A way to provide more inclusive and meaningful participation
Hybrid is commonly defined as a combination of two different things. A mixture of different elements, like with plants (combining seeds) or fuel (fossil/electric) or the arts (physical and digital elements). At STBY we have started defining Hybrid Research as a mix of in-person & remote contact with people involved in research.
With studios in both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, a number of international clients and being part of the global Reach Network, STBY has been working in a hybrid way for many years. During the pandemic we had to intensify our remote working skills, which provided both new opportunities and challenges for doing hybrid research. Today hybrid research is even more deeply embedded as a way of working and, because of this, we want to make some of these practices explicit to colleagues and share them with other designers and researchers.
Reflective practices on doing remote and in-person research
We ran team sessions to capture our experiences of hybrid research before and during the pandemic. Four groups of insights emerged:
1. How to interact and engage with participants
2. Using research materials and tools,
3. Doing research documentation & logistics
4. Working with partners outside our immediate research team (e.g. clients or research partners).
We then discussed three STBY case studies that had a mix of in person and remote research elements (both with participants and with clients or partners). We used practice spotting, a method developed by our Reach Network friends at Make Meaningful Work in Hong Kong, to identify explicit and implicit practices. This approach helped us to make sense of how STBY is doing hybrid research already.
The discussions about hybrid research are still ongoing but we already learned a lot. One aspect that came out clearly when doing hybrid research is about inclusivity, both towards participants in research and towards teams we collaborate with.
Hybrid research provides more ways to make participants feel at ease
We should not assume that doing research in person is more inclusive than remote research, there is always a risk of excluding people in both. Some people might have limited digital skills which makes it hard for them to participate online. Others feel less comfortable meeting people in person which can make participating in person a challenge.
We have found that being as flexible as possible about whether the research is online or in person can help a wider variety of people to take part in research more meaningfully. Our aim is to engage with people on their own terms, where they feel most comfortable. For example, we provided people both in-person or remote participation options during the lockdown. When doing international research, partners we work with sometimes take a similarly flexible approach to ensure the research method fits in their local cultural context. We have found that broadening the ways to include participants makes the research work better.
Taking a hybrid approach contributes to the collaboration with stakeholders
We found that for our engagement with clients the same principles apply. Involving their team in person is always very valuable. For example, joining fieldwork as observers, the client has the opportunity to be close to the user and they can hear first hand people’s experiences and emotions towards certain services or products. Working in this way strengthens our working relationship and it’s a fun and memorable experience for the client to join the fieldwork.
During the pandemic this communication shifted more online, with the support of many collaborative online tools like Zoom, Miro, Slack or Google Workspace. We found that online communication tools can broaden the clients’ access to the research. They can join live sessions remotely, watch recordings of meetings, or access interview documentation on Miro.
Emerging from the pandemic we have found that keeping interactions hybrid and flexible works well with clients too and can lead to a more synchronised collaboration with stakeholders. We prefer in-person sessions when it adds value to the research insights and when it is feasible (for example if capacity, time and budget allow). But remote is an ideal alternative to include people who can’t be there. For example, we recently brought an extra laptop to a series of in-person interviews that allowed remote observers on the client side to listen in.
This hybrid way of communicating has benefits for both researchers and clients. It gives more people on the client team a better understanding of the design research process of the project. And it’s easier for them to stay closely aligned with the project, which means they are even better equipped to provide feedback about emerging insights and more.
Combining the best of two worlds by doing hybrid design research
Hybrid Research offers an opportunity for researchers to explore more ways for people to engage more meaningfully in the design research process. But researchers need to adapt and be more flexible, which requires a time investment early on in the process. Making time and space for this can contribute to better outcomes, but flexibility needs to be designed into the research from the start.
Yoni Lefèvre & Qin Han