Methods for Understanding Users

1. Consent Form

Ethics • Participant Rights

Before collecting any data, I used an informed consent form to explain the purpose of the study, what participation involved, and how privacy and confidentiality would be protected.

2. Interview Critique Worksheet

Foundations • Question design

As a starting point, I critiqued example interview questions to identify what makes questions too leading, too vague, or difficult to answer. This helped me design clearer, more open-ended questions for my own study.

3. User Interview: Digital Privacy Behaviors

Qualitative • Semi-structured interview

I conducted a semi-structured interview focused on how one participant manages their digital privacy across social media and online platforms. This helped me understand real behaviors, anxieties, and coping strategies that don’t always show up in survey data alone.

After the session, I wrote debriefing notes to capture key quotes, patterns I noticed, and early ideas for follow-up research.

4. Artifact Model: Privacy Settings

Modeling • Externalizing behavior

Based on the interview, I created an artifact model that visualizes how the participant configures and revisits their privacy settings. The model shows where they feel confident, where they feel uncertain, and where they worry about being “too visible” online.

5. Key Issues, Big Ideas & Persona

Synthesis • Design direction

From the interview and modeling work, I identified key issues and opportunities related to privacy management. I then translated these into “big ideas” for potential solutions and created a persona to represent a core user type.

6. Scenarios: Interacting with a Privacy Tool

Storytelling • Context of use

To explore how a privacy-support tool might fit into someone’s life, I wrote a set of scenarios that describe realistic situations and flows. These scenarios helped connect research insights to concrete product behaviors.

7. Concept Map: PrivDevice

Concept modeling • System thinking

I created a concept map for a speculative tool called PrivDevice that supports users in managing passwords, restricting access, and protecting sensitive information. The map outlines core features and how they relate to each other within the system.

8. Survey: D2L Usability

Quantitative • Question design

To complement qualitative work, I designed a short survey to gather usability feedback on D2L. The questions focus on frequency of use, perceived ease, frustrations, and one change students would most like to see.

9. Diary Study: Music Listening Behaviors

Longitudinal • Mixed methods

In a diary study, I asked participants to log their music listening over time. This method revealed patterns, routines, and emotional context that are hard to capture in one-time surveys or interviews.

10. Affinity Diagram: Synthesizing Insights

Synthesis • Theme finding

To make sense of all the qualitative data, I created an affinity diagram. By clustering related notes and quotes, I was able to see higher-level themes, contradictions, and opportunity spaces for design.

Below is a snapshot of the raw sticky-note board that fed into the final affinity diagram, showing how the messy early stage transformed into structured insights.