The Dangers of Empathy: Toward More Responsible Design Research
Empathy is widely held as an important research mindset among designers. Many design research processes begin with the word. While empathy is broadly necessary to design practice, it is not without its problems. Most designers and researchers do not also know the dangers of empathy. Consider that:
- We confuse and conflate empathy, sympathy, and compassion. The differences are critically important.
- Empathic resonance in the brain is extremely biased. We find it hard to empathize with people unlike ourselves.
- Having too much empathy may also be problematic and can be weaponized by bad actors.
- We feel empathy only for humans and animals‚ not for objects, spaces, places, or our planet.
This talk will explore the edges of empathy and show how and why two additional emotive capacities should be cultivated: curiosity and care. A short case study for a project involving four NASA space scientists will demonstrate that when these two capacities are added to empathy, they can lead to more generative research and richer insights.
Recruiting for User Research: a Chat with Nate Bolt
Nate Bolt knows more about recruiting for user research than the average human. He created the first moderated remote testing software, founded Ethnio, and authored the book Remote Research. In this podcast, Nate sits down with Lou to share ideas for how to get started, and what to look for in an ideal research participant.
What is Research Strategy?
As a Research Strategist, Chris is frequently asked “What is Research Strategy?” Let’s start a conversation that defines this practice and develops its approaches. Research Strategy brings processes and frameworks to bear to ensure that an organization’s research activities are deliberate, effective, and aligned with business objectives. Notably, it is not just the purview of research leadership! All of us are already engaged in this work, but we haven’t been talking about it as such. Chris will present his work in this area and invite others to join him in evolving this emerging practice.
Under My (Research) Umbrella: The Benefits and Challenges of Building a Unified Insights Function
When research is siloed it can lead to duplicative research of variable quality. In this talk, Andy explores the benefits (and challenges) of having a unified research & insights function, based on his experiences leading teams at Airtable, Instagram, and Dropbox. Further, Andy presents practical strategies to align diverse insight-generating functions, offering guidance even in situations where forming a unified team may not be possible. Through a detailed examination of real-world scenarios and Andy’s professional journey, attendees will gain valuable lessons and recommendations aimed at fostering a cohesive and effective research ecosystem.
Research Democratization: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The pros and cons of democratizing user research are heavily debated. Often this is seen as a black and white scenario where we are solely in favour or against it. But what about all the shades of grey we can explore? Depending on the situation there are both benefits and dangers that lie in democratizing our research practice.
Kathleen will share her experience with research democratization. Based on this she will show a framework that will help you assess when it is an appropriate tool to further research maturity and when it might derail you.
The Humanity of Technology: Furthering the Greater Good with Jamika Burge
Though trained as a computer scientist, Jamika Burge admits she does not have the heart of a programmer; rather, she’s interested in surfacing and connecting with the humanity of the technology we create. Jamika has taken that approach in her past work, including a stint at DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), where she studied the impact of games on learning. Jamika now leads AI Design Insights at CapitalOne, and is also one of the Advancing Research 2021 Conference curators. Here she shares the story of her career path, and the work she is doing with blackcomputeHER.org (pronounced ‘black computer’), an organization she co-founded that is dedicated to supporting computation and design workforce development for black women and girls.
Jamika Recommends:
Gendershades.org, a project by Joy Buolamwini, Lead Author and Timnit Gebru, PhD, Co-Author
How UX researchers can partner with (and not be replaced by) AI [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series](Videoconference)
Four of your research colleagues discussed and defended their respective positions (below) on the impact of AI on user research. Participants engaged in a discussion and Q&A, facilitated by Dr. Jamika D. Burge.
“AI has the potential to be the researcher’s best friend, by doing all the heavy lifting associated with analysis – but it also has the potential to cause unimaginable damage”.
– Nick Fine
“Researchers absolutely must learn to create AI prompts. Not only will prompt engineering become an essential, required research skill, but it will also offer a much-needed opportunity to rethink our role as facilitators of change.”
– Alexandra Jayeun Lee
Soon, AI will be able to utilize the participant’s feedback as a prompt to create RITE design variations on the fly, offering the researcher multiple flow options organically and in real time, which will radically transform our research practice.”
– Greg Nudelman
“UX Researchers can reinvent themselves as “delightful ethicists” who oversee ethics on critical issues when generative AI supplies abundant solutions without providing the why.”
– Bo Wang
UX Research Excellence Framework
A multidisciplinary research team needs a well-crafted framework to guide their behavior, nurture their growth, and cultivate their culture. Otherwise, they feel stuck in growth and unmotivated to collaborate. Through a participatory design, the authors established a three-pillar excellence framework at Uber. First, it focuses on the research impact on product experimentation, products, roadmaps, and the company/organization. Second, it promotes creative research methods that successfully prioritize work, produce and scale rigorous insights, and empower other researchers. Third, it recognizes true partnership cross functional teams and beyond their own product area. This framework worked well at Uber for years, and recently was applied by the authors in Booking.com and Course Hero with some modifications. As this starter framework, they hope all researchers and research leaders can build their own ones based on their situations.
How to create actionable insight in the face of politics and silos [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series] (Videoconference)
Three of your research colleagues discussed and defended their respective positions on creating actionable insight in the face of politics and silos. Pariticipants then engaged with them in a discussion and Q&A, facilitated by Robin Beers.
“In organizations that may not incentivize informed decision-making, researchers need to study power dynamics, cultivate their political influence, and consistently communicate their value to the business.”
– Sonja Bobrowska
“AI tools will change the way people consume researchers, relying more and more on receiving personalized summaries. This will only exacerbate silos and lead to miscommunication. To avoid this, the best skill researchers can learn is creating compelling visual frameworks rather than weighty reports.”
– Mujtaba Hameed
“The best report and presentation ever do not necessarily mean your findings will be adopted. Insights virtually don’t exist if you aren’t able to make them stick by putting them to work.”
– Josh Morales
Building Trust Through Equitable Research Practices
User research helps you engage the people who will use the service you’re building, increasing the likelihood that you’ll create something that truly meets peoples’ needs. But equitable recruitment—ensuring that you’re engaging users from all walks of life—can be difficult to achieve.
Traditional user research practices often exclude people like those who don’t have access to the internet or can’t take time off work, but who might most need to access a service. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution for promoting equitable research, we aim to share inclusive and respectful research practices that foster trust with research participants and government stakeholders.
Attendees will gain an understanding of Nava’s approach to conducting user research, lessons learned, best practices, and how our work contributes to more equitable access to public services for millions of people and vulnerable populations across the country. Participants will hear examples from Nava’s research and walk away with concrete practices they can implement in their work.
