White, P.J. and Devitt, Frank
(2021)
Creating Personas from Design Ethnography and Grounded Theory.
Journal of Usability Studies, 16 (3).
pp. 156-178.
ISSN 1931-3357
Abstract
Personas can be an effective means of communicating and
synthesizing design ethnographic field data by helping
designers maintain focus on users and make sense of
complex needs. Personas have however been criticized on
scientific grounding and methodological weakness in their
creation. Furthermore, few detailed examples of their
creation have been published. It is also evident from the
literature that there is a methodological gap in creating
personas from ethnographic studies.
Using a grounded theory approach, this paper offers a
systematic and detailed process of creating personas post
fieldwork and compares the approach against best practice.
Through a case study of design ethnography in product
development for people over 65, we reflect on and describe
the process in three phases: 1. Post Fieldwork Data
Management, 2. Coding and Grounded Theory, and 3. Data
Reduction and Data Display, which leads to the final design
of the persona. We conclude that using qualitative and
grounded theory approaches can assist to strengthen the
process of creating personas; however, the time to create
and manage the personas increases.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Design; personas; grounded theory; ethnography; design
ethnography; design research; fieldwork; product design;
older adults; qualitative; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Design Innovation |
| Item ID: |
17505 |
| Depositing User: |
Frank Devitt
|
| Date Deposited: |
07 Sep 2023 09:58 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Journal of Usability Studies |
| Publisher: |
User Experience Professionals Association |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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