Observing the User Experience, 2nd Edition

Chapter 18

Reports, Presentations, and Workshops

Reports are the product of research. Like any product, they need to be useful to their audience in order to be successful. A good results report should consist of more than just a list of a product’s problems; it should enable the development team to make changes to the product and avoid similar problems in the future. Structuring the presentation of results—in effect, designing their delivery—is one of the most important steps to making research useful, since the best research is useless if it’s misunderstood or ignored.

The audience’s needs determine the best way to present a given piece of research. It could be a simple email message or an elaborate 100-page report. It could be a phone call ...