Most user research types will give us in-the-moment results, or at best, a slice of the complete mental model. To create mental models, we need something that lasts for a longer time period, ideally days, if not weeks or months, to gain a better understanding of many behaviors and attitudes, even beyond the typical use-case scenarios of our solution.
Note
Longitudinal research covers a longer time period with the same test users. Longitudinal research can take a few days, or even months, depending on the research goal and budget. When creating a mental model map, the researchers focus on target behaviors in their larger context during the logging period, based on the recordings (logs), which can be in writing, audio, video recording, pictures, or a mix of all those.
Users struggle at recalling past events in detail. Accurately recalling past experiences, feelings, and attitudes is almost impossible. To demonstrate this, let me ask you a few questions: What did you eat...