User-Centered Service: Understanding Need + Access
It is conventional editorial wisdom that understanding reader preference is a necessity — so in addition to tracking analytics, editors will often try to capture readers’ tastes by asking them, via reader surveys.

The problem? Designers and editors both know that what people say they care about is often different than how they actually behave. Behavior is influenced by many factors, all of which may change over the course of a day (or week, or year). Readers may say they want more stories about municipal water treatment because they know that’s a “good” thing to say — or even because they genuinely intend to sit down and learn about water safety. But after the survey, when the editor runs analytics, she’ll see that people still click far more