Project Action Plan
As I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what I want to do for this project, I’ve realized that I want it to overlap with some of the other things that I’ve been working on that I wasn’t planning on doing user experience research for. To this end, I plan on expanding the work I did for the early 10 minute testing activity and the interviewing activity to fully examine the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives, or at the very least conduct research activities that will help inform us about the audiences we’re targeting with site changes that have the greatest impact.
Object to Analyze, Hypothesis, and Research Questions
As we work toward solidifying the plans for our archive revitalization, the focus of this will be on the archive site. This will need to include testing to determine who would want to use the site, why each participant would want to use the archive, how they might go about uploading and searching for narratives, a what sorts of content they would be looking for, and where they find themselves when directed to a single destination. The core hypothesis will be if participants are given limited direction with a set of tasks to complete, then under the current iteration of the archive they will have difficulty in doing what they’re asked of. To help maneuver the study in such a way that will be more generative, I will also be using the following research questions to guide further development of study materials.
- What are the differences among the different personas?
- How do different users use the website and content there differently?
- Why might users leave the site and what are they able to find solely on the website?
These questions will help focus my research more on the success/failure rate of tasks among different participants rather than trying to cater testing to any one group.
Personas and Population
This study will aim to work with consistent study populations at each stage, meaning that I will be limited by the categories that will naturally have less participants assigned to the group. To this end, my current aim is to have 3 participants in each persona group with a total of at least 12 participants total. The four main personas are detailed below.
Graduate students in English: This group is made up of students and Ph.D. candidates within Georgia State University’s English Department who may have some familiarity with literacy studies, but would be limited depending on their concentration and expertise.
Graduate students outside of English: This group would be made up of students outside of English studies with a focus on graduate students in intersecting expertise such as critical studies, philosophy, political science, education, communications, and/or psychology.
Researchers/Instructors: This group may have crossover with the Instructors group, so participants might satisfy both roles with different survey and interview questions to answer for each and their own uses for the site. The main difference will be in whether they primarily would use the DALN for supplementing their research with additional primary sources, or if they would be implementing narratives from the archive or associated activities in class.
Data Needed Methods for Acquiring It
I will primarily be acquiring data through surveys and interviews as opposed to observations through screen recorders and journey mapping. This is mainly because of the stage of development the DALN’s revitalization is currently at. However, if it proves to be valuable to do testing on the current iteration of the site (beyond the earlier 10 minute testing that we did), then observations could be an efficient use of time – it will be something that I will need to be aware of as research continues. Despite some question about specific methods, the data I will be looking for will be more expansive demographic data, insights into user motivations and goals when using the platform, details about prior exposure to literacy studies, user feelings about trying to find specific narratives or functions, user expectations when first accessing the site, etc.
Outline for Study
Review 10 Minute Testing assignment and Interviewing Practice assignment to get early perceptions of what will need to be tested – 3/18-3/24
Reach out to potential participants through personal relationships and GSU English department listservs with basic questionnaire to determine fitness for case study – 3/18-3/24
Create and disperse survey to participants including question regarding follow up interviews- 3/25-3/31
Finish refining interview questions using data from surveys and prior assignments to conduct interviews – 4/1-4/7
Compile and refine data from surveys and interviews – 4/8-4/14
Draft report on testing with acknowledgements on general findings, commenting on outliers and potential causes, planning for continued testing, and recommendations on how to move forward with production – 4/8-4/22