Chris Rockwell as published his presentation entitled People Can’t Tell You What They Want (and nine other design research myths) to slideshare. Here are the ten myths he discusses:

  1. Design Research constrains true innovative thinking.
  2. People Can’t Tell You What They Want.
  3. We’re inventing something never seen before so research isn’t applicable.
  4. Qualitative and quantitative research are opposites.
  5. Ethnography is the best research technique.
  6. Participatory design research is superior to ethnography.
  7. Focus groups aren’t useful.
  8. The research team owns customer insights.
  9. Designers can’t design until the research is complete.
  10. When the research is done, you know everything you need.

I found this very interesting, not only to confirm my own views on some of these points, but also because each point is tackled with simplicity and style. I wish I had had this presentation on hand when talking to a few clients in the past :)

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: conference polaropposites)

Thanks to Rob Tannen for the tip.