Background

Project: Study Spotter

Role: Product Designer & User Researcher

Timeline: August 20 - August 24

Tools: Figma

Project Background

Students on college campuses are involved in classes, research, and other extracurricular activities that require them to conduct research on their fellow students. This is a commonly daunting and stressful challenge because students are notorious for ignoring online and in-person survey recruitment requests. In this endeavor, I strived to improve the connection between student researchers and potential participants, hoping to streamline the recruitment process and alleviate the burden on both parties involved.

HMW

HMW better connect researchers on college campuses with students to participate in their studies?

Research

Research Questions:

  • Who are the people recruiting for student research participants?

  • What recruiting techniques are successful, and what techniques are unsuccessful?

  • Why do students choose to participate in research?

  • How are student researchers currently recruiting student participants?

  • When do the roles of student participant and student researcher transition?

  • Where do researchers and student participants currently find each other?

Research Methods:

In order to adequately understand the problem space I thought it was best to conduct both interviews and observational research. I hoped to understand both the researchers and the student participants through interview questions. After speaking to both user groups I wanted to get a better understanding of what research participant recruitment looked like, which I planned to understand through observing recruitment materials.

Interviews:

I interviewed 4 UC Berkeley students who have conducted research on their peers. I spent 5 minutes asking them questions about their methods and experience with carrying out these studies. Through my interviews, I realized that all of the students who have conducted research have also participated in some other form of student research on campus.

Observational Research:

I listened to student researchers explaining their methods of recruiting participants and then examined the current efforts on campus and social media platforms. My goal was to comprehend the information used to inform potential participants about the advertised research and also gain a better understanding of the kinds of research projects that required student participation.

Key Insights

After conducting the interviews and identifying patterns in how researchers recruit participants I started to organize my findings to recognize trends.

User Personas

From the key insights I generated, I was able to make user personas that would guide me in representing the two key users that I wanted to use my product.

Ideation

Product Requirements

Using my personas as a guide I made a list of objectives that I wanted to achieve with my design iterations that would ensure I was meeting my users’ needs.

Brainstorming

After defining my product requirements I began brainstorming outlines for the flows that would allow both researchers and participants to reach their goals.

Solution

After defining my objectives, I created a plan for how different users would navigate through the product. To achieve this, I identified the need for a way to save users' information, a method to create and publish surveys, and a simple flow for students to browse through studies on their campus. I also considered the types of sorting mechanisms that would make it easy for participants to find surveys they would be interested in taking. With this in mind, I was able to develop a clear flow for both researchers and participants and create key screens that users can access from both their smartphones and computers.

Lo-Fi Designs

Final Design

Part 1 : Onboarding

When someone reaches Study Spotter they will be prompted to make an account with their school credentials or student email. I decided it would be beneficial to store users’ information in a log-in so that researchers could easily track the progress of surveys they posted over time on the “My Surveys” page. Also, if participants are entering studies that have potential for rewards, they can also go back to the “My Submissions” page to track their award status.

Part 2 : Browsing Studies

On the home page of Study Spotter, you can find the latest studies that have been posted. Each study is displayed with a brief snapshot that includes the study's title, the department it is being conducted for, the type of study, the location, the deadline for participation, the estimated time to complete the study, and the type of reward offered to participants upon completion. To find studies that match their preferences, users can use the search bar or the drop-down filters.

Part 3: Selecting a Study

When a user clicks on a study, it expands to display additional information such as the study's description, the number of participants required, the eligibility criteria, and a more detailed explanation of the potential reward. I also realized that participants are more likely to take part if they see that their chances of winning the reward are higher. Therefore, I included information on their probability of being awarded. In the expanded view, users can click on the "Begin Survey" button, which will take them to the link where the study is being conducted as indicated by the researcher.

Part 4: Organizing Your Studies

On these pages, both researchers and participants can view the studies they have created or participated in. The surveys that have been completed and have expired will be grayed out and moved to the "Expired Surveys" section. This way, students can keep a record of the studies they have completed in the past, which may be required as evidence for class credit or other purposes.

Part 5: Building a Study

Researchers use the "New Survey" page to input study information, publish surveys, and recruit participants. Once published, surveys can be edited, stopped, or deleted.

Mobile Experience

Users who prefer to use their smartphones also have the same experience using Study Spotter.

Final Reflections

What I Learned

A valuable lesson I learned during my brainstorming and design process is that a simple solution is often the best one. I noticed that I have a tendency to overcomplicate things by accounting for all possible user scenarios, which can result in a convoluted user journey. However, when I refocused on my target personas, I was able to create a user flow that was straightforward and effectively addressed the initial problem question. This was challenging at first, but ultimately proved to be worth it.

Another important realization I had was that I shouldn't try to solve every issue in the problem space with my design. I found myself becoming overwhelmed by the research insights I had gathered, and started addressing problems that were not directly related to my original "How might we?" question.

What I Would Do Next

If I had more time I would try to design an option that scanned survey websites and AI generated all of the information so researchers would only have to enter a link.