Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Summary
Drs. DeSutter and Scopelitis discussed how User Experience (UX) researchers can triangulate and enrich information from one-on-one interviews by attending to users’ co-speech gestures—the spontaneous movements that humans make with their hands and body when communicating. Gestures are a “window to the mind” and can reveal unspoken information about users’ emotional states as well as the structure and composition of their mental models. They concluded with a practical guide for efficiently implementing gesture research.
Key Insights
-
•
Gestures and speech form an integrated communication system, with gestures revealing mental imagery often hidden from verbal expression.
-
•
Representational gestures, especially those performed near the body (four me gestures), provide key insights into users' mental models.
-
•
Interviewers can use gestures intentionally to build rapport and encourage more gesturing from participants.
-
•
Users often hold multiple, fluid mental models that vary by context, as shown by Carmen’s two distinct models of machine learning.
-
•
Gesture analysis can reveal implicit concepts like iteration and conversational exchange that users don’t explicitly verbalize.
-
•
Remote video interviews limit capturing gestures but can be improved by methodological adjustments such as asking participants to sit back.
-
•
Cultural and disciplinary differences strongly influence gesture frequency and types, requiring interviewer awareness.
-
•
Gestures can indicate a participant’s cognitive state, such as when they are thinking through complex or uncertain ideas.
-
•
The emotional valence shown in gestures correlates with users' attachment to elements of their mental models, influencing potential receptiveness to product changes.
-
•
Gesture tracking technology can help scale qualitative analysis by detecting and quantifying gesture occurrences to guide deeper review.
Notable Quotes
"Gestures are a window to the mind, showing images people often think are concealed."
"Gesture and speech form an integrated system that often contains meaning absent in either modality alone."
"We’re really leaving half of our data on the table by not attending to gesture when eliciting mental models."
"If you gesture more, your interviewer will gesture more; it creates conversational engagement."
"Four me gestures happen in personal gesture space and serve as thinking tools for the speaker."
"Without looking at the gestures, we would have come to a less complete mental model."
"New technologies can sweep in quickly and anchor user mental models, changing rapidly over time."
"There’s a sharp decrease in input-output exchange gestures as users shift from active to passive interaction with AI."
"Cultural and language differences mean gestures aren’t universal; understanding your interviewee’s background is essential."
"Gestures can indicate when interviewees are operating at the edge of their understanding and help guide when to move on."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"The consequences of inaction are not hypothetical; they are happening right now."
Alex Hurworth Bonnie John Fahd Arshad Antoine MarinDesigning a Contact Tracing App for Universal Access
October 23, 2020
"Time commitment for onboarding interns was close to 25%, maybe 50%, of at least two weeks, easing as they became familiar with roles."
Laine Riley Prokay Lisa GordonCarving a Path for Early Career DesignOps Practitioners
September 9, 2022
"You won’t know what success looks like until you put something out there and see how it works in practice."
Eniola OluwoleLessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site
October 24, 2019
"Tell tight, brief stories of insights focused on impact, not on how you conducted your research."
Nathan ShedroffDouble Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically
March 31, 2020
"If you focus on desktop accessibility, you’re leaving out some of your most important users who may have mobile-only access."
Sam ProulxMobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World
November 17, 2022
"It’s important to socialize the research program internally so teams get excited and take initiative."
Feleesha SterlingBuilding a Rapid Research Program (Videoconference)
May 18, 2023
"Brand and product become two sides of the same coin when user insights have a seat at the top table."
Neil BarrieWidening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture
March 25, 2024
"Most organizations know they need to evaluate impact, but very few have effective ways to do it."
John DevanneyThe Design Management Office
November 6, 2017
"If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."
Katy MogalBut Do Your Insights Scale?
March 12, 2021