A Summary of "Understanding How Consumers Make Decisions: Using Cognitive Task Analysis for Market Research" from "Working Minds"

Citation
Crandall, Beth; Klein, Gary; Hoffman, Robert R. "Understanding How Consumers Make Decisions: Using Cognitive Task Analysis for Market Research." Working Minds: A Practitioner’s Guide to Cognitive Task Analysis. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006. 215-228.

Summary / Assessment
In this chapter of Working Minds, the authors demonstrate how the application of cognitive task analysis (CTA) techniques to market research can help clarify various cognitive questions such as: “How do consumers decide whether to purchase a product?” “How do consumers make sense of what the product does or how it works?” -and- “When consumers have developed incorrect or inadequate mental models, what would help them shift to better models so they are more satisfied with the product?” The use of CTA techniques augments the traditional approach of doing market research by enabling us to discover the way consumers think about using and buying products, and how consumers make decisions. (The traditional approach is relegated to studying consumer beliefs, attitudes, and preferences.)

The traditional way of performing market research is to ask consumers how they make their purchasing decisions. This technique is incomplete because consumers are sometimes unable to explicitly express their cognitive processes when choosing a particular product. We must ask the appropriate questions and observe the consumer “in the wild” to infer their decision strategy. CTA techniques also provide a means to elicit and document the internal mental models consumers build about products. Their mental models include how they perceive the product (behaviorally, emotionally, and reflectively), and what makes the product effective or ineffective. In learning about product effectiveness, we also learn about how the product is being used and in what context it is being used.

The authors define the following three basic strategies for applying CTA methods to market research: Concurrent Observations and Interviews, Simulations and Props, and Retrospective Interviews. Concurrent Observations and Interviews are used while the consumers are making product decisions and while the consumers are interacting with products. They are used to record what users are thinking about in situ (not to record remembrances or hypothetical cases). Simulations and Props are used when it isn’t possible to observe consumers in action. We can use this technique to “probe consumer cognition”, to see what consumers were picking up on, and what they were considering or ignoring. Retrospective Interviews can be leveraged when trying to understand reflective issues such as brand loyalty and what prompts users to switch brands. (For example, the consumer’s history with the product is identified and examined in such interviews.)

Just as it is difficult for Consumers to express their cognitive processes when choosing or using a particular product, Users have difficulties when expressing the complex cognitive processes involved in their profession. Herein lies the nexus between studying consumer behavior and designing effective software products. Users may express what they think they need (new technologies, certain design scheme, etc.), but in reality it is hard for users to express -or translate- their true needs into exact specifications. Professionals such as business analysts or requirements engineers can leverage CTA techniques to elicit details about cognitive processes and internal mental models, which can then be incorporated into to functionally accurate and subjectively pleasing designs.

For further reading, I would suggest the entire text of “Cognitive Minds”. It provides a really good explanation of CTA theories and methods. It also provides good practical examples of the application of CTA techniques.

A Summary of "Chapter 3: Natural Interaction" from "The Design of Future Things"

Citation
Norman, Donald A. "Chapter 3: Natural Interaction." The Design of Future Things. New York: Basic Books, 2007. 57-90.

Summary / Assessment
In this chapter of the “Design of Future Things”, Donald Norman discusses ideas surrounding the incorporation of natural communication within designs. He draws a distinction between communication and signaling. He writes that “interactive” devices of today signal their users, rather than provide an effective means of natural communication. A dishwasher beeps when the dishes are done. A microwave beeps when food is ready. Such signals may be useful in isolation, but a cacophony of these types of signals may prove to be distracting, un-interpretable, and potentially dangerous. We should use more natural communication and sounds in our designs. Natural sounds (i.e. - sounds we encounter everyday, not sounds generated by an electronic device) can provide the location of an object, reveal their composition, and reveal their activity. The primary example of natural sound/interaction given by Norman is the whistling tea kettle.

This natural communication is referred to as implicit communication. Implicit communication also includes communication afforded by the natural side effects of people’s activities. The messy research laboratory provides the implicit signal that it is being used. Footprints in the sand implicitly tell us that someone has passed by earlier. The presence of sticky notes or underlined passages in a book tells us that the book has been read. These “non-purposeful” clues can inform us of what is happening or what has happened, provide awareness of the environment, and let us know if we should take action or continue on with what we are doing.

Affordances are “the range of activities an animal or person can perform upon an object in the world.” For example: a chair affords sitting or hiding-behind for an adult, but not for an elephant. Affordances are not attributes of an object, but rather, relationships between agents and objects. Affordances exist whether or not they have been discovered; the design challenge is to make affordances apparent to users. If affordances are easily apparent, they guide users’ behavior, and they make object interaction intuitive and natural.

Interaction with autonomous, intelligent devices is particularly challenging because communication has to go both ways (person-to-machine and machine-to-person). Norman offers horseback riding as a good example of interaction between intelligent agents. An important aspect of horseback riding is “tight-reign” and “loose-reign” control. In tight-reign control, power shifts from the horse to the rider; in loose-reign control, power shifts from the rider to the horse. Loose-reign control allows the horse to be more autonomous; however the rider can still provide some oversight through natural interaction of verbal commands, and heel kicks. This idea of allowing the natural variance of independence and interaction is powerful and can be incorporated into designing human-machine interactions.

In the remainder of the chapter, Norman makes a few other points germane to the design of human-machine interaction.

• Be Predictable. - Intelligent machines of the future should not attempt to read user’s minds or predict users’ next actions. There are two issues in doing this: firstly, predictions could be wrong, and secondly, it makes the machine’s actions unpredictable. Unpredictability leads to the user guessing at what the machine is trying to do.
• Don’t distance users from implicit communication. – Today’s automobile isolates its users from certain implicit communication, thereby reducing situational awareness. The user relies more and more on the technology in the automobile (such as automatic lane-keeping). This distancing and reliance can potentially make the automobile more dangerous to operate.
• The best designs compensate human intelligence, rather than supersede it. – For example: power-assisted devices can augment human capabilities, but they also can limit human capabilities where needed.

A Framework for Online Charitable Giving

This paper presents a framework that can be utilized by charitable organizations to increase online giving. The framework offers a systematic approach to thinking about online giving, and provides tools to construct robust mechanisms for eliciting and collecting donations. The framework consists of three components: a persuasive design component, an emotional design component, and a donation-usability component.

Direct Link to PDF
http://romalley2000.home.comcast.net/documents/OMalley_Charitable_Giving_Framework.pdf

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