In-person interviews were conducted using a vehicle system prototype in a driving simulator for participants to evaluate and rate the acceptability and desirability of the system. The participants were prompted to complete tasks while the system simulated driving and in a static state. The metrics (e.g., error counts, pass/fail) were recorded by the research team. The findings and research team recommendations were reported to the stakeholders after analysis was completed.
Role: Researcher and project lead
Company: Lextant
Client: Kitchen appliance manufacturer
Study Type: Generative
Timeline: 5 Months, 2 Phases (1:1 Contextual Interviews, Focus Group Concept Evaluations)
Phase 1
Objective: Understand the ideal cooking and kitchen experience. The client wanted to research for future appliance product development.
Recruit: Twelve participants, 6 from Columbus, Ohio and 6 from San Francisco, CA. Mix of cooktop types (e.g., gas, electric, induction), age, gender, marital status, and household income. Participant responses were reviewed by the research team for articulation prior to being recruited. Incentives included the compensation of the meal ingredients.
Methods & Approach:
Online Homework: Describe a typical day’s meal planning, preparation and completion, including family members’ roles. Submit a description of the meal and the new ingredient(s) they will prepare during the interview.
In-home interviews (3 hours) were moderated, including a canvas activity and observation of individuals cook a meal. Kitchen space, countertops and cupboards’ interiors were video recorded.
Canvas activity (1.5 hours): Part of the interview activity was designed to gain understanding of current barriers in planning, preparing, and cooking a meal.
The first canvas activity was conducted prime the individual for the interview, beginning with identifying 3 aspiring people (image stickers were selected and adhered to the canvas or write-in personal favorites).
Barriers: identify challenges/annoyances using emotion stimuli (images and words stickers) for Deciding What to Make and Cooking A Meal.
Wishes: state desires using benefit stimuli (images and words stickers) for Deciding What to Make and Cooking A Meal.
My Dream Kitchen: Use feature stimuli words to describe features and qualities that would support this.
Identify ideal emotions from 6 defined words that apply to benefits and features. Colored dots were applied to the ideal emotion stickers.
The remaining 1.5 hours were used for cooking a meal for themselves or their family using a new recipe or ingredient(s). Their meal preparation and cooking process were observed and interview questions continued being asked during this time.
Analysis: A themesheet technique was used to analyze gathered qualitative data to discover high-patterning findings (threshold of 20% or more of participants). The application of stimuli words and image stickers were tallied for each section of the canvas activity.
Synthesis: The research team and internal stakeholders (HCD Director and VP of Insight Translation) used Mural to synthesize the findings into a story. A model was designed from this phase of the study's findings for the client to use for their own internal teams to develop future products.
Findings:
1. They would like to receive appreciation and help from family members, from planning meals through clean up (e.g., wash dishes or put in the dishwasher)
2. They want to bring the outside in whether it is views to the backyard or easy access to fresh vegetables and fruit.
3. Their kitchen is a gathering place for their family and friends, so they want it to be inviting and a reflection of their own personality.
This study’s report included the model, data insights, and metric ratings. It was given to the client to use in the development of future concepts of kitchen appliances.
This study was conducted in Japan to understand wellness as a separate study following one that was conducted in the U.S. The stakeholders wanted to gain insight to current challenges, ideal experiences and potential solutions their services may provide to Japanese consumers. The participants completed diary entries over 7 days, recording their personal and family experiences in the moment, uploading videos and images too. The diary entries were completed by the participants, analyzed by the research team, and synthesized with the stakeholder team.
Following the diary activity, an online question and answer session was conducted live with these participants along with additional ones. The questions were used in conjunction with use-case scenarios, curated from diary insights. An ideal experience activity was introduced in the beginning of the session to prime participants for the use-case scenario questions.
Participants were prompted to complete tasks while using and navigating an in-flight Wi-Fi portal during in-person interviews. They evaluated and rated the acceptability of this product while their data was recorded. This study had a tight timeline to test, analyze and report the findings to the stakeholders because the product was near completion and scheduled to roll-out to the airline's fleet within a couple of months after concluding this study.
Qualitative research was completed to understand individuals' recent travel experiences using a commercial airline. Each participant completed a series of diary entries used to record their steps along the travel journey, beginning with arriving at the airport for departure through leaving the airport after they arrive at their destination. In their diary, they recorded emotions and the level of intensity of each emotion with each step of the journey.
One-on-one interviews were conducted to review the diary and gather more insight from the participants' current experiences and challenges with traveling, using commercial airlines. Ideal experiences and brand preferences were gleaned from the interviews. After analysis and synthesis, the findings were reported to the stakeholders.
My MFA thesis research investigated the introduction of biophilic design to improve the mood and behavior of persons with dementia. In this research, I collaborated with caregivers to learn what they found useful and applied it to the knowledge I gained from my literature review. The methods were qualitative. A survey was used to learn about the participants’ experiences of providing care to persons with dementia. In-depth interviews with participants were conducted online. Some participants took part in one-one-one online collaboration or co-design sessions to conceptualize future sensory stimulation activities for future use by the caregivers. Nurture Sensory Stimulation sourcebook is available for purchase.
As a result of my thesis research, a multipart sourcebook was conceptualized. The one-on-one interviews and co-design sessions with the participants validated the usefulness of the sourcebook. Some of the participants contributed activity ideas and features that will be included in the sourcebook which was designed for other caregivers to use with their persons with dementia. It includes descriptions and details of biophilic sensorial activities and tools for the caregivers to use. These activities are designed to be affordable, attainable, and easy to complete at home or within the memory care support in a continuing care retirement community.
The online survey was developed in Qualtrics. The first half of the survey’s questions is a combination of multiple choice and type-in responses about the caregiver’s experience providing care to persons with dementia. The remaining survey questions ask the participant to answer how they perceive the adult with dementia would respond to the corresponding sensorial images. For each image they will respond to three statements that describe moods and behaviors relevant to research on dementia diseases. Each of the answers is rated on a 5-point bi-polar scale.
The co-design sessions were conducted one-on-one in a real-time video conference. The participants viewed the facilitator’s (my) screen and instructed what to do during the session’s three short activities. Each activity had an Image Bank that displayed 91 images and editable sticky notes for the participant to choose to be placed within the activities’ boards.
A co-design research project was conducted over 15 weeks with stakeholders (medical providers, former patients, and family members) at OSU Wexner Center’s ICU. My research team was comprised of 4 other graduate students exploring possible solutions to reducing delirium amongst ICU patients. We had three co-design sessions with stakeholders, two were in-person and one was virtual.
A participant used dollhouse furniture and markers to explain their experience as a patient receiving care in ICU.
In co-design session one participants were interviewed while they used images, post-its and dollhouse furniture to create collages that represented their experiences in ICU. The participants were medical providers, former patients and family members.
During session two co-design workshop, participants (medical providers, former patients and family members) created solution concepts to problems they experienced in ICU. They were given what-if and magic wand cards to represent their proposed solutions. Rough prototypes began to emerge from the participants’ concepts to inform the third co-design session.
During session three workshop, participants (medical providers, a former patient and family member) collaborated virtually with the researchers to design a prototype of the patient room environment. Each participant was scheduled to take part in one-on-one prototype-modeling co-design session.
I participated in a co-design course with residents living in Ohio Living Westminster Thurber (WT). This is a continuing care retirement community that provides living and care accommodations for 65 and up individuals as they need while they age. Our Wellbeing co-design group was comprised of 8 residents and 3 OSU graduate students. We collaborated in weekly sessions over 13 weeks. Our group strived to incorporate technology in our project for WT residents to achieve wellbeing.
The conclusion of the semester-long co-design research was presented by the participants to the residential community, other students and professionals.
Before our co-design group could determine the application of technology to be used in this project, we had to determine what wellbeing means to the WT residents. Through collaborative mapping activities, Wellbeing was defined as:
“A sense of purpose is an essential component to achieving wellbeing; without it, health, social and spiritual aspects of life are difficult to achieve.”
Through various exercises and explorations, the group determined a communication portal would be useful to Westminster Thurber residents to improve their wellbeing by connecting people to:
• Volunteer opportunities (Purpose)
• Social engagement (Social)
• Health events (Health)
• Spiritual offerings (Spirituality)
The co-designing participants mapped the framework of the community portal. The portal’s features and pages were selected during the participants’ discussion; then, posted to the wall.
The participants identified the portal users’ personal security as being one of the most important features to be addressed. During this discussion, it was determined that the portal should only allow Westminster Thurber residents and staff as users. The participants also wanted the ability to search using keywords to find people, activities and common interests. There are over a dozen committees and the participants would like to make them accessible to the other residents to contact the chairperson and learn about the committees’ missions.
The participants designed wireframes of their concepts of the community portal. They included features for different areas of the portal. All the participants shared the same interest in listing the daily soup and entree specials at the community’s restaurant. This feature would inform the residents to make a decision whether to eat in the restaurant or prepare food in their apartments. Currently, residents walk to the restaurant to find out the daily specials. The participants envision the portal to provide daily information that would be useful to the community residents.
Our co-designing participants are using Plush Forums portal as a working tool to build their concepts. Using this portal’s template created challenges with designing the pages to meet the residents’ needs, e.g., a main committees landing page with subcategory pages leading to individual committee pages. Also, navigating this portal is not user-friendly and creates additional challenges for the participants and community residents. The co-designing team determined it is useful and should continue being used by the community resident to develop the concept for the future portal that will be designed by them to meet their needs. The co-designing project was successful because the participants identified the residents’ needs for improved communication and social engagement within the community and continue developing the concept of the future portal. The number of community portal users continue to grow and is currently being used to post discussions about the community and share a variety of information with the users.
