My research methods toolbox

I strategically select my methods based on stakeholder input, constraints such as budget and timeline, and the research questions of interest.

SAMPLE WORK 1

@ Selective attention and perception lab

Position: doctoral ux researcher

Eye-trackers, Eye-link Data Viewer, ​MATLAB, R, Python, and Motion Trackers. ​I conducted research on selective attention ​and perception using experimental designs, ​psychophysics, and threshold detection ​techniques. I examined how limited ​cognitive resources affect visual selective ​attention when processing extensive and ​intricate environmental visual stimuli.

Attentional overload

Selective attention & ​perception

Vast and complex ​visual information

SAMPLE WORK 2

@ Clickeypod Technology Pvt. Ltd, India

Position: Data Analytics and UX Research Lead

UX Strategy, UX Research, UX Design and Data ​Analytics for Clickeypod’s social e-commerce ​platform - an app which allows users to share ​and buy combinations of items (referred to as ​Bundles), enhanced by gamification and social ​features for a fun and engaging shopping ​experience

CASE STUDY

background

Key Features of Clickeypod’s Social E-commerce Platform:

Features from the App’s Social Component:

• Users can post combinations of items (in the form of images) for a specific purpose or situation on the app’s timeline (for example, a user can create a bundle post containing images of items that make up an outfit for a party).
• Users can interact with each other’s bundle posts by rating, commenting and sharing them.

Features from the App’s E-commerce Component:

• Users can view and purchase products from the platform’s e-commerce inventory.

Social e-commerce platform: demo-1

ConStraints

Proactively addressing the triple constraints of COVID-19 challenges, budget limitations, and time, ensured the successful delivery of a high-quality app.

Covid

Health and Safety

Remote Collaboration

Changing Governmental Regulations

Research Limitations

Budget

Limited Financial Resources

Funding Uncertainty

Cost Management

Unexpected Costs due to Covid

Time

Tight Deadlines

Resource Availability

Planning and Scheduling

Problem Discovery and Solution Generation

Explorative Research

• Automated Remote Research
• Personas
• Surveys
• Site Search Analytics
• 1:1 User Interviews
  

Objective

To identify the engagement levels received by various app features

Insights

Users engaged with the social component more than the e-commerce component of the app

• Total User Count: ~1000
• Daily Active Users: ~350 (35% of total user count)
  
• Per-Session Social Component Engagement Rate: ~16% of Total User Count (users click Rate, Discuss, or Share buttons)
  
• Per-Session E-Commerce Component Engagement Rate: ~5% of Total User Count (users click any product category button)
  
• Per-Session Social Component Time Spent: ~5+ minutes
  
• Per-Session E-Commerce Component Time Spent: <45 seconds
  

Social e-commerce platform: demo-2 (PRODuction site)

Sample Survey Questions

Problem Discovery and Solution Generation

Explorative Research

• Automated Remote Research
• Surveys
• Personas
• Site Search Analytics
• 1:1 User Interviews
  

Objective

To understand user perceptions and preferences regarding the platform as either a social media or e-commerce application to inform feature development and marketing strategies

Insights

• The Social component users perceive the app as a social platform.
  
• The E-Commerce component users perceive the app as an e-commerce platform.
  
• This indicates a split perception among users, with distinct groups having different expectations and usage patterns.
  

Problem Discovery and Solution Generation

Explorative Research

• Automated Remote Research
• Surveys
• Personas
• Site Search Analytics
• 1:1 User Interviews
  

Objective

To identify understand the different user personas and their preferences for tailored feature development

Insights

Two Types of Personas Identified:

• Social Persona Group engages more with social features and creating bundle posts.
  
• E-Commerce Persona Group focuses more on purchasing products.
  
• Design and implement features to drive engagement of the Social Persona Group in e-commerce features.

Problem Discovery and Solution Generation

Explorative Research

• Automated Remote Research
• Surveys
• Personas
• Site Search Analytics
• 1:1 User Interviews
  

Objective

To analyze the search behavior of the social persona group and identify any barriers preventing them from making purchases

Insights

• Social persona group frequently searched the inventory for products that they saw in bundle posts.
  
• Despite searching the inventory, users did not add products to the cart. This could be because they were not able to find the same bundle products.
  

Example: A user’s search terms and sample images from the last two bundle posts before the user clicked on search.

Party wear, Beige shirt for women, Eyeshadow for Friday night dating, Handy make-up kit with eyeshadow, Eyeshadow

Problem Discovery and Solution Generation

Explorative Research

• Automated Remote Research
• Surveys
• Personas
• Site Search Analytics
• 1:1 User Interviews
  

Objective

To gather detailed insights into user behaviors, preferences, and challenges while interacting with the platform to inform improvements in usability and overall user experience.

Sample Interview questions

Questions for Platform Redesign

• What do you like about this platform?
  

• What do you dislike or find challenging about this platform?
  

• Does this platform have all the features you need? If not, what additional features would you like to see?
  

• How do you feel this platform compares to similar platforms on the market? Is the platform missing any important features?
  

• On a scale of 1–10, how likely are you to make a purchase on this platform?
  

• What factors prevent you from buying products on this platform?
  

Insights

• Users (Social Persona Group) like the social features and the ability to create bundle posts but are unable to buy bundles directly.
  
• To purchase products from a bundle, users have to search for those products from the inventory separately and then add them to the cart. In most cases, users were unable to find identical bundle products during their search.
  
• This inability to directly add bundles to the cart is the underlying cause of low sales.
  

Usability questionS

• How did you go about completing this action?

• Can you walk us through the specific steps you took to complete this task?
  

• On a scale of 1–10, how easy was it for you to complete this particular task?

• Can you explain why you chose to do X or took Y approach during this task?
  

• Were you able to find all the information you needed to complete the task?
  

Problem Discovery and Solution Generation

Discovered Problem

Users were unable to directly add bundles to the cart and had to search for products from the inventory, which led to frustration and contributed to low sales on the platform.

Success Criteria:

Improve sales conversion from

3 orders per day to a minimum of 100 orders per day

Recommended Solution

After three iterations (RITE)

Implement features that:

• Allow users to add items from the app's e-commerce inventory to the bundle instead of mere product images or videos.
• Allow users to easily purchase bundles
• Enable users to edit bundles, allowing them to add or remove individual items.
• Provide options for users to change the quantity of items when adding a bundle to the cart.

User Flows, Low Fidelity Prototyping and the RITE method

• Utilized the RITE (Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation) method to develop and refine low-fidelity prototypes of various screens such the "Create Bundle" and the “Edit Bundle Cart” screen.
• Addressed usability issues early, ensuring a successful and user-approved final design.
  

RITE METHOD

ITERATION 2

Enhanced Bundle Editing Capabilities

ITERATION 3

Final Refinements

ITERATION 1

Initial Implementation

High Fidelity Prototyping: Proposed designs (Iteration 1)

Clickeypod’s Social E-commerce App with the "Create a Bundle” Feature (Highlighted in Purple)

Clickeypod’s Social E-commerce App with a New Feature to Add Products from the Inventory in Addition to Product Images or Videos when Creating a Bundle (Highlighted in Purple)

High Fidelity Prototyping: Proposed designs (Iteration 1)

Proposed Design Showing a Bundle Post (Highlighted in Red)

Proposed Design Showing the updated New Bundle Post with Products and their Price (Highlighted in Red), Total Price (Highlighted in Green) and the Buy Button to Add the Bundle to the Cart (Highlighted in Sky-blue)

High Fidelity Prototyping: Proposed designs (Iterations 2 & 3)

Proposed Design Showing the Cart After Adding a Bundle (Highlighted in Purple)

Proposed Design Showing the updated New Cart (Highlighted in Purple), a Continue Shopping Button (Highlighted in Red), a Quantity Number Stepper (Highlighted in Green) and a Remove Product Button (Highlighted in Sky-blue)

Solution validation - usability testing

Objective

To validate the usability and effectiveness of the Proposed Designs, ensuring it meets user needs and is easy to use.

Test Participants:

Recruited 10 participants who match the target users (Social Persona Group).

Test Environment:

Conducted the test in a controlled environment where participants could interact with the Hi-Fi prototype.

Used screen recording software to capture user interactions and audio (Think out loud method).

Interviewed users about the tasks that they completed.

Insights

• High success rates in task completion indicated that the users found the new design easy to use.

• While most users noticed the add product option, there's room for improvement in making it more noticeable and intuitive.

• High ratings for overall experience and ease of use indicate strong user satisfaction with the design.

• Adding clear confirmation messages and tooltips for first-time users can improve user confidence and reduce uncertainty during task completion.

Solution validation - A/B testing

Objective

To evaluate the impact of: 1) a newly added "Buy" button placed below bundle posts, which allows users to add bundles to their cart and, 2) displaying individual product prices and the total price of all products in the bundle.

Insights

• Variant B exhibited a significantly higher Click-Through Rate (CTR), indicating that the "Buy" button effectively captured user attention.
  

• Users in Variant B were more likely to complete purchases, suggesting that the “Buy” button and display of product price information positively influenced purchase decisions.
  

• Users spent more time interacting with bundle posts in Variant B, indicating that the added information and functionality increased engagement.
  

• Users appreciated the convenience of the "Buy" button and the clarity provided by displaying product prices and the total bundle price, leading to a more satisfactory shopping experience.
  

Test Setup

Test Variants:

• Variant A (Control) - The existing design requiring users to search the inventory to purchase bundle items.
  
• Variant B (Test) - The proposed design with a "Buy" button and visible pricing directly below bundle posts.
  

Participant Recruitment: Users were randomly assigned to either Variant A or Variant B.

Test Duration: The A/B test was conducted over a 2-week period to gather statistically significant data.

Data Collection: Analytics tools were used to track clicks, conversions, and user interactions. User surveys were conducted to gather qualitative insights.

Solution validation - A/B Testing

Variant A - Current Design Displaying Bundle Posts without a "Buy" Option below the Post and Product Prices (Highlighted in Red)

Variant B - Proposed Design Displaying Bundle Posts with a "Buy" Button below the Post (Highlighted in Sky-blue) and Individual Product Prices (Highlighted in Red) and Total Price of all Products (Highlighted in Green)

Post-Launch Review

Objective

To evaluate the performance and impact of the newly launched social e-commerce app (with the "Buy" button feature, price information, the ability to edit bundle items when adding them to the cart, and the option to change the quantity of items) based on user feedback and analytics data.

Insights

• Conversion Rate increased, indicating more users completed purchases.
  
• New Total User Count: ~3800
• New Daily Active Users: ~1500 (40% of total user count)
• Average Orders per Day increased from 3 per day to 200 per day (above and beyond the success criteria of 100 per day), showing high purchase activity.
  
• User engagement with bundle posts improved.
  
• Surveys and interviews revealed positive user experiences with new features.
  
• Behavior analysis showed enhanced overall app engagement.
  
• Feature utilization rates for editing and quantity changes were high.
  

Post-Launch Review Process

1. Monitored Key Metrics:

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
  
• Conversion Rate (percentage of users completing a purchase).
  
• Average Orders per Day
  
• User engagement metrics (interactions with bundle posts).
  

2. Collected User Feedback:

• Surveys: Distributed surveys to users asking about their experience with the new features.
  
• Direct Interviews: Conducted interviews with a sample of users to gather in-depth feedback.
  

3. Performed Engagement Analysis:

• Behavior Analysis: Analyzed user behavior to identify how the new features affect overall app engagement.
  
• Feature Utilization: Measured the utilization rate of the new features such as editing and quantity change within bundle posts.
  

4. Compiled Reports

• Comprehensive Report: Compiled a detailed report summarizing the post-launch data, user feedback, identified issues, and recommended improvements.
  
• Action Plan: Developed an action plan for future updates and iterations based on the review outcomes.