This research tool strongly aligns with ‘exploiting insights’ one of the eight key principles of Innovation Management identified in ISO 56002. Observation is a valuable tool for identifying opportunities through exploitable insights based on stated or unstated needs and expectations.

Observation can complement other research methods, such as interviews, surveys and secondary research, providing a richer, triangulated understanding of a problem or challenge area. It is strongly recommended that everyone on a design team should be involved in user observation activities as part of the front-end innovation discovery process, as well as part of the design and development process.

Key advantages of observation as a research technique include:

• Observation allows you to study behaviours and events in their natural settings, providing contextually rich and realistic data.

• You can gain deep insights into non-verbal cues, interactions, and behaviours that might not be captured through other methods like surveys or interviews.

• Observation captures the context within which behaviours occur, providing a more holistic view of the project area or job being studied.

• Observation can help to understand complex dynamics and processes in social interactions and organisational settings.

• Organisations can use observational data to support them in making informed decisions based on user behaviour and interactions.

It is only when we start to understand and appreciate the differences in people’s perspectives and experiences on how well the current solution(s) supports them in dealing with the job they have to do that we can gain insights around their unmet, under-met and unarticulated needs and required outcomes. 

 

It is important that a number of users are observed as part of this research approach rather than relying on the behaviour of one or two users. We typically observe 5-15 users undertaking the same job as part of our research activities. For further information see:

 

There are a number of limitations and challenges in relation to observation including observer bias and the Hawthorne effect (where subjects alter their behaviour because they know they are being observed). However, overall observation remains a powerful and insightful research technique, particularly as part of a triangulated approach.