UX Research- Designing around Study Habits
As students at a University who often utilize a variety of study spaces, there are certain factors that render these spaces less effective than intended. Through this research project, we want to identify the problems that students face in order to increase student productivity in these spaces. We begin by conducting a literature review to have a general understanding of what has been studied already and what remains to be explored.
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Credit to Czar Hey
Literature Review:
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One finding from the Literature review is that Study areas frequently have crowded and under-utilized spaces = Mismatch between resources provided and resources actually used within these spaces.
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Mismatch is largely due to spaces not being utilized for their intended purpose (Crook et al. 2012). An example of this is a study space designed for group collaboration that is instead used for individual work.
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Study spaces have transformed into multifaceted facilities in recent years (Cunningham and Tabur, 2012). The authors assert that patrons would be better off if they were able to reconfigure the space quickly to fit their current needs.
We realized that it would be challenging to make these spaces adaptive in a way that is effective for users without understanding the physical and emotional motivations that users have when deciding to use a study space. A large proportion of current studies have focused on the level of satisfaction already within a chosen space, more so than what emotional and physical motivations influence spatial preferences. Through our User Research, we hope to make more sense out of the emotional and physical motivations.
User Research Methods
Diary Study:
Users Behaviors: To gain a sense of user behaviors pertaining to work spaces, we asked the participant to check off items that they were using in the work space. The items listed were: Whiteboard, Computer, Pen/Paper, Projector/TV monitor and Outlets. By learning what items the participant used in certain spaces, we gained a better understanding of behaviors tied to certain types of work and locations.
Activities: It was important to understand the activities that took place in the different work spaces. In the context of this project, activities were the types of tasks that participants worked on while in the space. In the diary study, we asked the question “what are you working at the moment?” We attempted to see if certain types of work were unique to certain places. In addition, we asked a question on how difficult the participant perceives the work to be in order to track whether or not the rigor of work played a part in choosing a work space.
Experiences: In our diary study, we asked questions pertaining to perceived productivity and how the participant would describe their experience in the space. We specifically indicated that the participant answer these questions after they had finished working on their tasks for higher accuracy and relevancy. To get a more holistic understanding of the environment, we requested the participant to snap a picture of their surroundings as well as questions on the amount of people in the room and the noise level.
Time frame: We requested the participants to record a diary entry for every time they do work in a space. Some of the questions are meant to be answered before and after the participants are done working in the space.
Participants: Undergraduate and Graduate participants were selected at random to get a diverse set of majors, and frequented locations. All participants were enrolled students at Cornell University.
While the Diary Study would provide great insight on some of the emotional and physical motivations behind choosing spaces, we also wanted to gain a deeper understanding by actually interacting with users in the spaces. Through an ethnographic study, we would be in the actual environment and better understand its flaws and benefits.
Ethnography Study:
User Behaviors: The main purpose of our Ethnography Study was to gain insights on the environment of study spaces in situ. We initially played the role of the observer. We collected information on crowdedness, type of productive tasks, and how patrons were interacting within the space.
Activities: To gain even more insight on the types of tasks and interaction taking place within a space we switched from observer to participant. As participants, we interviewed patrons within the space. We even conducted some of our own coursework while interacting with other people. We wanted to gain deep insight on how patrons were emotionally impacted by the space as well as their attitudes towards productivity, and the surrounding environment.
Experiences: In our ethnography we aimed to use our own experiences to gain insight on the experiences of others. Shifting roles between participant and observer allowed us to identify the problem space through different perspective. Our own experience enhanced the quality of information we were able to capture from those around us.
Time Frame: While in each space observation lasted ~ 30 minutes. Acting participant/interviewer roles lasted an additional hour.
Sample Interview Questions:
1.) What are you currently working on?
2.) Why do you come here to study?
3.) Recall the last time you were at the lounge studying, what were you studying for?
4.) Which corner of the lounge do you typically spend the most time in and why?
Participants: Undergraduate and Graduate participants were selected at random to get a diverse set of majors, and frequented locations. All participants were enrolled students at Cornell University.
Findings:
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Through our methods, we found that feelings of productivity and well being, varied significantly based on the degree of configurability within each space. The more configurable a space, the better people generally felt
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Students within each respective space had shared common feelings of anxiety, and stress regardless of major and personality type (introverted vs. extroverted).
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Open spaces (Open Layout) tended to bring about these feelings more often than closed spaces (Section off/Divided). Interestingly, many students cited their preference for open spaces due to a sense of commonality in partaking in the same activities as others.
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Being around others in an open and generally quiet space (but not interacting) also motivated students to concentrate harder and be more productive.
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Students liked these open spaces because they were versatile and supported many different types of productive activities. However, this became a problem if the space had too many people.
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One student cited their preferences for the open spaces stating that, “the study area is large, and is sectioned off into different parts for different purposes… I can do everything from reading to group studying.”
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Another student commented on the disadvantages of being in a space with too many people stating, “because there are just so many people, it actually messes up my concentration and induces social anxiety.”
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The stress of finding an open, accommodating space with a small to moderate presence, was an issue many of our participants struggled with.
Synthesizing Results through Affinity Diagramming and Brainstorming:
In order to collect our thoughts together, we decided to partake in some Affinity Diagramming. This would make it easier to ideate possible solutions.
We wrote the main ideas from our Ethnography and Diary study results on Post It notes and placed it on the board. We then distilled the collection of post it notes into categories that naturally emerged.
Once we categorized our findings, we began to ideate possible solutions based on the category.
We then placed them onto a prioritization matrix. This helped us to determine what design would be most feasible yet valuable.
We eventually settled on the “Manifold Desk” idea which was a solution aimed at tackling the “adaptability” aspect of study spaces. It placed greatest in the Highly Feasible and Highly Valuable section on our Prioritization Matrix.
The Idea
For our design we prototyped the “Manifold Desk.” This is a multifunctional desk that is supportive of both individual and collaborative work scenarios. The design complements the work styles of different personality types (introverted vs. extroverted) in its ability to simulate closed and open space work environments. We wanted users to be able to experience both individual and group collaboration through this desk.
A (Default Mode): It’s not always introverts who want to study alone, sometimes extroverts need to complete an individualized task. For this purpose we created a single mode with an open window.
B: A latch mechanism for shifting between modes.
C (Do Not Disturb Mode): Often times introverted students want to study in a study space but being surrounded by wondering eyes makes it uncomfortable for them to focus, for this purpose we created the closed off view.
D: Thicker base for balance support vs. inner folds.
E (Collaboration Mode): Many times group collaboration is required. Cornell in particular puts heavy emphasis on team building. For collaborative scenarios we have provided a collaboration mode that accommodates several users.
Prototype:
We decided to create a model of “Manifold Desk” out of cardboard so we could actually test the basic functionality with real users.
See the video for a better look at Manifold Desk!
User Testing:
For user testing, we had users test all the major functions of the desk by giving them certain scenarios:
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Do individual work and block out distractions
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Do “relaxed” individual work where you can work and converse
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Collaborate on a drawing task
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Store items in desk
Participant one uses the desk individually with privacy shade in order to block out unneeded distractions.
Participants do "relaxed work" where they can do work and converse
Participants collaborate on a drawing task with desks unfolded
User Testing Results:
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Actual desk needs to be bigger. Would allow privacy shade to actually completely block out surroundings
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Would be helpful if desk had wheels so that it could easily be moved from one space to another. This would allow more spaces to become configurable
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This might have a place in classrooms. Would allow professors to easily turn lectures into a more collaborative classroom
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Maybe include a graphic printed on the desk with the different desk modes. This way users would understand all the different modes they would be able to use the desk in.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, users left with a really good impression of Manifold Desk! They noted that the desk should be bigger as the prototype wasn’t large enough to do actual work. This is definitely understandable as the prototype was made purposefully small. A final model would definitely be scaled up so that the privacy partitions actually block out surroundings and the desk space would be usable for work. One of the big findings from our Ethnographic Studies was that people prefer highly configurable spaces. One point from the user testing was that these desks could be wheeled around to make spaces more configurable. This way, an empty space can be used for both lone work and group collaboration. This would help students overall to feel more productive and have a greater sense of well being in these spaces.
