We’ve all been there - that moment when you, designers and researchers, are stumped and overwhelmed with hours of video, thousands of photos, artifacts, and documents. What should you do next? How do you do it? And how do you know when you've done a good job? As with all detective work, design research is not a random search for clues; it is a structured, coherent and systematic process aiming to solve problems. In this presentation, I alternate between the detective hat and our UX hat as we take a look at the mindset, the skills, and the techniques we can learn from the greatest of all detectives - Sherlock Holmes.

1. WHAT I LEARNT
FROM
SHERLOCK
HOLMES
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2. This Talk
✘
How and when to conduct user research.
✘
The benefits of user research to product development.
✓ Habits and practices to become a better researcher.
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@razsadeq

3. A LITTLE
BACKGROUND
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4. Computer
Engineering
Razan Sadeq
Project
Management
Interaction
Design Interactive
Media
UX Research
Internships
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6. Nine Months Later…

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8. Data.
Data.
Data.
I cannot make bricks without clay.
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9. Five Cases
1. The Early Hypothesis
2. The Missed Opportunity
3. The Curious Incident
4. The Divided Attention
5. The Obsessed Researcher
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10. THE EARLY
HYPOTHESIS
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CASE 1

11. Holmes’ Method
Understand
the problem
Y E S . T H E S C I E N T I F I C M E THOD
Interview /
Investigate
Develop
hypotheses
Test the
Validation hypotheses Present the
conclusion
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CORRECT
INCORRECT

12. A 5-Step Process
F O R C O N D U C T I N G U S E R R E S E A R C H
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13. “It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has
data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit
theories, instead of theories to suit facts”.
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14. Avoid Early Hypotheses
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✓
✓
To develop better and more informed hypotheses.
To generate criteria to test the hypothesis against.
✓ To reduce sunk cost.

15. Suggested Process
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1. OBJECTIVES
2. COLLECT DATA
3. HYPOTHESES
4.CONDUCT RESEARCH
5.SYNTHESIS
6. COMMUNICATE

16. THE
MISSED
OPPORTUNITY
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CASE 2

17. You see everything, but you fail to
reason from what you see. You are too
timid in drawing your inferences.
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“
” — Sherlock Holmes, The Blue Carbuncle

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20. Past.fm
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21. The world is full of obvious things
which nobody by any chance ever
observes.
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“
” — Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles

22. A fool takes in all
the lumber of
every sort that he
comes across.
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“
” — Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet

23. Everything that you put in your brain matters in
how you think, and how you approach problems.
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24. Deep dive into analytics
Obtain Knowledge of various testing methods
Improve my interviewing techniques
Learn how to read body language
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Therefore, I decided..
✓
✓
✓

25. THE CURIOUS INCIDENT
OF THE DOG
IN THE NIGHT-TIME
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CASE 3

26. App 1 App 2
Camera access
12 Filters
Self Timer
Crop/Rotate
Brightness/Contrast
14 Collage options
Camera access
16 Filters
Self Timer
Crop/Straighten
Brightness/Contrast
16 Collage options
iOS 8 or higher iOS / Android
Price: 3.99€ Price: Free
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27. Listen to what do, not just what they say
Ask tough questions
Ask them about their frustrations/satisfaction
Follow up on interesting threads
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28. THE DIVIDED
ATTENTION
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CASE 4

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30. No man burdens his mind with small
matters unless he has some very good
reason for doing so.
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“
” — Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet

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32. Learnings from “Focus”
1. Multitasking is a myth.
2. Sharpened attention and focus makes you more
productive and observant.
3. Entering a flow = Happiness.
4. You can train your attention through short daily practices
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33. Meditate
www.calm.com
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35. “Do one thing properly, or a lot of things shitty.”
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— Ben from work

36. THE
OBSESSED
RESEARCHER
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CASE 5

37. “It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that
you won't speak to me for fifty minutes.”
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38. Disengage

39. Five Cases
1. The Early Hypothesis
2. The Missed Opportunity
3. The Curious Incident
4. The Divided Attention
5. The Obsessed Researcher
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Five Learnings
1. The Early Hypothesis
2. The Missed Opportunity
3. The Curious Incident
4. The Divided Attention
5. The Obsessed Researcher

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Five Learnings
1. Don't make early hypotheses before you have data.
2. The Missed Opportunity
3. The Curious Incident
4. The Divided Attention
5. The Obsessed Researcher

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Five Learnings
1. Don't make early hypotheses before you have data.
2. Learn what matters and use your brain capacity wisely.
3. The Curious Incident
4. The Divided Attention
5. The Obsessed Researcher

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Five Learnings
1. Don't make early hypotheses before you have data.
2. Learn what matters and use your brain capacity wisely.
3. Ask tough questions and notice the missing information.
4. The Divided Attention
5. The Obsessed Researcher

44. # P U S H 14
Five Learnings
1. Don't make early hypotheses before you have data.
2. Learn what matters and use your brain capacity wisely.
3. Ask tough questions and notice the missing information.
4. Be mindful and stay focused through daily practices.
5. The Obsessed Researcher

45. # P U S H 14
Five Learnings
1. Don't make early hypotheses before you have data.
2. Learn what matters and use your brain capacity wisely.
3. Ask tough questions and notice the missing information.
4. Be mindful and stay focused through daily practices.
5. Disengage and let your inner Sherlock shine!

46. “From long habit, the train of thoughts ran so swiftly
through my mind that I arrived at the conclusion
without being conscious of intermediate steps”
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47. THANK YOU
QUESTIONS?
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