Users' participation to creative design of new solutions for mobility: An exploratory study

As transportation is one of the main environmental concerns, design of new solutions in this area constitutes a priority for the European Union. This study aims to compare different factors of user involvement in design in terms of obtained contributions of users, whether positive or negative. Based on the Critical Incidents Technique, we interviewed 23 experts (especially in transportation), asking them to describe their positive and negative experiences when they collaborated with users in design projects. This resulted in the collection of 71 Critical Incidents (40 positive and 31 negative) that were then characterized along 6 coding categories. We conducted a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) on the corresponding contingency table and found two main axes that structured the incidents. The interpretation of the axes indicated that individual user involvement allows obtaining rich information about users' needs whereas collective user involvement allows enhancing user acceptance. Moreover, users involved at later stages of development suggest mainly ideas for service improvement, whereas users involved at earlier stages of innovation suggest creative ideas provided that they are supplied tools to develop their projection skills.