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you like it more?" They'll answer yes, but this tells you nothing. The risk is that you might go to a lot of
work to implement something that doesn't help users.
Questions That Ask Users to Explain Their Cognitive Process
My favorite bad example: "Did you click that Sign up button because it's yellow?" Human beings are
notoriously bad at explaining their own cognitive processes. Very often we can't articulate why we did
something, or in our desire to please we may invent post-facto explanations for our behavior that have
nothing to do with reality. It's usually best to watch what people do and listen to what they say as
they're trying to do it (which helps you understand their intent) but not to ask them to dissect their
behavior and come up with a reason for each action.
Ever been on a camping trip and tried to hang up a flashlight? Those clever little ones have a
hole in their base designed for exactly that purpose, but in the dark it's almost impossible to put a
string through it—no matter how you manipulate the flashlight, the light insists on shining out the
opposite end from where you want it. That's kinda what it's like to examine your own cognitive
process—by the very act of trying to shed light on it, the part you're interested in slips into
darkness.
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