equipped with the demographic/background information on each of your test participants. Also, depending on what the content of the study is and/or where the study is being conducted, you should be able to know prior to testing whether or not the individuals you are going to be testing are of a culture that has the tendency to maintain less eye contact or even none at all. As long as you know this going into testing, it should not bias you as you gather user feedback.
4. During one task, there might be different expressions - mix of frustration, confidence, or confusion. How do we analyze and make sense of the data?
Yes, there will surely be a mixture of emotions and expressions that the user conveys during a task or throughout the session as a whole. It’s important to observe and document where certain emotions occur throughout a session, for each session, so that you can go back after testing is completed and identify where the majority of participants expressed specific emotions. This will give you the ability to address the higher severity issues that occurred during testing.
5. Have you ever encountered situations where users have different body expressions at the same moment-of-truth? Do you use common sense to assess data or use some other systemic approach?
Yes, there will undoubtedly be different reactions at the same moments of truth. Simply put, each user has his or her own wants, needs, and expectations for their interactions with the things around them, meaning that while something might frustrate a user, it’s possible for that same interaction to occur with another person and have little to no effect on them. It all depends on how they view that moment of truth in the grand scheme of things and how it fits into their overall experience.
Personality also plays a significant role here. Some people are not easily agitated or frustrated when they encounter an issue with something, while others can become frustrated at the very onset of confusion. This is where it takes a great moderator who is focused and fully committed to tracking both the user’s verbal and non-verbal feedback throughout the course of a test session. Relying on your skills and trusting best practices will ensure you get the most out of qualitative research sessions like these.
Join us for part three of this 3-part webinar series where we talk about some of the technological advancements and innovative tools that we can now use to help track and quantify this data.
6. In terms of eye contact, can the amount of eye contact between the moderator and the participant give off any indication of emotion such as confidence, confusion, or frustration?
It sure can. In fact, when conversing with a user about something on the site they saw and/or interacted with, higher levels of eye contact they have with you is indicative of higher levels of confidence towards what they’re talking about, and vice versa.
7. What should a moderator do when a user is very cold, quiet, and/or not showing much emotion at all?
So, it’s important to distinguish whether a user’s quietness is stemming from a lack of confidence interacting with the design or if it’s simply just their personality. This can be achieved in a number of ways. One thing to remember is that it’s important to begin a session with a good intro where you set the stage and expectations for the user for the session. Get them talking, have a few open-ended intro questions for them to answer so they can open up and get more comfortable with you. This will help the user to ideally be more open and willing to share thoughts and feelings throughout their session.
