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.