Chapter 9 - The impact of culture on user research

Abstract

This chapter introduces a framework for understanding how culture impacts user research and addresses the individual elements of a user research project to analyze the implications of culture. It draws from cross-cultural theory and empirical user research results from various stages of the user research process. International user research must relate to human expressions and impressions. The users are often described by gender, age, education, culture, ethnicity, country, one of several lifestyle segments, and many other characteristics. The influence of culture on user research is present in all phases of a research project, which include initial analysis of the market and usage context, exploration and validation of the system, product or service testing, and implementation through localization and internalization. Findings indicate that user research varies depending on the cultural context, just as evaluation methods and the basis for user research tests do. The moderator's cultural background may systematically impact the types of results found as well. To determine how culture specifically affects user research, the Cultural Usability Project produced a model for locating and understanding when, where, and how culture affects a standard user research test. Finally, in a user research study, it is important to consider these cultural influences, and if the study spans more cultures, it is important to consider the different influences in all of the cultures involved.