Tool details
Peers Observing Peers
Get a glimpse into the community you’re designing for by seeing how they document their own lives and how they document their own peers behaviour and the community from the inside.
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When to use
The insight you get from the people you are designing for might be more honest than when you are doing the research. E.g. a sensitive topic, cultural or social differences.
Why you should
By giving the people you’re designing for the tools to capture their own attitudes, opinions, and hopes, you’ll learn more than you ever could on your own.
What you get
Insight on your product/service/design from a new angle.
Steps to take
There are a number of ways you can get a person you’re designing for to observe and document her peers and community. Start by determining how you want to learn. It could be through Interviews, photos, Collages, Card Sorts, etc.
Outfit the person you’re designing for with what she’ll need—a camera perhaps, art supplies, a notebook and pen, etc—and take her through the observation and reporting process.
Offer support throughout the observation and reporting process. Make certain that she knows that there is no right answer and that you only want the honest opinions, hopes, and fears of the people she talks to.
When she’s done, collect what she’s produced, but also be sure to Interview her about how the process went. You’ll want more than just the facts, so be sure to find out what surprised or inspired her, how her opinions might have changed, and what she learned about her peers.
Further reading
You may find that social and gender dynamics, or research around a sensitive subject, like sexual health for example, may limit how much the people you’re designing for are willing to tell you. This approach can help you address that problem.