BUSKER USER RESEARCH

University of Washington

For my user research class, the entire quarter was spent using different research methods to triangulate data on a certain population. In my case, I studied the busker community and the issues it faced. Through different assignments I took observations, recorded interviews, and handed out surveys to fully grasp their experiences. These were compiled together to get a full picture of the wants and needs of the community.

Busker User Research: Project

This class was my first experience to user research, and at first it was overwhelming. In the first two weeks we had the basics of observational studies taught to us, a community to research, and the homework to find the time to go out into the field. Despite what felt what a hectic start, I was able to learn a lot through going out to do the study myself. This pattern continued for our interviews and our studies. I figured out what could go wrong just as much as I learned how to do things properly. Interviews were especially hard with my community being buskers, as time spent talking to me was less time working. Once I collected all of the data, it was cross referenced between studies to show the validity of my results. The final report was the greatest challenge of coding and organizing data, and the process I used then as stuck with me throughout all of my work since.

Busker User Research: Text

Best Busker of Pike Place Market in Seattle: the Piano Man

Busker User Research: Image

Beyond all of the technical things I learned, I also discovered the need for flexibility in any design. My community was hard to reach at a time they were available, so I had to work around their schedule and accommodate for issues as they arose. For example, many interviews were cut shorter than would be best so that musicians could go back to playing. To accommodate for that, I had to do many more interviews to get enough data to form proper results. While this is a small thing looking back, It felt large at the time within the constraints of the class and my existing plan. Learning how to deviate from that plan calming and decisively was a lesson worth the stress.

Busker User Research: Text