Here is a good example of how unreliable users can be when asked a question. I was observing a usability session the other day and the facilitator asked the participant about his web experience. 'I've been using the Internet since the late 80s ' was the response.
Dumb question I agree but it does show that we are not good at answering questions around frequency. Questions on specific events are always better at providing insight into users' behaviours.
Here is an even better example: during a diary study on mobile phone use, a participant reports that she deletes her voicemail after listening to it. After meeting her for an observation session it transpired that the she was deleting the voicemail notification, not the voicemail itself. Two different findings providing potentially different design recommendations.
Hey Nikos,
Did they say since the late 1980s? That's like pre-search engines. If a participant in a research session said that to me, I'd probe them to make sure they didn't mean 90s.... :-)
Posted by: Harry | 03/11/2008 at 10:20 PM