Interaction Design Association

Can anyone recall this case study?

Ripul Kumar
May 29, 2006 2:42am

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I remember hearing a case study of Philips (as far as I can recall!) many years back in a conference. The study was about how people say a particular thing when asked for opinion but can do entirely different things. In this case, it was about color preferences of a portable music system. The potential users said that they prefer red but actually picked up a black one.

Does anyone recall this story or was it someone's figment of imagination? Any clues to this story would be helpful.

Thanks,

  • Ripul

    • -- Ripul Kumar
    Director, Outsourced Usability Consulting
    Kern Communications, India
    http://www.kern-comm.com
    +91 9866342166

     
    Jostein Magnussen
    May 29, 2006 4:30am

    Hi Ripul!

    Here are some references to it:

    With Philips:
    http://www.guuui.com/browse.php?cid=133

    With Sony:
    http://listserv.acm.org/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0210d&L=chi-web&F=P&S=&P=2136

    It has almost become an Urban legend, sometimes referred to as a case from Sony, sometimes from Philips and I have even heard someone claiming it to be Apple :)

    Jostein
    Jostein Magnussen | Usability Specialist
    NetLife Research | Mobil 47 40 22 64 09

    www.netliferesearch.com/english | Rådhusgaten 23 0158 Oslo | Telefon 47 22 42 46 42

    -----

    Original Message -----
    From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Ripul Kumar Sent: 29. mai 2006 12:43
    To: discuss at ixda.org
    Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Can anyone recall this case study?

    I remember hearing a case study of Philips (as far as I can recall!) many years back in a conference. The study was about how people say a particular thing when asked for opinion but can do entirely different things. In this case, it was about color preferences of a portable music system. The potential users said that they prefer red but actually picked up a black one.

    Does anyone recall this story or was it someone's figment of imagination? Any clues to this story would be helpful.

    Thanks,

  • Ripul

    • -- Ripul Kumar
    Director, Outsourced Usability Consulting Kern Communications, India http://www.kern-comm.com +91 9866342166

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    Muntone, Jim
    May 30, 2006 5:16am

    Hola, A colleague and I were just talking about the "users say one thing, but want another, " last week, and we were looking at this article which, isn't the Phillips one, but has some good points about how to "really" listen to your users.

    http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/09/listening_to_us.html

    Hope it helps!

    -j

    Jim Muntone
    User Experience Manager | Product Design
    Factiva, a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
    http://www.sadrhino.net

    -----

    Original Message -----
    From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Jostein Magnussen Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 8:30 AM
    To: discuss at ixda.org
    Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Can anyone recall this case study?

    Hi Ripul!

    Here are some references to it:

    With Philips:
    http://www.guuui.com/browse.php?cid=133

    With Sony:
    http://listserv.acm.org/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0210d&L=chi-web&F=P&S=&P=2136

    It has almost become an Urban legend, sometimes referred to as a case from Sony, sometimes from Philips and I have even heard someone claiming it to be Apple :)

    Jostein
    Jostein Magnussen | Usability Specialist
    NetLife Research | Mobil 47 40 22 64 09

    www.netliferesearch.com/english | Rådhusgaten 23 0158 Oslo | Telefon 47 22 42 46 42

    -----

    Original Message -----
    From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Ripul Kumar Sent: 29. mai 2006 12:43
    To: discuss at ixda.org
    Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Can anyone recall this case study?

    I remember hearing a case study of Philips (as far as I can recall!) many years back in a conference. The study was about how people say a particular thing when asked for opinion but can do entirely different things. In this case, it was about color preferences of a portable music system. The potential users said that they prefer red but actually picked up a black one.

    Does anyone recall this story or was it someone's figment of imagination? Any clues to this story would be helpful.

    Thanks,

  • Ripul

    • -- Ripul Kumar
    Director, Outsourced Usability Consulting Kern Communications, India http://www.kern-comm.com +91 9866342166

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    Ted Boren
    May 30, 2006 6:39am

    Lots of examples of this kind of thing in this paper:

    R. E. Nisbett and T. D. Wilson, “Telling more than we know: Verbal reports on mental processes, ” Psychol. Rev., vol. 84, no. 3, pp. 231*241, 1977.

    "Ripul Kumar" <ripulk at gmail.com 5/29/2006 4:42 AM I remember hearing a case study of Philips (as far as I can recall!) many years back in a conference. The study was about how people say a particular thing when asked for opinion but can do entirely different things. In this case, it was about color preferences of a portable music system. The potential users said that they prefer red but actually picked up a black one.

    Does anyone recall this story or was it someone's figment of imagination? Any clues to this story would be helpful.

    Thanks,

  • Ripul

    • -- Ripul Kumar
    Director, Outsourced Usability Consulting
    Kern Communications, India
    http://www.kern-comm.com
    +91 9866342166

    NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

     
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