  The HCI field has seen a growing body of qualitative research, making use of
a wide range of activities and methods. Interviews and workshops are some of
the main techniques used to help understand user needs and to conduct co-design
activities with them. However, these methods might be conducted in various ways
and have different advantage and disadvantages. An important aspect influencing
the types of activities and methods used is the culture of research
participants. This paper aims to compare the research methods conducted in the
context of the Saudi Arabian culture. It provides a reflection on the methods
used to understand user needs when designing social commerce platforms,
including interviews, co-design workshops and critique design workshops. We
found that each method has its positives and negatives in terms of user
preferences, and can help to obtain useful information at different levels of
detail. For example, conducting semi-structured interviews by text was
preferred by participants who are at home with their families. However, they
can be slower than other methods.
