Personas and scenarios for improved user satisfaction
A master thesis on how Statens IT can improve their IT platform
MSc in Business Administration & Information Systems Helena Bianca Fuchs
Student number: 47526
Supervisor: Mads Bødker
Submission date: 15 May 2018
Number of characters: 178,166
Number of pages: 76
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1 Executive summary
Statens IT is the Danish government's internal IT service provider. Statens IT provides service to 17,000 users.
It is expected that the user base will grow by an additional 17,000 users over the next couple of years, once Statens IT becomes the sole service provider of nearly all ministries. However, surveys on user satisfaction has shown that the users are dissatisfied with Statens IT's main IT service platform, the "Serviceportal".
This thesis examines the potential of a user-centered design approach, more specifically the application of personas and scenarios, to improve the users' satisfaction with the Serviceportal. The aim of the user-centered design approach is to ensure that the end-user can utilize the product or service as intended and with a minimum of effort learn how to use it. To achieve this, you must understand the user of the system, his/her characteristics, needs and goals.
On the basis of Statens IT's questionnaire on user satisfaction with the Serviceportal, I conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with selected users who had filled in the questionnaire. I communicated the data gathered from the interviews to a focus group by using personas and scenarios. The conclusion is that the use of personas and scenarios can (i) assist in communicating the users' needs, (ii) assist in defining the problems at hand, (iii) assist in figuring out why the users' challenges arose in the first place, (iv) foster ideas on how to solve the problems identified, (v) create awareness on the identified problems across different working fields within the organization, and (vi) possibly be used as a tool to persuade the organization of the importance of a user-centered perspective when designing IT solutions.
However, it should be noted that applying personas and scenarios within a group with pre-existent knowledge of the users may entail an in-built risk of implementing a self-referential design, which incidentally is what you would use personas and scenarios to avoid.
Moreover, if Serviceportalen is to be re-designed with a user-centered approach in mind, certain organization barriers must be overcome. The main barrier is that the budget assigned to Serviceportalen has been down- prioritized by Statens IT's management. This study shows that initial investigations of users' needs and chal- lenges can be carried out without a heavy use of resources. However, the actual re-design of the Serviceportal will likely be resource-demanding.
If Statens IT resolves to implement the use of personas and scenarios to improve the Serviceportal, Statens IT may potentially increase user satisfaction, both in respect of existing users, but also as concerns new users to be added in the coming years, who will have new challenges and needs that Statens IT must accommodate.
Furthermore, a well-functioning Serviceportal may also contribute to a reduction of the resources spent on Statens IT's servicedesk.
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Paper of contents
1 Executive summary ... 1
2 Introduction ... 4
2.1 Statens IT ... 4
2.2 The scope ... 5
2.3 Purposes and research question ... 7
2.4 Scope limitation ... 8
2.5 Knowledge contribution ... 8
2.6 Readers guide ... 9
3 Theoretical background ... 10
3.1 Introduction of user-centered design ... 10
3.1.1 User centered design principles ... 11
3.1.2 User-centered design process ... 12
3.1.3 The application of user-centered design in this thesis ... 13
3.1.4 User-centered design methods and tools ... 14
3.2 Persona method introduction ... 14
3.2.1 Approaches on personas ... 15
3.2.2 Approach on scenarios ... 17
3.2.3 The application of personas and scenarios in this thesis ... 18
4 Methodology ... 20
4.1 Research philosophy ... 20
4.1.1 Research strategy ... 22
4.2 Data collection methods ... 25
4.2.1 Questionnaire ... 25
4.2.2 Semi-structured interviews ... 26
4.2.3 Focus group interview ... 27
4.3 The interviews ... 31
4.3.1 Prior to the interviews ... 31
4.3.2 Interview guides ... 32
4.3.3 Transcription of interviews ... 32
4.4 Data analysis ... 33
4.4.1 Thematic network ... 33
4.4.2 Affinity diagram ... 37
4.5 Trustworthiness ... 37
4.5.1 Credibility ... 38
4.5.2 Transferability ... 39
4.5.3 Dependability ... 39
4.5.4 Confirmability ... 39
5 The analysis ... 41
5.1 Understand and specify the context of use ... 41
5.1.1 Questionnaire ... 41
5.1.2 Semi-structured Interviews ... 46
5.1.3 Implication for design ... 56
5.2 Specifying the user's requirements ... 58
5.3 Ideate design solutions ... 61
6 Discussion ... 68
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6.1 Theoretical implications ... 68
6.2 Practical implications ... 70
6.2.1 Implications for Statens IT. ... 70
6.2.2 Implications for other companies ... 72
6.3 Reflections upon applied methods and study limitations ... 72
6.4 Recommendation for future studies ... 74
7 Conclusion ... 75
8 References ... 77
9 Appendices ... 80
9.1 An overview over narrative elements in scenarios. ... 80
9.2 The questionnaire ... 80
9.3 Interview guides ... 96
9.4 Interview transcriptions ... 98
9.5 Questionnaire analysis table ... 130
9.6 Interview analysis table ... 144
9.7 Affinity diagram ... 166
9.8 Personas and scenarios ... 169
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2 Introduction
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) focuses on the user's interactions with computers. User-centered design (UCD) is one of the essential concepts in HCI, interaction design and usability engineering (Preece et al., 2011) User-centered design is considered a design philosophy as well as a broad term of describing design processes in which the end-user influences how a design is shaped. The UCD focuses on problem-solving and on devel- oping artefacts that meet the end-users' needs and goals.
The aim of the user-centered design approach is to ensure that the end-user can utilize the product or service as intended and with a minimum of effort to learn how to use it (Abras, et al., 2004). To achieve this, you must understand the user of the system, his/her characteristics, needs and goals.
The UCD methods, such as personas and scenarios are structured ways of representing user groups' needs and challenges with an artefact. Researchers claim that personas and scenarios can be very beneficial in (1) pre- venting designers from designing for themselves (2) communicating the users' needs and challenges, and (3) helping a team to make design decisions (Pruitt and Grudin, 2003; Nielsen, 2013).
This study explores how a user-centered design approach, personas and scenarios can be used at Statens IT to improve an existing IT system.
2.1 Statens IT
Statens IT was established in January 2010 under the Ministry of Finance in the Danish public sector. Statens IT provides IT services to twelve ministries, which includes 17,000 users (Statens IT, n.d.). The organization is responsible for operating an efficient IT support service across the Danish government. Statens IT was es- tablished by a merger of eight former ministerial IT divisions. The purpose of the merger was to achieve higher quality and lower prices through harmonization and economies of scale. Prior to the merger, all of the minis- tries' IT departments used different self-service platforms in which their users could submit orders for different purposes (Statens IT, n.d.).
After the merger, Statens IT purchased a new IT system that was a new common platform for all users across the ministries. The platform was meant to replace the multiple platforms that the prior IT divisions used. The purpose was to enhance the IT support quality (Statens IT, n.d.). This new platform is the users' entry point for self-service, where they can order various services, such as e-mail and user creations, as well as submit reports regarding issues concerning their IT systems and equipment. The portal also offers various guides and manuals for IT self-help as well as operational information.
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After the implementation of the IT platform, Statens IT conducted a user satisfaction survey every year from 2010 to 2015. Each survey measured the overall service provided by Statens IT. Several of the surveys revealed that the users were not satisfied with the platform. Based on this, Statens IT decided to implement yet another new joint IT system, which was described as "a whole new engine" that also replaced the entire user interface.The new platform was implemented in the hope of increasing user satisfaction as it had new features aimed towards the users. The adjustments within the new portal were primarily based on information gathered from user surveys conducted during the previous years. However, many of the features from the old design were also implemented in the new design.
The internal team, who implemented the platform (referred to as the "Serviceportal") together with external consultants, praised it. However, a user survey from 2016 revealed that the users were still not satisfied with the platform and did not find the Serviceportal user-friendly. In addition to this, some users even refused to use the Serviceportal. In short, due to a series of issues identified through user surveys, Statens IT is currently attempting to evolve the Serviceportal further to resolve the said issues.
2.2 The scope
In the section below, I present how I found my area of interest and the relevance of the study.
Currently, I am employed by Statens IT as part of their user support, and I have observed first-hand how some of the users' experience issues in various forms when using the Serviceportal. For instance, users call me because they require assistance to submit reports of issues or because they do not know how to submit orders for the creation of users or purchase of IT equipment. At other times, I have to contact users because they have used an incorrect order sheet. To me, this indicates that the users face a series of issues with their use of the Serviceportal. Consequently, I find that an investigation into the Serviceportal would be beneficial to both Statens IT, as they are attempting to evolve the Serviceportal, and their users across the ministries. In addition, it should be noted that over the coming years, the Government is planning to consolidate the basic IT operations of all ministries. The ambition is that Statens IT is to handle the internal IT operations of all ministries, and thus render services to more than 17,000 new users (Statens IT, .d.), in total more than 31,000 users. This means that Statens IT will also have to render services to users with new needs and challenges, who might require new features for the Serviceportal.
I arranged a meeting with my Service Manager, Ditte Telving, who is responsible for the Serviceportal, to discuss the objectives of an investigation into the Serviceportal. During the meeting, I explained my interest in investigating and writing a thesis concerning the Serviceportal, and this was very well received. She in- formed me that the department finds it difficult to design a Serviceportal that can fulfil all of the users' require- ments. The reason is that the users utilize the platform for a range of different purposes and tasks. Ditte further
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stated that Statens IT has not employed resources to discover the measures which could be taken to achieve a higher degree of user-friendliness. In addition, she stressed that Statens IT is not great at considering the users’needs. Moreover, she believed that Statens IT thinks that they know what their users need, and perceives this as a challenge for improving the Serviceportal. Hence, there has not been much focus on the users when de- veloping the Serviceportal.
Besides, Ditte informed me that additional resources are required to service the users through other communi- cation channels, such as Statens IT's servicedesk when users do not utilize the Serviceportal. Therefore, Statens IT aims to service as many users as possible through the Serviceportal, and thereby minimize communication through other means. This will reduce the resources spent. On this basis, we resolved that my role in the investigation of the Serviceportal was to identify and analyze the needs and challenges of the users with the main focus on improving the Serviceportal.
I chose to employ a user-centered design approach and related methods to investigate, understand and engage with the users of the Serviceportal. Furthermore, since Statens IT has not applied this approach before, it is interesting to investigate how they will perceive the user-centered design approach as well as some of the belonging methods. The user-centered design approach was also chosen to enhance the user involvement in Statens IT and to investigate how beneficial the methods are in practice, as well as how the method is perceived from the employees' perspective.
Figure 1: The participants of the user-centered design study
7 2.3 Purposes and research question
The purpose of this study is based on the context presented in the above sections. Statens IT attempted to involve the users by employing Statens ITs own perception of how users utilize Serviceportalen. However, the issues and challenges that have arisen indicate that Statens IT's perspective was too narrow. This may be one of the reasons why the users are not satisfied with Serviceportalen. The result of Statens IT's approach was evidently a platform that did not meet the requirements and needs of the various user groups. The issues with Serviceportalen complicate Statens IT's rendering of services, as the main focus of Statens IT is to improve their service through the use of the Serviceportal. If Statens IT's goal is to render their services mainly through the Serviceportal, I believe that they should gather knowledge about the users' requirements and needs in terms of the platform.
Based on the above, the purposes of this thesis are as follows:
1) to provide Statens IT with knowledge of their users' needs, goals and challenges as concerns their use of the Serviceportal, to enable Statens IT to develop and improve the Serviceportal; and
2) to investigate how the user-centered design methods, called "personas" and "scenarios", may assist in improving the Serviceportal.
In relation to the above purposes, I will answer the following research question
:
Personas
Personas are fictional users, created based on existing or potential users'. A persona represents various needs, requirements, goals and behaviors of users.
Scenarios
Scenarios are narrative descriptions of human activities or tasks in a story. These tasks or activities allow for Serviceportalen
Serviceportalen is Statens IT's new self-service portal. The users can submit orders, report IT problems and find self-help guides to IT.
On the basis of the needs and challenges identified among the users, how can Statens IT use user- centered design methods, more specifically personas and scenarios, to improve the users' satisfac-
tion with Serviceportalen?
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Challenges and needsThe challenges of Serviceportalen are that the users do not consider the platform user friendly.
Needs are requirements which the users may be unaware of. The requirement can be referred to as un- dreamed-of requirements. By understanding the characteristics and capabilities of the users, what they are trying to achieve, how they achieved their goal, and whether it could be achieved more effectively and how the experience could be improved if they were supported differently (Preece et al., 2011).
2.4 Scope limitation
The objective of this thesis is not to identify usability issues, but rather to provide tools to enable a more user- centered approach when developing IT systems at Statens IT. The objective is to develop a new platform, but to supply Statens IT with information about their users' needs and challenges as well as investigate how the persona method and scenarios may improve the Serviceportal.
2.5 Knowledge contribution
Personas are generally used in the early development stages of a service or product. However, as Servicepor- talen has already been in use for several years, the personas are introduced at a very late state of development.
This may provide new knowledge of the use of personas, and what benefits the use of personas can bring to the table in respect of IT projects, which have already been implemented and put in use – in short, how personas may be used to improve existing IT systems.
In this project, personas and scenarios are used to gain a better understanding of the needs, requirements and goals of current and potential users as well as to introduce a user-centered design thinking to Statens IT. This will also provide new knowledge of how personas are received in an organization, which has not yet had any experience with this kind of approach.
9 2.6 Readers guide
In the below table the structure and content of this thesis is briefly presented.
Chapter Description
1 – Executive summary An executive summary of the thesis.
2 - Introduction The introduction provides a brief presentation of the user-centered design ap- proach, more specifically personas and scenarios. Moreover, the company Statens IT is introduced as well as the problem at hand. Additionally, it sets out an outline of the purpose of the study and the research question.
3 - Theoretical background The theoretical background presents the theories and literature used in this study.
4 - Methodology The chapter on methodology presents the research philosphy, the overall re- search strategy and the empirical methods used for collecting data.
Moreover, this chapter describes how interviews were conducted, transcribed and analysed. Finally, the trustwortiness of the research is presented.
5 - The analysis First, the users' challenges and needs are identifed. Thereafter, the contents and way of constructing the personas are presented. Furthermore, a sample persona and scenario is presented. Finally, the analysis of the effect of intro- ducing personas and scenarios in a focus group in Statens IT is presented.
6 - Discussion In this chapter, selected findings from the analysis are dicussed against the theory and findings presented in chapter 3 (Theoretical background). There- after, the practical implications for Statens IT as well as other companies are presented. Subsequently, the author reflects upon applied methods and the study limitations are presented. Finally, recommendations for future studies are presented.
7 - Conclusion In this chapter, the research question is answered.
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3 Theoretical background
The aim of applying a user-centered design approach is to investigate the users' needs and challenges with the Serviceportal, as well as how the Serviceportal could be enhanced with a focus on the users. In this section, I will introduce the basics of user-centered design to both provide an insight into user-centered design as well as how and why I applied user-centered design in this study. Afterwards, personas and scenarios are intro- duced, and it is explained how and why these methods are applied in this study.
Figure 2: The structure of the theoretical chapter
3.1 Introduction of user-centered design
During the 1980's, user-centered design (UCD) was a commonly used design approach. The UCD was first introduced in human-computer interaction. The first application of UCD in this area referred to the needs and interests of users and focused on the usability of computer design (Kahraman, 2010, p. 1). User-centered design puts emphasis on the needs and interests of the user, and it is less concerned with formal methods for gathering of requirements and specifications (Williams, 2009, p. 1).
"Know thy user, for she is not you" (Miaskiewicz & Kozar, 2011, p. 429)
“Know the user” is commonly cited as a central principle for user-centered design. User-centered design is a design philosophy and a term that covers a wide spectrum of approaches, and various methods and tools may
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be applied when interacting with the users. The end-users influence the design of an artefact, but they are not necessarily producing the final design deliverables, even though the users may be engaged in the design ac- tivities as participants (Miaskiewicz & Kozar, 2011)The aim of a user-centered design approach is to profile users and to define their behaviors of use and prefer- ences for various aspects of a given artefact. The findings are used to make design decisions. Hence, the arte- facts are designed to meet the users' needs rather than forcing the users to change their routines to be able to use the product (Kahraman, 2010, p. 1).
Meeting the users' needs can be achieved by involving the users at every stage of the design and evaluation phase of the product or service. Another benefit of the user-centered design approach is that by getting a deeper understanding of the user's satisfaction with the specific artefact, he or she may increase the use, success and performance of the designed artefact. Thus, the users should be able to interact with the final artefact with a minimum of effort and optimum efficiency (Kahraman, 2010, p. 1).
3.1.1 User centered design principles
The usability of a finished product or system can be seen as criteria of the success of the UCD. Gould & Lewis (1985) recommend the following principles for designing usability:
1) Early focus on users 2) Empirical measurement 3) Iterative design
According to Gould & Lewis, designers need to be in contact with the potential users to understand their needs.
An appropriate method to achieve this could be by interviewing or observing the users before designing a solution. Empirical measurement refers to the practice of testing and validating design decisions early in the process with users, who use or will use the system. Their reference to testing is further supported by the use of empirical evaluation methods, where intended users should use simulations and prototypes to carry out real work, and their performance and reactions should be observed, recorded, and analyzed. UCD is an iterative methodology and puts the user at the center of all design decision. The iterative process consists of testing, measuring and redesigning as many times as is necessary (Wallach & Scholz, 2012, p. 13 ). The input from the users of the product/system or future users are incorporated at different stages of the development, using different methods such as personas and scenarios. This is done, so the product matches with the needs and requirements of the users as a collaborating process (Abras, et al., 2004, p.1)
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Selected principles of user-centered design are applied throughout this study, cf. section 3.1.2 below. How- ever, as the purpose of this thesis is not to provide an in-depth explanation of the usability criteria or evalua- tion, this subject is not considered any further.3.1.2 User-centered design process
The user-centered design approach and principles can be carried out through the user-centered design process model (ISO-13407 1999), which consists of four activities. The ISO 13407 is a standard to describe how to conduct a user-centered design process. The phrase and its definitions (see below) aim to deliver something valuable for users and satisfy their needs. The model concerns usability at a more abstract level of principles, planning and activities. The model can be used to understand the requirements of the users, their tasks and the context of using a product or service.
The model has an iterative approach that ensures that the users’ needs and requirements are taken properly into account. However, the model does not cover the use of methods and techniques throughout the activities (Jokela et al., 2003 p. 55). Therefore, it is up to the developer to choose the most appropriate methods for the right phase of the UCD process.
Prior to applying UCD, a need for the approach must be identified. However, this starting point of the model can be challenging, since it can be difficult to identify the need for UCD in the first place. I used the model, as I saw a need for this approach, due to the fact that Statens IT had not considered their users in the design process of Serviceportalen. Further, my work at Statens IT and the meeting with my service manager, Ditte, confirmed the need for a user-centered design approach for investigation of their user's needs, as described in the introduction.
In the following, I will briefly explain the activities in the process model. Furthermore, I will explain how I applied these in my study.
1. Understand and specify the context of use
The first activity concerns the users' use of a product. At this stage, information is gathered concern- ing the context of use of the existing or new system.
2. Specify the user and organizational requirements
After gathering all the relevant information related to the context of use, the data can be structured and an analysis may be performed to specify the different requirements. At this stage, the success criteria of usability for the product may be identified, in the forms of user tasks e.g. how quickly a typical user should be able to complete the task etc.
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3. Produce design solutionsAt this stage, solutions for the requirements are discussed, presented and develop. Knowledge of vis- ual design, interaction design etc. may be incorporated in the solutions.
4. Evaluate designs against requirements
This last activity concerns how well the design meets the users' requirements. The usability of de- signs is evaluated against the users' tasks, in order to decide both whether the users' needs are met and if a new design process is acquired (Jokela et al., 2003, p. 55).
3.1.3 The application of user-centered design in this thesis
The figure below illustrates how I applied the UCD process model, and it provides an overview of the applied method for gathering data and presenting requirements. The model is inspired by the ISO-13407 1999. The user-centered design approach was used as framework to reach the objectives of this study. However, the purposes of the activities are modified to a small extent due to the objectives of the study, which I will explain shortly. The employed activities are as follows: ‘understand and specify the context of use’ and ‘specify the user requirements’ and " ideate design solutions".
Figure 3: My application of the UCD process model, inspired by the ISO-13407
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The first activity is applied to gather data concerning user needs and challenges working with Serviceportalen.In the second activity, the findings of first activity are applied to construct and visualize the users' needs and challenges in the form of personas and scenarios. In the third activity "ideate design solutions" the personas and scenarios are introduced to employees of Statens IT to investigate how the persona method could contrib- ute to improvements of the Serviceportal, and whether the personas created were recognizable. I chose to rename the activity, as the originally activity is concerned with producing prototypes and this was not the intension within this study. This activity should rather contribute to brainstorming of ideas which might ac- commodate the users challenges. The reason for choosing personas and scenarios in the "ideate design solu- tions" will be further explained in section 3.2.3. The methods applied to collect and analyze data are set out in section 4.2 (Data collection methods). Hence, the users of Serviceportalen are not involved directly in the design of new solutions, however, their challenges and needs are presented in the personas and therefore the focus on the users should be increased in the design process.
3.1.4 User-centered design methods and tools
There are different kinds of methods and tools to support the user-centered design process. However, products and services are not always aligned with the customers' needs and wants. While preaching the importance of applying user-centered concepts and with the widespread acceptance of user-centered design principles and philosophy, many organizations still fail to consider the customers' needs as the focal point in their design processes (Miaskiewicz et al., 2011 p. 417). The concept of personas was launched in the late 1990's as a central method to prevent disconnection of the users in the user-centered design process (Cooper & Reimann, 2007).
Personas and scenarios are the center of the user-centered design approach used in this thesis, and therefore these methods are explored further in the below.
3.2 Persona method introduction
Since Cooper (1999) introduced personas, the method has been integrated into the design process and it has been widely used (Preece et al., 2011). Personas can either be used through the whole user-centered design process or as a tool to enhance user-centered thinking. Personas are used primarily as a communication or design tool, with the hope that the information personas contain will “inspire the design team while sustain- ing the whole user-centered design process (Miaskiewicz et al., 2011). In this study, personas are both used to enhance user-centered thinking and as a communication and design tool.
Personas are a fictive, specific, concrete representation of target users. The personas are constructed based on relevant information from potential and real users, who are patched together from the knowledge obtained
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about them (Nielsen, 2013, p.1 ). The persona also contains made-up personal details, in order to make the persona more “tangible and alive” for the team. The persona represents a broader segment of people, their characteristics, goals and needs (Miaskiewicz et al., 2011, p. 418). Even though a persona is not a real person, a name and a picture are often added to represent the fictional individual. Further, a persona is described in a narrative form, for which there are two reasons: (i) to make the persona seem like a real person, and (ii) to provide a story which puts emphasis on the needs and challenges of the personas in the context of the service of the product being investigated (Miaskiewicz et al., 2011, p. 419).Various kinds of approaches exist for the construction of the personas, which I will introduce and explain in the next section.
3.2.1 Approaches on personas
Today, four different perspectives on personas exist:
i) Cooper's goal-directed perspective
ii) Grudin, Pruitt, and Adin's role-based perspective iii) Fiction-based perspective
iv) Nielsen's engaging perspective (Nielsen 2013, p.14).
Cooper's goal-directed persona concerns the user's goals and motivations for using a given product or service.
The persona should describe the tasks and steps a user goes through to achieve his or her goals. Furthermore, the persona description should also contain the attitudes of the persona when utilizing the product or service (Nielsen 2013, p. 14).
According to Cooper, when goal-directed personas are constructed and provided with sets of goals, they can communicate the goals to team members. These communicated goals make it easier for team members to discuss design and to make design decision, as they are based on the user's goals with the product (Prutt &
Grundin, 2003, p. 1). However, Coopers goal-orientated persona perspective has been criticized for lack of description of how personas are constructed (Grudin & Pruitt, 2002, p. 146). Pruitt and Grudin used the criti- cism to further develop the method. Pruitt & Grudin's role-based perspective also focuses on goals and behav- ior as is the case with Cooper's. However, Pruitt and Grudin focus on constructing personas based on both qualitative and quantitative data, where a clear relationship between data and the persona is made, to make the personas perceived trustworthy (Pruitt & Grudin, 2002). Furthermore, the role-based persona focuses on the user's role in the organization, and in some cases the designs are reflected upon the part that our users play in their organizations or personal lives (Nielsen 2013, p. 15).
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A fictionally based persona is not constructed based on user research, but emerges from the experience of the design team members. The personas are often created to explore design and generate discussion and insight into the field. The team will make assumptions based upon past interactions with the user base and products to construct a picture of what a typical user looks like (Nielsen 2013, p. 16).The engaging persona focuses on stories, which create involvement and insight into the users. Through the understanding of characters and stories, it becomes feasible to construct a rich and realistic description of users (Nielsen 2013, p. 15). The objective with engaging personas is to make the users seem more realistic, and thus prevent the team members from perceiving the users as stereotypes, which they cannot identify or actively involve themselves with. Consequently, this seeks to address criticism of the risk of creating stereotypical descriptions by not looking at the whole person, but mainly on behavior (Nielsen 2013, p. 16). The engaging personas can incorporate both goal and role-directed elements. To become more engaged with the persona and perceive them as real, wide knowledge of the users is required, such as information about the users' social background, their psychological characteristics and their emotional relationship with the product or service.
The more the people engage with the personas and perceive them as "real", the more likely they will consider them during the design process. The personas should be balanced between real knowledge and fictional infor- mation with the purpose of evoking empathy for the user (Nielsen 2013, p. 16).
Advantages of using personas
Several research projects have revealed that project team members engage and talk about users they have not even met. So, they draw on their individual and general knowledge of the people they assume are like their users and what their needs might be (Cooper et al., 2007, p. 79-80). Unfortunately, these profiles created are quite often a stereotype and one-dimensional version of the users, and thus it may potentially not represent how the actual user uses the product or service (Nielsen 2013, p. 5). When it comes to product decision, the term "users" becomes elastic, which means that the user is bended and stretched to fit the opinions and pre- sumptions of the team members. Designing for elastic users gives a team possibilities to design what it pleases them to do, while still apparently serving "the user" (Cooper et al., 2007, p. 79-80). Personas attempt to address this problem by describing personas, which are constructed based on user data, and by making the assumptions about the users explicit. The descriptions of personas provide a clearer view of who a product is being used or will be used by in a specific context. In turn, this helps the team members to get ideas for the design of the product, service or system (Nielsen 2013, p. 2). The purpose of personas is to put the team members in the shoes of the users, which can provide ideas to meet their wishes and needs. When designing solutions for personas, a self-referential design can be avoided. A self-referential design may be described as team members project their own goals, motivation and mental models into the product's design (Cooper et al., 2007, p. 80).
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The persona information can be used to understand and focus on users' needs and desires and to communicate these among stakeholders in a project (Pruitt and Grudin 2003). The persona method enables the communica- tion in a design process with different team members, as the personas are a much simpler communication language than a typical technical language. So, different people with different backgrounds can contribute and communicate their insight in the design process (Nielsen & Hansen, 2014).Disadvantages of using personas
Chapman and Milham claim that the persona method is not a scientifically valid tool. This is based on the view that the use of fictional elements effectively prevents the possibly of reproducing the scenario, and reproduci- bility is one of the criteria for scientific validity (Nielsen 2013, p. 17). Furthermore, personas are claimed to be difficult or impossible to verify and represent only a very small sample of the potential users (Chapman &
Milham, 2006, p.3). Therefore, it can be difficult to know whether the group of personas appropriately repre- sent the population of interest. In addition, they argue that it is not always clear how the personas are reconciled with other data and who is responsible for interpreting them, as well as how many users one persona represents.
Thus, it is impossible to assess the persona's accuracy or relevance (Chapman & Milham, 2006, p.2).
The method is also being criticized for not being able to describe actual people as they only describe charac- teristics, as well as not considering internal politics, which can lead to limited use (Nielsen 2013, p. 17). Fur- ther, a study has revealed that credibility and trustworthiness associated with personas had influenced the ac- ceptance and effectives of the persona method. In Blomquist’s (2002) study, personas were created by a spe- cialist based on interviews and observational data which were then passed on to team members. As a result of the members not being a part of the creation of the personas they did not completely trust the personas. There- fore, the members had difficulty communicating personas to others because they did not completely trust the method (Blomquist & Arvola, 2002).
I acknowledged the methodological and practical weaknesses and made attempts to address them by collabo- rating with Statens IT employees to validate the personas and to involve them in the design process to support the interpretation of those personas.
3.2.2 Approach on scenarios
In the context of personas, a scenario is usually provided as a description of an activity, in which the persona fulfills his or her goals by using the system being developed (Cooper 1999; Pruitt and Grudin 2003). The scenarios are meant to provoke new ideas to design (Bødker, 2000, p. 64).
Personas are closely connected to scenarios. However, some authors, such as Carroll 1995, focus on the use of scenarios and leave personas out entirely. The scenarios consist of an environmental setting and includes
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actors that are abstracted stand-ins for users, with role-based names such as Accountant or Programmer. How- ever, some claim that Carrol's scenarios are missing an important element, namely, the persona. They argue that scenarios without personas are less believable and engaging than scenarios based on personas (cf. Grudin& Pruitt 2002; Cooper et al. 2007). According to Nielsen, the persona is static, but becomes dynamic when it is inserted into the action of the scenarios. The scenario is a focal point of the entire persona method, and it is argued that personas will be very useful when they are put into a scenario of use that involves the design, which allows us to analyze the personality patterns and motivation. In persona-scenarios, the user is viewed as a person with emotions, actions, and needs, and it is the persona who is the main theme and not the IT system (Madsen & Nielsen, 2014, p.3). Further, the scenarios are based on the needs that are discovered during the user research, and they illustrate and describe the feelings of using the new system, but scenarios do not include detailed design decisions (Nielsen 2013). Design decisions are made later in the process, when the scenarios are analyzed further by the project team, as well as prototyped and evaluated. It is more important that scenarios describe the usage of the system from start to finish, than that they describe every stage in detail (Madsen &
Nielsen, 2014).
Scenarios also have some disadvantages, as a small number of scenarios can make participants believe that all possibilities are covered. Further, if scenarios are not used appropriately, it entails a risk that assumptions are based on belief rather than knowledge. The scenarios are a detailed description and often consists of one page, and this can make participants ignore the overall image and instead cause them to focus on individual parts in the scenarios. Further, it can be difficult to understand how scenarios are constructed based on user data (Niel- sen 2013, p. 122).
Madsen and Nielsen provides guidance and address the theoretical gap and confusion about what a persona scenarios is and should consist of with elements from the narrative theory. The narrative theory is considered both as a process and story construction. The story consists of events that occur over time and proceed in one direction starting with a beginning, followed by the middle and arriving at the end. They draw on the strand of theory that argues that a narrative must have more than one event, and these events must be properly con- nected (Madsen & Nielsen, 2014, p. 4).
3.2.3 The application of personas and scenarios in this thesis
In this thesis, I chose to apply personas, because one of the objectives of this thesis was to provide Statens IT with information concerning their users' challenges and needs. In my view, personas are a well-balanced method that could meet this objective, because personas are said to communicate the users' needs and chal- lenges in a good and understandable way. The personas will be constructed based on the engaging perspective.
However, I am including elements from the goal and role-based perspective.
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I will put emphasis on the engaging perspective, as it may help the team members at Statens IT to become more involved with the personas. This is because the personas will include personal characteristics that should help to foster empathy to a larger degree than the other perspectives mentioned. Furthermore, by using engag- ing personas, the stereotypes may potentially be avoided, as the personas will seem more like real persons, thus real needs may therefore be taken into consideration. Another reason for constructing personas is that they can potentially cover a larger segment of users, as it is not possible for me to interview 17,000 users.I will construct the personas with fictional information with the aim of both increasing the empathy for the persona and in an attempt to make the personas the main reference point in order to avoid self-referential design. However, personas have been criticized for being constructed with fictional data, which can make it difficult for the participants to relate to them. Therefore, I will do my best to balance the real and fictional data to avoid the risk of personas being predominately based on fictional information - this in order to make the personas recognizable for the team members.
In this study, scenarios will be constructed based the persona descriptions as well as the narrative theory. The scenarios will describe the challenges the user meets on his/her way to reach the goals. The purpose is to draw attention to the users' needs and challenges with the Serviceportal, and thus to make it easier for the employees at Statens IT to put themselves in the shoes of the persona. This may lead to better design solutions that ac- commodate the users' needs and challenges. The narrative scenarios are constructed with inspiration from Nielsen and Madsen's guidance, see appendix 9.1.
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4 Methodology
This section provides an overview of the methodological considerations made for this thesis. First, the philos- ophy of science behind the research is presented. This includes the ontological and epistemological stand.
Second, the research approach and research strategy is explained, followed by clarification of data collection methods, analysis strategies and research quality.
4.1 Research philosophy
In studies a researcher will always bring a certain set of beliefs as well as underlying philosophical assump- tions. These beliefs and underlying assumptions also referred to as the research paradigm. A paradigm can be revealed through the behavior of human actions, which are based on our way of thinking, beliefs, assumptions about society and ourselves, and this in turn frames how we view the world around us (Wahyuni, 2012, p. 69).
The paradigm applied in research studies is based on the researchers' assumptions about the world and the nature of knowledge. The paradigm is a philosophical framework that provides guidance in how scientific research can be conducted.
Guba (1990) defines the paradigm as “A paradigm is a basal set of values that govern our actions - both eve- ryday actions and actions based on well-disciplined studies” (Guba, 1990, p. 17).
The research paradigm adopted for this research contains assumptions about the way in which I view the world and the nature of knowledge, and these assumptions will affect the research strategies and the method(s) used as part of that strategy as well as the results (Saunders et al., p. 108). 2009). Therefore, I find it important and relevant to clarify my philosophy assumptions and fundamental beliefs that support this research, as it will assist the reader in interpreting my findings and conclusion as well as evaluate the applicability of these to other areas.
There are certain paradigms that can be used to guide our actions in research and everyday life, and according to Guba (1990, p. 18) paradigms can be characterized through the questions of one's ontology, epis- temology and methodological stands. Ontology concerns the nature of reality and raises the basic question:
"what is reality". There are mainly two alternatives to approaching ontology, which entail that a researcher can either take an objective or subjective view of what reality is, and how reality can be understood and inves- tigated (Sanders et al., 2009, p. 110). Epistemology concerns "the nature of the relationship between the knower and the known or knowable". The last element, methodological, questions how one should attain knowledge, and refers to a model to conduct a research within a particular paradigm (Guba 1990, p. 18). The answers given
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to the said questions may determine the basic belief systems or paradigm that may be adopted and hence it guides how the research is conducted (Guba 1990, p. 18).This master thesis mainly employs the interpretive paradigm. The overall aim of interpretive research is to understand the social world, as it is experienced by the individual being studied. Another aim of the paradigm is to attain and understand what is meaningful or relevant to the people being studied.
The interpretivist believes that the reality is constructed by social actors and the individuals' perception of it.
The individuals' own varied backgrounds, assumptions and experiences contribute to the on-going construction of reality in their broader social context trough social interactions (Wahyuni 2012, p. 71). To understand the social world and the actions of the social actors, the researcher must seek knowledge of the subjective mean- ings people attach to the phenomena being investigated. Further, the interpreter must apply his or her own worldview to understand the worlds of others. The interpretive researcher prefers to interact and conduct in- terviews with the people studied. This is due to the belief that knowledge is attained through social interactions (epistemology). The relationship between the researcher and the respective subjects is intersubjective rather than objective as in the case of positivist paradigm (Jennings, 2010, p. 41).
The interpretive paradigm rejects the positivistic paradigm's ontology and epistemology, in which it is claimed that the world exists external to social actors, and that there is a single reality which can be objectively studied and hereby exposed. (Burrell & Moran, 1979, p. 1). Interpretivists argue that an objective observation of the social world is impossible, as it has meaning for humans only, which cannot only be exposed by observations.
The positivist researchers state that the social world can be organized by universal laws and truth. Therefore, human behavior is predicable, because it is governed by external forces, which are universal laws and truth that explain causal relationships. However, the cause-and-effect relationship is rejected, as interpretivists be- lieve that social circumstances and conditions change over time. Positivism is the belief that a result is valid if another researcher can replicate the research in question and obtain the same results (Jennings 2010, p. 37).
However, interpretivist research is not to generalize and predict causes and effects, but to understand and interpret the humans' behavior. The positivist researcher criticizes the interpretive paradigm, as it is difficult to achieve a replication of a study and obtain the same findings, due to its subjective nature. Likewise, the high degree of researcher involvement has been criticized, as it may influence the research due to biases, which in turn may reduce the reliability of the study (Saunders et al., 2009).
The paradigmatic assumptions in this thesis are aligned with the interpretive paradigm. The research is of subjective nature in cases where it is necessary to understand the views of the different relevant stakeholders of the Serviceportal, as the aim of this thesis is to understand how the personas approach can be used to
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improve the Serviceportal based on identified users' challenges and needs. To understand this, I believe that I am required to enter the world of the subject being studied to understand why they experience the Serviceportal as they do. I believe that knowledge can be achieved by interacting with those who are being studied.Knowledge of their reality and how they see the world cannot in my opinion be observed objectively. I also believe that not just one reality exists, because human beings are influenced by their varied background, as- sumptions and culture, which contributes to how they experience the use of Serviceportalen. Likewise, I be- lieve that to investigate how personas method can be used, I must understand how employees at Statens IT can use the knowledge I gather about the users experience with the Serviceportal, which can be obtained by interacting with and interviewing the subjects of the study, i.e. the employees.
As the suitable paradigm for this thesis has been identified, the next step is an explanation on how my research was conducted. This involves choosing a suitable approach to methodology that is harmonious with the se- lected paradigm. As mentioned in the beginning of this section, methodology is referred to as a model to conduct a research within the context of a paradigm (Wahyuni 2012, p. 72). This is explained further in the section immediately below.
4.1.1 Research strategy
A research strategy relates to methodology, and it clarifies in what way researchers answer their research question(s), which are established to investigate social phenomena or a hypothesis. The research strategy spec- ifies the sources from which the researcher intend to collect data. The type of strategy should be based on the research question(s) and objectives. It should also be consistent with the research philosophy (Saunders et al., 2009).
Action research
In this thesis, I used the action research method. The action research method can be traced back to Kurt Lewin in the 1940's. Lewin approach to action research was the application of social psychology techniques to prac- tical social problems, rather than doing research to inform only academics. From its origins, action research has been useful in the context of investigating and improving organizations (Oates, 2005, 154). In addition, action research is one way of conducting research within an organization that can benefit the organization and contribute to the body of knowledge ( (Baskerville & Pries-Heje, 1999, p. 3).
Action research is categorized within social science, as the method concerns the study of human beings, groups of people, organizations or societies and their behavior, ideas, strategies and characteristics, which is also aligned with the interpretive paradigm used in this study. To understand these complex aspects, which are not easily predictable, if at all, qualitative research methods are often needed, as the method can provide a deeper
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and more detailed understanding of the object of the study (Baskerville & Pries-Heje, 1999, p. 2). Action research challenges the positivist view of knowledge and believe that knowledge is socially constructed, and thus the action researcher embraces the interaction with different stakeholders (Baskerville & Pries-Heje, 1999, p. 2).The characteristics of action research
In the following, selected main characteristics of in action research are explained in further details, including core concepts, in order to subsequently explain how these concepts are expressed in my research.
Action research is an iterative cyclical consisting of activities of action and reflection (Baskerville & Pries- Heje, 1999) However, the descriptions of these activities are not always the same. I chose to apply Carr and Kemmis's (1986). See definition in figure 4 below.
figure 4: The cycle of action research inspired by Carr and Kemmis 1986.
The plan concerns the identification of the problem, including related factors, to develop a working theory in respect of the situation and how it might be changed. Subsequently, a strategy plan is constructed, which should handle the situation. Next, the plan is implemented in the action phase and carried out in line with the plan.
Observation is conducted in order to evaluate the action, including whether effects of the action were realized, and whether it solves the problem(s). Last, the researcher reflects upon the possible achievements in terms of both practical outcomes and knowledge outcomes, and whether a new action research cycle is required (Swann, 2002, p. 55) (Oats, 2002, p. 157).
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The action research is a process for and by persons and communities. The process should be viewed as collab- orative, where the stakeholders, who are part of the study conducted, should have a role as collaborators more than research objects (Sanders et al., 2009, p. 147). In addition, Schein (1999) stresses the importance of em- ployee involvement in the research process, as employees are more likely to implement change, if they have had the opportunity to express their views. Once employees have agreed upon a need for change and have widely shared this belief, it becomes difficult to ignore for the rest of the organization, as the pressure for change comes from within the organization (Sanders et al., 2009, p. 148).The outcomes of employing action research can relate to both action and research. The research outcome can contribute with knowledge that may provide basis for theory, while the action outcome may be the practical possibilities made available as a consequence of the research. Ideally, both outcomes should be achieved.
However, sometimes studies do not lead to practical accomplishments, but can still be successful if it contrib- utes to the academic research as concerns models and theories and/or the process of problem-solving, which may include the possible reasons for the failure to improve the problem (Oats, 2005). The contribution of my study will be explained in the next section.
A researcher may feel that a study was successful as practical improvements were achieved, even if no contri- bution is made as concerns academic knowledge (Oats 2005, p. 155). However, the focus within action re- search is to solve problems, which are experienced by people in their professional, community or private lives.
Hence, the aim with action research is to make a change and not simply to observe and describe subjects (Oats 2005, p. 155).
Action research in my study
In this study, I chose an action research methodology due to the scope of my project, which has a practical and outcome driven focus. Which means that I seek to promote a change regarding the Serviceportal as I want to improve the users' satisfaction with Serviceportalen. My research has been conducted in a similar style to Carr and Kemmis' (1986) phases of action research, in my case with two larger action and reflection cycles.
The first cycle was initiated during my first meeting with my service manager, Ditte Telving. At this meeting, we identified an issue with the Serviceportal and we constructed a strategy plan together, which included a plan that should provide Statens IT with knowledge about their users' challenges regarding their use of Ser- viceportalen. The goal of this plan was to ease the way for implementation of a new design. I chose to use personas which should communicate the users needs and challenges regarding the Serviceporal to Statens IT.
The plan was implemented, and I began to collect data about the users. Afterwards, I evaluated and reflected upon the results and the process. This lead me to start another cycle, as I wondered how these results could be used to further improve the Serviceportal. Thus, I started a new cycle and used the knowledge obtained from
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the first cycle to plan how Statens IT could be a part of improving Serviceportalen. In where the users' needs and challenges were in focus. The plan included the contrusted personas and developing of scenarios. Fur- thermore, the personas and scenarios should be introduced to employees who work for Statens IT in a focus group. The plan was implemented, evaluated and reflected upon. The results from the plan and action are described in detail in chapter 5.The stakeholder emphasis of action research has also been an important characteristic of this study, which is also aligned with the user-centered design philosophy. In collaboration with Ditte we have reformulated and problematized the study, in order to make it useful and relevant to Statens IT. The contributions to the academic knowledge has also been an important aspect my action research, and this is also described in further detail in the introduction under knowledge contributions. The outcome of the contribution can be seen in 6.1.
The research methods applied in this study have been primarily qualitative. In the following section a more detailed description of the data collection methods is provided, including why and in what way they were implemented in this action research study.
4.2 Data collection methods
In this section, I present the data collections methods employed to answer my research questions. With this thesis being based on interpretivisme the data collection methods used are of a qualitative nature. The below table provides an overview over the applied methods, their goals and key questions posed.
Data collections methods Goals Key questions posed Questionnaire To recruit informants & get an
overview of the challenges and needs regarding the Ser- viceportal
“is there anything you miss re- garding the serviceportal”
Semi-structured interviews To get a better and in more depth understanding of the us- ers' challenges and needs re- garding the Serviceportal & to construct personas
“Do you have any challenges when using the Servicepor- tal?”
Focus-group interview To investigate how the per- sonas are perceived and whether they can be used in the organization to improve the Serviceportal & to validate the personas
“Do you know someone like this?
“Do you better understand the users needs and challenges?”
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4.2.1 QuestionnaireAs my first step in my empirical collection, I decided to use a type of survey known as the survey questionnaire.
I chose to use an open questionnaire, which seeks opinions and descriptions in response to open-ended ques- tions (Sanders et al., 2009, p. 375). The survey is used to gather information and ideas from more people than one-to-one interviewing would allow for (Sanders et al., 2009).
The survey is characterized as secondary data, as the data have already been collected for another purpose (Sanders et al., 2009, p. 259). The data were collected by Statens IT in December 2017, and the questionnaire was thus not conducted in connection with this thesis or by its author. Statens IT used the questionnaire to evaluate the overall user satisfaction in relation to the general service. The questions were for instance about their satisfaction with their computers and the call-center. The survey was distributed to all the users of Statens IT's services. Within the survey, an open question about the Serviceportal was included, which read as follows:
“Is there anything on the Serviceportal that you miss?”. The open question was the field in the survey, that I used. The open question about the Serviceportal was answered by 200 users. The questionnaire is set out in appendix 9.2.
The questionnaire is applied to get a broader reflection of the Serviceportal's shortcomings. To achieve a broader picture, the data were analyzed to get a pattern, which could also be used for further interviews with the users. Thus, the answers given by the participants will not be standardized, and will thereby not be subject to statistics analysis. Hence, the questionnaire is analyzed in a qualitative manner. In addition, the question- naire was a good way to encounter the users, as the last question of the questionnaire concerned whether Statens IT could contact the given user regarding follow-up questions. The users stated their email-addresses, if Statens IT was allowed to contact them. The analysis strategy of the questionnaire can be seen in section 4.4.1.
According to Steve Jobs "customers do not know what they want until you show it to them" (Mui, 2011).
Therefore, it should be noted that the open-ended question provided by Statens IT can be difficult to answer from the perspective of the participants. This will be considered in further detail in section 6.3. (Reflections upon applied methods and study limitations).
4.2.2 Semi-structured interviews
As explained in the previous section, I used the questionnaire to attain patterns that could be used for interviews with the users and as a part of the recruitment process of users. In this section, I will present the methods that I used to collect further about the portal.
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I had an assumption that the users who use the Serviceportal had different needs and wants. My analysis of the questionnaire confirmed my assumptions. In the analysis, I came across different patterns of use, chal- lenges and wishes for the Serviceportal. However, it was difficult to understand why they perceived the chal- lenge as they did. Therefore, I chose to conduct individual interviews, to get a more in depth understanding of the users' needs and challenges regarding the use of Serviceportalen as well as to inform the process of creating personas.These interviews will allow me to describe and understand the phenomena as the interviewees experience them, as the reality cannot be objectively understood (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2009, p. 19, Jennings, 2010). The phenomena studied is the users experience with the use of Serviceportalen.
As an interpretivist researcher, I seek to understand how "being in the world" is seen from their perspective, as the interviewees’ opinions are based on their daily work and experiences, which may result in unique un- derstandings from each interviewee. The interviews are therefore used to produce knowledge of the phenom- ena studied (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009, p.45), as knowledge is produced through the social interaction be- tween the interviewer and the interviewee (ibid).
I chose to conduct the individual interviews with a semi-structured approach (Saunders et al. 2016 p. 390).
The semi-structured interview is perceived as the method best suited for this research, as the semi-structured interviews are characterized by being embossed by openness in terms of changes in the order and the wording of questions, so that I can follow the specific answers given and the stories of the interviewees (Kvale &
Brinkmann, 2009, p. 144). Hence, the method will allow me to collect data about my pre-selected questions regarding Serviceportalen for which I want the interviewees’ reflections upon as well as allowing me to follow new patterns in the interview (ibid).
Recruitment of Serviceportal users
The users were selected based on the various findings analyzed in the questionnaire. This was due to the fact that I only had the users' different statements and information about where they were employed to, as well as whether Statens IT was allowed to contact them. The reason for selecting the informants as I did were to get a broader perspective of the users' satisfaction with the Serviceportal, including their challenges, needs and purposes with the Serviceportal. I chose to interview two users from each challenge which resulted in ten semi- structured interviews. Furthermore, each interview took 20-35 minutes. The findings from the questionnaire can be read in section 5.1.1.
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4.2.3 Focus group interviewThe purpose of the focus group interview is to investigate how the persona method and scenarios might con- tribute to improve of the Serviceportal. In order to investigate the said, as well as how recognizable the per- sonas are, I chose to collect data about the employees in Statens IT perception of personas. To achieve this, it can be beneficial to apply a method that takes into consideration each person's reality. One method to achieve this is to use a focus group, which is a method that involves the use of in-depth group interviews (Rabiee, 2004).
A focus group consists of six to ten people and one interviewer, who is also called a moderator. The interview is characterized as being open and can be more or less structured. The interview often follows a guide or a set of questions. The aim of a focus group is to get varied views on specific topics, which the group is meant to discuss. A focus group can generate a large amount of data in a relatively short time span (Rabiee, 2004, 656).
The informants in the group often influence each other through their answers to the ideas and contributions during the discussion (Freitas et al., 1998, p. 2).
The interviewees in this research are selected on the criteria that they would have something to contribute to the topic, and would be comfortable about talking to the interviewer and each other on the said topic. In this context, it should be noted that Krueger (1994) believes rich data can only be generated if individuals in the group are prepared to engage in the discussion (Rabiee, 2004, p. 656), which has thus been taken into account.
The interviewer has the responsibility of presenting the topics that should be discussed, ask questions, stimulate the discussion and encourage all participants to become involved in the discussion. It is not the intention that the group should reach agreement or find a solution to the topic presented. Rather the intention is to get more views on the subject (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009, p. 170). The focus group also has some disadvantages. For instance, the researcher has less control over the data that is generated. Further, it is not possible to know if the group of people will interact with each other and how much he/she will participate (ibid).
The focus group method was applied to this study, as it could provide more information from different groups of people in a shorter period than individual interviews could. Another reason for applying this method to the study was that the focus group may provide insights into how members in the group perceive the information, which are presented, and how members contribute with different perspectives on the topics.
Another reason for utilizing this method is that the focus group could provide knowledge and ideas that I might not have considered myself.
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Recruitment of employees of Statens ITThe table below shows an overview of the employees I used for my focus group interview.
I chose to conduct the interview with the employees as I assumed that the employees in the service department have knowledge of their users' frustrations and challenges as well as needs, as it is the users who contact the employees via phone calls regarding support or creations of orders via the Serviceportal. The employee in the digitalization division, have been working with the Serviceportal from the beginning of the implementation phase and may therefore have distinctive views on the Serviceportal.
The reason for collecting data from both service employees and employees working in the digitalization divi- sion was to attain different views on the subjects. It also provided the opportunity to find out whether personas could be used to improve the Serviceportal, as well as how recognizable the personas were. The focus group interview took one hour and fifteen minutes.
