The Personas' New Clothes: Methodological and Practical Arguments against a Popular Method

Abstract

We examine the popular Personas method and consider claims that personas can reflect empirical data and serve as an information source for development teams. We argue that there are significant methodological and practical difficulties for personas. It is difficult to determine how many, if any, users are represented by a persona, and thus is difficult to know whether a persona is relevant for intended users. Personas cannot be adequately verified or falsified and therefore have no demonstrable validity. We believe personas are likely to lead to political conflicts and to undermine the ability for researchers to resolve questions with data. We suggest potential research to evaluate the Personas method more thoroughly. Until the methodological issues are resolved, it is best not to consider personas to be a means to communicate data.

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