User Research
I begin every research project with the same four questions
- Is the research outcome a specific design solution? A product? A theory of our user’s motivations?
- Is the audience a UX Designer? A company? A research community?
- What are the constraints for our budget, schedule, staffing and recruitment?
- Should this be a one-off study, or part of a Research Ops process?
The methods, scope and deliverables of each research project are determined by the answers to these questions.
RideAmigos Admin Redesign
Lead ResearcherInterviewsFocus groups- Led evaluative research with Admin users
- Conducted structured interviews and a focus group to understand user needs and usability issues
- Used results guide changes to the Rideamigos desktop application by the Product and Dev teams
- Stakeholders to convince: Product leadership, dev team
RideAmigos Commute Tracker Mobile Trip Planning
Lead ResearcherCognitive walkthroughs- Led team in evaluative research with commuters
- Conducted cognitive walkthroughs to understand user needs and usability issues
- Used results to guide design of mobile application user flow for Product, Leadership and Dev teams
Choir Product Research
Lead ResearcherCognitive walkthroughsParticipatory Design- Led team in generative and evaluative research with hundreds of learners
- Conducted surveys with learners to understand user experience on Choir platform
- Used Google Analytics to understand user flow patterns
- Used results to persuade investors, experts, learners and guide changes in Choir product design and development
Choir Expert Interviews
Lead ResearcherStructured InterviewsResearch Ops- Led team in generative and evaluative research with 50+ experts
- 100+ hours of structured interviews (including novel drawing exercise) to uncover expert practices
- Used the results to convince investors, experts, learners and guide changes in Choir product design and development
- Also used results as material for TEDx talk and other presentations
Bricks and Clicks: Participatory Organizational Design through Microparticipation
Lead ResearcherParticipatory DesignWorkshops- Led team in generative and evaluative research with 10+ small businesses
- Conducted workshops and onsite prototype testing of hypothesis that customers and employees could collaborate on business strategy
- Presented findings to participants to business participants and at Social Informatics conference
Digital Fluency Book Research
Lead ResearcherField Research- Led team in field research with 10+ organizations
- Conducted field research and structured interviews to understand digital fluency in digital collaboration
- Used the results as the basis for presentations and a book
Age-related Differences in Online Social Networking
Co-ResearcherNetwork Analysis- Worked with a researcher to investigate age-related differences in 35,000 MySpace users
- Developed a custom web crawler and performed analysis on dataset
- Used the results as the basis for an academic paper
IU Communications Digital Fluency Project
Lead ResearcherStructured InterviewsWorkshopsSurveysSurvey Tool Design/Dev- Led team in evaluative research and training with all parts of IU’s Communications staff and leadership
- Conducted structured interviews, surveys and reports to identify the organization's Digital Fluency strengths/weaknesses
- Results were shared with the entire organization and used to design a digital fluency workshops
Zappos Digital Reflective Practice Research
Lead ResearcherSurveys- Led team in evaluative research with 200+ Zappos employees
- Conducted surveys to understand Zappos employees use of social media as reflective practice
- Statistical analysis was conducted and presented to Zappos HR department
BigTreeTop Product Research
Lead ResearcherStructured interviewsWorkshops- Led team in generative and evaluative research with 50+ small business owners
- Conducted structured interviews and group workshops with small business owners to discover needs for connecting with customers
- Cognitive walkthroughs to understand to understand user flow patterns
- Used Google Analytics
- Results were used by Dev team to inform the design and redesign of BigTreeTop platform
Ahold Global/Stop&Shop KPI Dashboard Research
ResearcherWorkshopsBusiness Analysis- Conducted generative research with General Managers of the top 10 performing Stop&Shop supermarkets in New England and Ahold Global leadership
- Conducted structured interviews and workshops to identify critical KPI’s for inclusion on Business Intelligence dashboards
- Results were used to build business intelligence dashboards for stakeholders at Stop&Shop and Ahold Global
Walmart Mobile Executive Dashboards
ResearcherStructured InterviewsBusiness Analysis- Conducted structured interviews with managers responsible for national executive visits
- Identified KPI’s that would be deliverable via mobile interface to Walmart executives on weekly onsite store visits
- Dashboard delivered to team and used by executives
SociaLens Digital Fluency Assessment Tool Research
Lead ResearcherSurveysSurvey Tool Design/Dev- Led team in generative and Evaluative research with 100+ employees across several organizations
- Developed and tested a survey-based tool for assessing Digital Fluency-related organizational factors
- Results were presented back to all organizational participants
5/3 Bank Loan Officer Research
Usability ResearcherStructured InterviewsHeuristic Evaluation- Conducted structured interviews with fifteen Loan Officers for 5/3 Bank
- Interviews and Heuristic Evaluation used to inform platform usability improvements
