Final Project Part 2

Shorthand Draft / Storyboard

User Research Protocol

Target Audience:

Since I am presenting to my classmates, which is made up of adults studying in a university in the United States, my target audience is U.S. adults. I would like the audience (my classmates) to relate directly to my data visualization and presentation, and see themselves represented in my data. The target audience demographics are a nearly even mix of genders, both international and domestic, students in college, some work experience, and adult living in the U.S.

Approach:

I will identify representative individuals to interview by selecting my interviewees to match my target audience. Therefore, I will make sure that each interviewer fits the same demographics as my audience, which is student or employee, preferably a person of color, and an adult currently living in the U.S. There are other personal demographics of my audience which I do not know, so I will include a variety of these, such as dating experience and sexual orientation, which are integral to the study. I will therefore make sure I have participants of different sexual orientations and differnt dating experiences (both online and offline) and relationship statuses (dating, single, or other).

Interview Script:

Introduction: Hi, thank you for participating in this user research for my project. I will provide you the link to a visualization. Please go through it on your own and note aloud things you notice, what you notice first, what you like, dislike, and other general thoughts. The data in the visualization is currently being worked on, so please do not view data in the visualization as completely accurate/final. Rather, please assume this data is correct for purposes of this study.

(Particpant goes through the visualization and talks through it, noting thoughts aloud)

Follow-Up Questions:

Which graph stood out to you the most?
Were there any graphs which were confusing to you, and why?
What did you first notice when going through the visualization?
What are your thoughts about the color scheme?
What was your key takeaway from the visualization?

Participant A: Research Findings

Description:

Demographics: Age 25, White, female, full-time employee, non-international, living in U.S., heterosexual.

Experience: this participant has moderate experience with dating. She has dated both in-person and online, and is currently single. She is on numerous dating apps and also goes to events where she hopes to meet people socially. She has made time to explore dating more since she aims to get into a serious relationship.

Quotes on the Visualization:

“I like the pink color scheme since for me it represents dating or love.”

“I wish the sketches had a similar color scheme since the colors are kind of random.”

“The theme is very interesting. The table at the end should be bigger becuase that is what I’m most interested in as a reader.”

Follow-Up Questions

The online vs in-person graph. Very easy to read.
No but I would like different types of graphs for more variety.
I first noticed the titles which are very clear.
I loved the pink color scheme.
The takeaway for me was that I might find more love online than in-person!

Participant B: Research Findings

Description:

Demographics: Age 22, Hispanic, female, full-time student, international, living in U.S., queer.

Experience: this participant has a low experience with dating, but high experience in having a successful relationship. She has dated only in-person, and is currently in a healthy relationship. She has many friends who are single and in the dating scene, and finds this topic generally interesting to read about.

Quotes on the Visualization:

“I like the structure but I would want it to be more interesting with moving elements.”

“The graphs are very helpful but lacking complexity.”

“I like the dividers for the headers which makes it clear what I am reading.”

Follow-Up Questions

The heterosexual vs queer dating graph was interesting, I liked the multiple bar layout.
The heatmap should have a key because it was unknown whether darker = more relationships.
I first noticed the bright pink colors on the page.
I like the pink but a mix of pink and purple or another color would be bettet.
The takeaway for me is that dating styles differ for different demographics.

Participant C: Research Findings

Demographics: Age 28, East Asian, male, full-time student, international, living in U.S., heterosexual.

Experience: this participant has a low experience with dating. He has not explored his options much online or in-person due to the pursuing of multiple degrees. Now that he has time to start exploring options, he wants to know whether to go the online route or try to find someone in-person.

Quotes on the Visualization:

“I like how the text is next to graphs so I can get an explanation immediately.”

“I want to see more demographic graphs such as on ethnicity.”

“It may be helpful to state the bottom line up front for each section and eliminate too much text.”

Follow-Up Questions

The online vs in person graph was the clearest and really got to the point.
The heatmap was a bit vague, more clarification is needed and maybe different colors.
I noticed the titles first on the pages, they were helpful.
The color scheme is too monotone, more colors would be nice.
The takeaway is I should test my luck with online dating. I would like to know which apps though.

Participant D: Research Findings

Demographics: Age 23, South Asian, male, full-time employee , non-international, living in U.S., queer.

Experience: this participant has a high experience in dating online. He exclusively uses online apps to date, and feels as though he will not have as much success with in-person dating. He has had limited success online, so he is open to changing the method he uses. He is looking forward to seeing if statistically, he is making the right decisions with his dating methods.

Quotes on the Visualization:

“The graphs and explanations side by side are very helpful.”

“The heatmap should take up the whole screen, that would be cool.”

“I would like more in-detail graphs to cover all demographics.”

Follow-Up Questions

The heatmap of the country was the graph that stood out, it was cool yo look at.
The double bar graph could be a little clearer, I would like more complex graphs.
I first noticed the top of the page, which had the main menu.
I liked the color scheme! I think some variety would be nice.
My takeaway was that online dating may work better for queer dating than heterosexual dating.

Overall Findings and Changes to Be Implemented

My overall findings are that even though most participants liked the general layout of the report, there are many improvements to be made. Some similarities across all participants were that they wanted more variety in the color scheme, more specific demographic information, more variety in the types of graphs used, and more complexity in the graph content.

I will be implementing the following changes to my visualization after user feedback:

I will edit the color scheme to be broader, including orange, pink, red, and purple. This spectrum allows for a wider color scheme to be used in pictures, fonts and even the graph colors.
I will include more graph types such as double bar graphs, line graphs, heatmaps, and other charts in order to show data more clearly.
I will expand my research so that I have thorough information on demographics in relation to ethnicity.
I will edit the country heat map to have a proper key.
I will change the color scheme of the graphs to match the color scheme of my presentation.
I will make my presentation more full, complex, and detailed.
I will make the final key takeaway the table of demographics and success rate per demographic, and put emphasis on it at the end of the presentation.