Work

Case Studies

My Research Process

Research Methods

Case Studies

Photo by Marcus Aurelius from Pexels

Type: User Flow, Usability, New Customer Segment Research

How might we develop a cohesive payment experience for vendors and suppliers?

Women at a table working together
Photo by Retha Ferguson from Pexels

Type: Client Website Design, New User Flow, Responsive Website

How might we develop an experience that welcomes people of all skill levels to fitness communities?

Women Playing Basketball
Photo by Harrison Haines from Pexels

Type: Concept Design, Mobile App

How might we develop an experience that welcomes people of all skill levels to fitness communities?

My Research Process

Objective Setting

What area are you looking to explore? What problem are you trying to solve?

Icon of checklist with person's head
Hypothesis & Methodology

What assumptions do you have? Who are your affected populations? What research instruments will you use to test these assumptions?

Testing

What observations have you gathered? How are you collecting research observations?

Icon of data sheets put into a funnel
Synthesis & Analysis

How are you organizing research observations? What patterns emerged from the research? What insights form to test the hypothesis?

Icon of a cog with a checklist and checkmark surrounding it
Report & Feedback

How have insights answered the research objectives and project goals? What collaboration is necessary to apply research insights  into continued product discovery/experience roadmapping?

Commonly Used Research Methods

Research Plan Development

Purpose: Forms the research question and project aims (business goals, research objectives), and outlines the project scope, timeline, methodology(ies) and participant selection criteria.

Frequently used tools: Word processing software

Research Ideation Workshop

Purpose: Aids in development of ideas for primary and secondary research questions, develops inclusivity in research process among different project stakeholders (product teams, senior leaders, etc.)

Frequently used tools: Whiteboard, Post-It notes, sharpies, timer, critical thinking, imagination

Participant Recruitment

Purpose: Identify and connect with people who would be willing to participate in research based on shared goals while ensuring their welfare is protected during the process.

Frequently used tool: HMTL/CSS (custom email template development), Qualtrics (to deploy screener surveys and collect criteria info, e-mail templates (to schedule, confirm, and send reminders)

Survey Design

Purpose: To collect data on people, through screeners (for further in-depth interviews), or to analyze trends in large datasets.

Frequently used tools: Qualtrics, Google forms, Survey Monkey, etc.

Usability & Concept Testing

Purpose: To identify the main user interface issues in a product. This can be qualitative (smaller number of people) or quantitative (multiple rounds with higher number of individuals).

Frequently used tool: Sketch, Invision (for creating prototypes), 

Qualitative Research

Purpose: Structured or semi-structured interviews with people to gain in-depth understanding of who they are and how they experience events in their lives.

Frequently used tools: Video conferencing software (for remote interviews)/phone, Recorder, Paper (for taking notes), warmth and friendliness

Synthesis/Analysis

Purpose: To analyze the pattern of behavior provided in qualitative and quantitative data and use that data to answer the research questions.

Frequently used tools: Qualtrics (quantitative), Excel (quantitative or qualitative), Post-Its (or it’s digital representation)

Persona Development

Purpose: At the request of product teams, provides a representation of aggregated data captured in qualitative data to provide a snapshot of interviewees’ behavioral demographic info, pain points, goals, and product usage, where applicable.

Frequently used tools: Sketch, PowerPoint

Reporting & Education

Purpose: To relay study findings to product stakeholders and answer questions on how the research questions inform the business objectives. As an added bonus, these findings can potentially be shared to broader teams/organizations that would benefit from the findings or to promote the benefits of [user] research within organizations.

Frequently used tools: PowerPoint, your confidence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 2020.