The Methodology

Secondary Research

Competitive Analysis

Stakeholder Interview

Surveys

Usability Testing

Secondary Research

Our team was aware of the abundance of insightful data already out there discussing the homeless crisis in Seattle. We knew by reviewing this information, it would help us gain general background knowledge and how the current homelessness situation is in Seattle, fairly quickly. We looked into:

• The main factors causing homelessness
• What are the available resources
• What are the challenges that are preventing people from getting out of being unhoused
• What resources are most requested
• What are and aren't widely accessible resources

My secondary research only involved external sources from the internet and academic databases. I focused on sources that contained firsthand accounts from unhoused individuals to grasp that context of their situation. When doing so, I also looked for the needs and wants of the unhoused individuals concerning resource accessibility. To prevent myself from researching other issues that were outside the bounds of our problem question, I had a clear research topic (in this case, research accessibility and exposure).

This narrowed down what information was vital to us, which ultimately helped our approach towards the next phase of the research process. This also helped us in knowing how to direct a conversation when interviewing our stakeholders.

Competitive Analysis

A part of the research strategy was to look into current and available products with a similar mission as ours. With the products we found, we determined what these products offered and lacked through spreadsheet analysis. The first spreadsheet iteration focused on general product information, media display, advantages, disadvantages.

After analyzing the overview of the products, we made a second spreadsheet to focus on the available features of the products. Reviewing the second spreadsheet provided a manageable look at what features were omitted or lacking to see how it reflected on the products. From this, we determined if those lacking features are something we need to invest time looking into.

Stakeholder Interview

Our group interviewed 7 stakeholders who had directly or indirectly worked with unhoused individuals. I initially emailed some of the stakeholders to see if they wanted to partake in an informational interview so we could gain further insight into the homeless crisis.

I interviewed a reverend volunteering at a homeless shelter, a volunteer engagement coordinator, and a professor with their teacher's assistant who teaches social work.

After the initial interview, I would email them a follow up about our progress and receive feedback.

Hurdle

Conducting research remotely

The research phase happened from the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2021, essentially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The quick shift in the work environment needed adapting, causing us to reorganize our research approach. The elimination of in-person interviews——where we could observe and directly connect with the unhoused and social workers——became an obstacle to our research. It was hard to find what research methods could solely be done on the computer, especially when not all unhoused individuals have computer access. I knew that alternative research methods had to be used, even if it meant connecting with our audience indirectly. We ended up interviewing our stakeholders much more than planned. They became our middleman in reaching our target users and getting necessary input.

Surveys

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no opportunity to meet with our target users face-to-face. To still get first-hand user insight and information, a survey was prepared and sent to our stakeholders to distribute to the unhoused individuals they assisted. I worked on creating the questions and formatting for the survey, making them easily understandable to the users.

Questions we majorly focused on were about the most desired resources and the most common types of display mediums they utilized, allowing for a clear direction for the content displayed in the design.

Usability Testing

Once our app got into the prototype stage, I asked some of the stakeholders if they would like to participate in the usability testing.

Using Figma, I made revisions by testing the main desired functionalities via a simple wireframe layout. Our usability testing setup consisted of the participants (our stakeholders) having access to the Figma link and Zoom.

I led 3 usability testing sessions and was the main note-taker for the remaining sessions.

Key Findings

User Phrase Understanding

There is a lot of terminology and jargon that is used when discussing housing stability that isn't widely known. So if a user is utilizing the app to find a housing agent, they might not know what "Coordinated Entry for All" means. The plethora of new terms could hinder their progress in getting help because it would bring about a sense of shame.

Lost Track of Time

Those in unstable living conditions tend to lose track of time and get frustrated by how much longer everything seems to take. One task can last an entire day to complete with having to walk around everywhere, especially when certain places are far from one another. Things like waiting in an extremely long line for a sandwich at a food bank or walking to a shelter for clothes, only to find out that it closed early for the day are just some instances of how unhoused individuals can lose so much time.

Self-Worth

The more time a person spends living on the street, the more self-respect they lose. Not only is there the physical aspect of homelessness (e.g. losing shelter, materials, clothes, etc.), but there is also mental aspect (e.g. deteriorating mental health). Taking the first steps to become housed can be mentally taxing when people won't give you a chance because of your situation. Rebuilding your self-worth and taking back control of your life cannot be done with constant rejection, judgement, and belittlement.

Techonology understanding and access

While technological access in this situation is possible, it is unstable. Additionally, the digital world is constantly changing rapidly, leaving designs, displays, and software to become quickly outdated. For unhoused individuals, it is not easy to keep up. We learned that many of the unhoused feel like digital designs and interfaces can be confusing and difficult to navigate.

Outcome

Because this was a capstone project, this application never went through the rest of the development process to launch it. Currently, we are redesigning our prototype with plans to recruit other individuals and possibly go the non-profit route.

What I Learned From This Project

Like it was mentioned earlier, COVID-19 forced me to quickly think of solutions and research alternatives for the obstacles we confronted. The plan to engage with our target audience was no longer feasible. It was an experience that put my adaptability skills to the test while I had to intuitively figure out what to do with the resources available to me. It taught me just how imperative it is to be adaptable in this field of work, especially when considering how much an unexpected situation can change different facets of one's research.

After learning about the problematic relationship between time constraints and unhoused individuals, we needed to know that the user could find their information on our application as fast as possible with a straightforward design. It was difficult figuring out the mechanisms and features of this application; we often found ourselves getting carried away with ideas, becoming grounded once more when thinking of the user. It became glaringly obvious just how integral the audience was to the entire design of the application. It served as another reminder that the thought and behavior of the user is the most important aspect of design.

The Methodology

Analysis

Usability Testing

Survey

Analysis

Success Metric

• Open and Click Rate
  
• Session Length/Time
• Error Count
• Success Rate
• Time to complete task
• Ease-of-use Rating
• Satisfaction Rating

Google Analytics was used to collect the measurements in certain timelines. The timelines chosen were three randomized weeks and one randomized month. The weeks and month chosen avoided dates of higher-than-average traffic to the website caused by external factors (such as marketing campaigns).

I did this to create a benchmark of the website's average user engagement. This allows the company to use this benchmark as a reference point in the future.

Heatmap

To have a general sense of where on the website users tend to mostly gravitate towards, I used a program called Hotjar and utilized their heatmaps feature because it was free to use. Additionally, it had an intuitive interface that my colleague who are not tech-savvy could use. I would check the heatmaps periodically to double check that it was tracking users. After collecting the necessary user data, the heatmaps were evaluated to discover where the users' clicked on the most throughout the website as well as the users' movements without clicks.

Session Recordings

• What and where they hesitated to click on
• What they appeared to be reading
• How they navigated themselves
• What bugs were present (if any)
• Where users appeared to be frustrated
• What news articles they clicked on
• Behavioral Patterns

To utilize and manage my time effectively, I reviewed the videos twice a week during the recording period. I made notes on what happened by creating tags and categorized each one by relevance (very low, low moderate, high). This ensured that I would not have to review all the videos at once.

User Testing

I conducted user testing virtually through Zoom for a total of 8 users. I created a user testing plan along with a loose session script (outline) with 8 tasks and 5 questions. The tasks and questions were made to have a focus on understanding how the users percieved the websites and the website's ease-of-use. After completing the user testing, I collected all the testing results and compiled them onto Google Sheets into sections of comments, elements, experience, and response to questions.

Survey was a Hurdle

I decided to implement a feedback widget onto the website using Jotform Feedback Button to get more user response in a seamless way. Unfortunately, the feedback button only garnered one response. I was concerned that the issue was the placement of the button or the amount of content in the survey, even though I wrote a statement saying not all questions need to be filled out to be submitted. However during the user testing, the final task was to find the feedback button, and most users were able to find it very quickly due to seeing it earlier during the session and they felt that the content was sufficient. The user testing demonstrated that the placement of the button was not an issue, so I decided to remove some of the questions from the feedback pop-up. After the adjustment, there were still no responses, leaving me to assume that people simply did not want to leave behind any feedback. This admittedly was disappointing ointing because I had hoped this feature would offer an easy avenue for users to voice their opinions about the website.

Key Findings

Dead links

Upon reviewing the screen recordings, there was a pattern of users getting led to an error page when clicking links of the website's of repair shops. Witnessing the users clicking website links and being led to error pages repeatedly began to annoy me and left me wondering how much more frustrating it would be from the users' end.

Sub Menu

When a user would move the mouse down to click on one of the sub menu options, the sub menu suddenly disappeared, so the user would have to move the mouse up to the main tab and move it back down to try to keep the sub menu from disappearing. They would move it up and down quite a few times until would stay open.

Location Searching

At first, when observing the behaviors of the usability testers, quite a few of them took a notable amount of time searching for a town on the map to start searching for repair shops. Initially, it did not seem like a concerning issue because it was due to the users' inability to find a spot or use the map. However as the usability testing continued, a significant number of users had the same problem. Constantly searching for a location took up the time of the user to find their answer. Some users expressed that they could not easily find the location of where the event was being held on the map.

Outcome

After evaluating all the research results, I compiled everything into an analysis report and presented it to my project managers and the CEO of the company. The report detailed the goals of the project, the methodology, the findings, and recommendations to improve the website. After this, the report was handed over to another employee to carry out the recommended changes to improve the website's usability.

What I learned from this project

Because it was my first time doing a project with no team members, besides my project manager, I was very apprehensive going into it as a result. Despite my issues with imposter syndrome, this project showed me that my skills and knowledge were more than sufficient for the task. And even though my imposter syndrome will never be completely squandered, This experience serves as a reminder that I am capable in what I do regardless of any doubts.

I briefly worked with a web developer in reimplementing the repair shops' database into a new program. Working entirely remote proved to be a challenge as it made communication and ready responsiveness much trickier. As a result we mainly communicated through email and to mitigate any delays, I would set reminders to periodically check my email. The extra effort highlighted how communication is integral for solving issues early on.