@inproceedings{047edc347d1346f3b7bbeca48eb0a89e,
title = "The psychological experience of user observation",
abstract = "While scholars have studied what design practices accomplish, few have considered the psychological experience of practicing design and the implications for completing their work. An eighteen-month ethnographic study of a high-tech firm examined the psychological experience of design work, specifically how people experience user observation. The study finds that when people observe others in context, they engage in a state of exploration. Regular observation supports curiosity, or the tendency to focus attention and seek answers to unanswered questions. Focused attention fosters commitment to the design problem. Results suggest how design work practices can be designed to help employees to reduce anxiety about the unknown, an inherent feature of the design process.",
keywords = "Design cognition, Design practice, Job design, Psychology of design, User observation",
author = "Elizabeth Gerber",
year = "2011",
language = "English (US)",
isbn = "9781904670278",
series = "ICED 11 - 18th International Conference on Engineering Design - Impacting Society Through Engineering Design",
pages = "468--479",
booktitle = "ICED 11 - 18th International Conference on Engineering Design - Impacting Society Through Engineering Design",
note = "18th International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED 11 ; Conference date: 15-08-2011 Through 18-08-2011",
}