Re: Re: [libreoffice-design] User Research

Hi guys @LO-Design.

Indeed I'm new in this forum, but I have my share of Office usage and some
knowledge of UI, and this thread elicited some ideas I thought might be
worth sharing with you. 

I kind of miss a specification of the goals of the survey. I mean,
everything in a survey is a consequence of its goals. 
For example, regarding the population of reference (from which we would like
to sample), if the aim is to make current users "happier" then the
population of reference is indeed current users (that download and install
the software or inquire forums about its usage). But if the aims include
trying to broaden the circle of users then the population of reference
should include non-users as well (with questions for the reasons they don't
use it). 

It also occurred to me that there might be some confusion between several
types of surveys and samples. 
One thing is to opt for some insight into the kind of population using LO:
Who they are, where they live, what they do for living and some rudimentary
characteristic regarding the usage of LO (is it for private or commercial
usage? which application they use most?...). I think this kind of
information would be best retrieved during installation and/or via a link
from the Help menu (maybe in the About window).
Another thing is to look for answers to specific major, time-dependent,
questions. For example, in the process of defining the work on a new major
version (like LO 4), it might be required to consult (potential) users for
the features they find most important to add or upgrade. This is a one-time
questionnaire which might be a bit long or non-trivial to answer. It might
require a special effort to recruit a suitable sample. Perhaps the results
of the demographic short survey can guide the recruitment of this kind of
survey (especially if we add to the short survey a check-mark for
willingness to contribute by participating in future surveys).
Yet another thing might be to have a group of users willing to provide
feedback on a rather intensive manner. This group can provide feedback on
transient issues (like getting support or more minuscule version changes)
and perhaps be willing to put more time in rather long on highly detailed
questionnaires. Recruiting this sample will probably take a while. A
variation on this can be a virtual focus-group, gathering relative small
subsets of users to discuss questions raised by a moderator regarding
specific development of design issues. 

Hope this helps clarify things and, eventually, make a good thing even
better!
dror

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