{"id":5546,"date":"2022-06-02T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T07:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maestrolearning.com\/?p=5546"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:10:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:10:47","slug":"research-fail-of-the-yellow-walkman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maestrolearning.com\/blogs\/research-fail-of-the-yellow-walkman\/","title":{"rendered":"The Simplest Way to Avoid the Research Fail of the Yellow Walkman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The key to learner discovery lies in the failed focus group for a 1980s and 90s staple: the Sony Walkman\u2014an innovative handheld music player. Legend has it that participants rallied around Sony\u2019s new design concept for its classic black model: a sporty yellow Walkman. Participants loved the color! It complemented their (likely neon) outfits! They loved having another choice! It looked sporty!<\/p>\n

The focus group had spoken.<\/p>\n

Or had they?<\/p>\n

As participants walked out the door, they could pick a Walkman\u2014black or yellow.<\/p>\n

They all chose black.<\/p>\n

Rewind. How\u2019d that happen?<\/h2>\n

There were likely plenty of psychological phenomena in play, but it comes down to participants not having skin in the game.<\/p>\n

Do you like the yellow Walkman<\/em>? Sure.
\nWhat do you like about the yellow Walkman<\/em>? Cue participants rattling off positives they truly believed.
\nWould you buy the yellow Walkman<\/em>? Yes.<\/p>\n

These questions didn\u2019t mean anything to the participants. There was no consequence to liking (or not liking) or wanting (or not wanting) the new model. Why not like the new model?<\/p>\n

But once participants had to put their choices where their mouths were, their real preferences emerged.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div><\/div>\n
\n
How to conduct a Learning Environment Analysis<\/h5>\n

In this guide, you\u2019ll find an in-depth overview of a Learning Environment Analysis, a powerful framework for accurately understanding adult learners\u2019 previous knowledge, current challenges, and needs so that you can design the right learning solution. Plus, get worksheets and templates for each stage of the process.<\/span><\/p>\n\nDownload the guide\u2192<\/i><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

From product design to learning design<\/h2>\n

The product-design principle learned from that accidental case study should inform your field research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you ask a group if or how much they like certain options, such as on a scale of one to five, they\u2019re likely to rate them all around three or four. But if you ask them to rank options, you\u2019re going to get a clearer picture of their actual preferences.<\/p>\n

This simple tweak gives the interviewees skin in the game. It pushes learners to truly consider their preferences instead of arbitrarily scoring options independent of one another.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re gauging preferences and needs of what content someone is learning or how content is being delivered, having them rank options forces them to make a decision. Forcing rankings not only eliminates the false data invited by the wrong types of questions, but it also pushes the learner to wrestle with the pros and cons of the options. This allows us as researchers to probe beyond WHAT they think to WHY they think it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The key to learner discovery lies in the failed focus group for a 1980s and 90s staple: the Sony Walkman\u2014an innovative handheld music player. Legend has it that participants rallied around Sony\u2019s new design concept for its classic black model: a sporty yellow Walkman. Participants loved the color! It complemented their (likely neon) outfits! They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":5547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3868],"tags":[],"role":[3891,3890],"class_list":["post-5546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy","role-instructional-designer","role-learning-leader"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Simplest Way to Avoid the Research Fail of the Yellow Walkman | Maestro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out the simplest way to avoid the research fail of the yellow Walkman.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/maestrolearning.com\/blogs\/research-fail-of-the-yellow-walkman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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