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Good question. It seems as though there is no good way to reconcile behavior versus demographics, and it seems like biasing one over the other will either give bad results or culturally inappropriate results. Maybe there’s a third way that can solve the problem... https://twitter.com/albanvillamil/status/1285256907075334149
In my experience, neither behavior nor demographics are useful as the primary determinators of test subjects, personas, or design. So I don’t pay them much attention. 2
What cuts through race, age, skill, experience, and all those behavioral/demographic characteristics is motivation. An unskilled 11-year old poor white kid can and will have identical motivations as a 43-year old affluent black man when they try to use your product. 3
Both of them want to have a successful outcome without a lot of unnecessary overhead and cruft. Both want the product to reveal its state and its intentions. Both want to be able to depend on its consistency. (These are generic goals, but it works with very specific ones, too) 4
Their motivations are intimately tied to their desired end-states. Where do they want to go? What would a successful outcome look like? What are the user’s goals? These things tend to be extremely consistent from one user to the next, regardless of skill or skin color. 5
I think it is important in user research to have a diverse range of subjects, but that is not primarily for the purpose of interaction design. 6
Rather that’s to make sure that you have a full understanding of the complete range of purposes to which your product will be applied. Different demographics may have different usage, but when the usage is the same, the goals tend to be the same, too. 7
My preferred term for all of this is goal-directed design. You don’t design for people or jobs or tasks or use cases, but instead you design for the user’s goals. 8
Instead of asking about income or experience, you ask:
What are they trying to accomplish? What is their desired end-state? What misbehavior would cause them to dislike your solution? What displayed information would help them feel more confident about their actions? 9
What are they trying to accomplish? What is their desired end-state? What misbehavior would cause them to dislike your solution? What displayed information would help them feel more confident about their actions? 9
Using goal-directed methods gives you the insight you need to design good quality interaction. Unfortunately, it doesn’t proof you against prejudice, penury, and petty power plays. 10
To combat the bullshit that exists as part of most design-and-dev teams you instead need a manual, a book, a heavy one >400 pages long. You smack those ignorant, greedy, prejudiced bastards upside the head with it. Hard. Knock some sense into them. Hmmm, which book is best? 11
Wise practitioners know that the answer to any question in compsci can be found in Volumes 1 through 4 of Donald Knuth’s Art of Computer Programming. If you have any of these in hardcover, you have to appropriate tool for any delicate business negotiation. 12
