Role Play in User Research: Scripted and Improvised Scenarios
Depending on the nature of the expected exchange or the data to be gathered, some participants receive the script in advance, while others are asked to either play themselves or specific roles based on instructions. These different roles play scenarios are carefully designed to immerse participants in simulated contexts, allowing researchers to observe authentic reactions and behaviours in targeted situations.
After each role playing exercise, all participants, including researchers, reflect on the interactions, sharing insights and feedback. They may then re-play the same scenario with adjustments or explore different scenarios to evaluate how changes impact user experiences. This iterative role play method may also involve re-playing scenarios with different participants or altering character profiles to understand how diverse users respond in identical situations.
Designing and Implementing Role Play Scenarios
Designing effective role play scenarios can be challenging, but when applied thoughtfully, the role play technique in user research proves invaluable for uncovering user requirements, expectations, competencies, and acceptance. It also helps foster a sense of ownership among users, making them feel more involved in the design process, reinforcing a truly user-centred approach.
Scenarios can be broken down into smaller, manageable segments or conducted as a single extended roleplay session. Since role playing can be mentally and emotionally demanding, sessions typically last no longer than an hour. For longer studies, rotating participants and observers helps minimize bias and keeps research data fresh.
To enhance realism, some scenarios utilize props or role-playing prototypes, immersing participants more deeply into the experience. In certain cases, participants simulate hypothetical service interactions, imagining the service fully functional and actively navigating its features to map out a potential user journey.
As a design ideation method, roleplay simulation stands out against alternatives like focus groups, dyads, triads, or brainstorming. Role playing encourages more spontaneous and authentic interactions, generating a larger number of diverse scenarios within the same timeframe. These scenarios yield richer, more detailed insights, increasing the opportunities for designers to recalibrate and refine concepts effectively.
Advantages of Role Play Technique in User Research
1. Thought Diversity and Richer Insights
Role-play techniques engage diverse participants, generating a broad spectrum of ideas. This method surpasses traditional design ideation approaches by allowing participants to naturally act and react in simulated service interactions or roleplay simulations, revealing deeper user behaviours and motivations.
2. Quick Idea Generation
Involving multiple individuals simultaneously accelerates the generation of varied ideas and potential solutions, making the role play method an efficient tool during early design phases.
3. Creative Problem Solving
Role playing stimulates creativity by encouraging participants to explore alternative solutions within different scenarios. Designers can observe how users respond to varied roles or situations, gaining insight into adaptive user experiences and challenges.
4. No Fear of Judgment
Since role play is often perceived as an engaging and enjoyable exercise, participants tend to act freely without fear of criticism, resulting in more authentic and uninhibited feedback.
Challenges of Role Play Technique in User Research
1. Time Consuming and Exhausting
Compared to faster ideation methods like brainstorming or focus groups, role play sessions require more time and energy from both participants and facilitators, which can limit their frequency or length.
2. Challenges in Innovation and Bias
The collaborative nature of role playing may sometimes limit truly innovative ideas from individuals, as group dynamics can influence outcomes. To gather richer, unbiased insights, multiple role play sessions with different participants or varied role assignments in the same scenarios are recommended.