Contextual and cultural challenges for user mobility research

Nokia Research Center's User Experience Group conducted a mobile phone user research for understanding the user's needs. The findings of the research are used to guide and support the development of latest product, applications, and services in the mobile platform. The challenges faced during the research using two approaches, contextual approach and the cross-cultural approach, are discussed. Validity of cross-cultural research can be improved by being explicit and clear about the aims of the project. Clearly formulated research questions will be formative help to the data analysis process. The analysis of the different cultures led to the identification of universal behavioural patterns.