Carol and Erin welcome George Whitfield, an expert in applying AI to the analysis of qualitative data. George discusses the intricate challenges of leveraging language models to interpret expansive open-ended data (like interview transcripts), emphasizing the importance of context and not just keyword or topic identification.
They'll dig into the crucial role of human oversight in AI, what preliminary analysis might look like using AI, how to check and refine the work of an AI assistant without derailing your project delivery date, and recommendations for etiquette regarding the reporting of AI-informed results.
The episode closes with an exploration of the limits of AI and where user experience researchers can play a larger role in its development. George believes AI can (and should) inspire new directions of research, but not dictate them.
Episode Highlights
About Our Guest
George Whitfield is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and CEO at FindOurView. As CEO of his most recent company FindOurView, he launched a Gen AI product to help user researchers synthesize insights faster from high volumes of customer interviews. George holds 4 patents and has 3 degrees from MIT including a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a Masters and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering.
Resources on Qual Data and AI
#87 - User Interviews 201: Leveling Up Your Interviews with Therese Fessenden of NN/g
#86 - Research is Everyone’s Job: The Democratization of Research with Jonathan Widawski, CEO of Maze
#85 - So Meta: Doing User Research at UXR Company with Roberta Dombrowski of User Interviews
#84 - B2B Recruiting with Matthew Morrison of Braze
#83 - Being Black in UX Research with Dr. Lisanne Norman of Gusto
#82 - Games User Research — with Steve Bromley
#81 - Establishing Sustainable Research Practices with Gregg Bernstein of Condé Nast
#80 - UX Research and Arab Cultures – with Norah Abokhodair of Microsoft
#79 - Participatory Research – with Alexis McNutt Unis of Better
#78 - Accessible UXR: Recruiting and Researching Participants with Disabilities – with Samuel Proulx of Fable
#77 - Breaking Into User Research – with Eniola Abioye
#76 - UXRs Need to Care About the Business, Too – with Zack Naylor of Aurelius
#75 - Debunking UX Research Myths with Zach Schendel of DoorDash
#74 - Building a Product Vision with Rajesh Nerlikar of Prodify
#73 - Getting Stakeholder Buy-In at a Large Organization with Meg Pullis Roebling of BNY Mellon
#72 - How to Ask Great UX Research Questions with Amy Chess of Amazon
#71 - Running a Blended Research Team with Dave Chen of Flipp
#70 - Radical Listening and Practical Empathy with Babz J.R. Hall
#69 - Thinking Styles and "Average" Users with Indi Young
#68 - Actionable Generative Research with Lucy Denton of Dovetail
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