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
#47 - Up and to the Right: How Research Improves Conversion Rates with Jon MacDonald of The Good 📈
#46 - Creating Better Help Content with Andrew Sandler, Director of Innovation at Adobe
#45 - How Alignment Can Speed Up Your Work with Jonathon Hensley of Emerge Interactive
#44 - Being Data-Driven vs. Data-Informed with Hannah Shamji, Consumer Psychologist
#43 - UX Benchmarking: Demonstrate Design ROI with Kate Moran of NN/g
#42 - 2 for 1: Combining Customer Research & Sales Demos with Jane Portman of UI Breakfast
#41 - 10x: User Research for Growth with Aazar Shad of Userpilot
#40 - Dream Stack: ROI-Driving Research Toolsets with Daniel Loewus-Deitch and Leo Smith
#39 - Interviewing Users Every Day for A Year with Jonathan Anderson of Candu
#38 - Accessibility, User Research, and Inclusive Design with Cat Noone, CEO of Stark
#37 - Using Research to Write Next Level Copy with Joel Klettke of Case Study Buddy
#36 - User Research as a Growth Engine at Early Stage Startups with Loic Alix-Brown
#35 - Democratizing Research in Large Enterprise Companies with Luke Fraser of Stepwise Innovation
#34 - Self Care As A UX Researcher with Vivianne Castillo
#33 - Using Session Replay Tools to Supercharge Your User Research with Elyse Bogacz
#32 - 7 Reasons Not To Do User Research with Michele Ronsen
#31 - Why No One Listens to Your Research Reports with Caitria O’Neill of Google
#30 - How 3 Mailchimp Researchers Landed Their Dream Jobs with Jud Vaughan, Khalida Nicole Sebree, and Christianne Elliott
#29 - Researching Your Own Users with Chad Aldous of Rentable
# 28 - The Three Tiers of Culturalization with Chui Chui Tan of Beyō Global
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