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
# 27 - International Markets and Anthropology with Leia Atkinson of Shopify
# 26 - Cross Cultural Research in Action with Elsa Ho
# 25 - Why Participants Participate in User Research with Brittany Rutherford of User Interviews
#24 - What's in a Name? Building Custom Research Programs that Stick with Vicki Tollemache
#23 - How to Interview Customers Continuously with Teresa Torres of Product Talk
#22 - Stop Freaking Out About the Evils of Personas with Andy Budd of Clearleft
#21 - Why Surveys [Almost Always] Suck with Erika Hall of Mule Design
#20 - Why Being Wrong is Right with Alec Levin of Learners
#19 - What UX Researchers Can Learn From Children with Noam Segal of Wealthfront
#18 - Juggling Hardware and Software (and Service Design) Research with Susan Rice of Toast
#17 - Is It Ok To Recline Your Seat On An Airplane? with Bob Saris of User Interviews
#16 - How to Facilitate User Research in Any Team with Nicola Rushton
#15 - Starting a ResearchOps Practice with Kate Towsey
#14 - How to Make a Potentially Awkward User Interview Less Awkward with Adam Sigel of Hometap
#13 - Make Qualitative Research Your Competitive Marketing Advantage with Katelyn Bourgoin
#12 - Essential Times for Qualitative Research With Shipra Kayan
#11 - Integrating Research Faster with John Cutler
#10 - Give Us Your Feedback and Reviews (Retro #1) - with Erin & JH
#9 - Running Amazing Remote UX Research Sessions with Sonya Badigian
#8 - Continuously Delivering and Discovering with James Aylward of Pluralsight
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Insight Story: Tech Trends Unpacked
Zero-Shot
Fast Forward by Tomorrow Unlocked: Tech past, tech future
The Unbelivable Truth - Series 1 - 26 including specials and pilot
A Prairie Home Companion: News from Lake Wobegon