Increasing Awareness of Student-Run Creative Events
UX Research
Timeline: Sept 2023 - Dec 2023
Role: UX Researcher
Tools: Figma, Adobe Illustrator
Problem
The University of Michigan (U of M) sponsors over 1,600 registered organizations on its Ann Arbor campus, many of which allow for student’s to engage in the arts and express themselves creatively. The Stamps School of Art and Design alone fosters a community of creative students who often showcase their work around Ann Arbor. Attempts to advertise student-run creative events within the U of M community are not successful in attracting a wide audience, leaving different creative communities unseen.
For my UX research, I was curious to identify which current barriers exist to finding student-run, creative events on campus, and if there are any solutions to these barriers.
Research Question & Objectives
How can we increase awareness about student-run creative events on the U of M, Ann Arbor campus?
To learn more about student’s general desires to attend such events.
To understand how student’s currently learn about events.
To understand why student’s are more, or less, inclined to attend such events.
User Interviews
After identifying my research question and objectives, I began to write my interview protocol. I created an interview guide with a set of 29 questions, some of which have follow-up questions. The interview requires a 15 minute collage activity, where the participant is provided 60 predetermined images and the necessary supplies (glue, paper, scissors).
I first recruited a classmate to pilot my interview, making sure to identify any bias and leading questions within my script. Once I adjusted the interview guide, I recruited five participants to conduct recorded interviews with based on the recruitment criteria.
Recruitment Criteria:
Undergraduate student at the University of Michigan living on the Ann Arbor campus. Preferably students who have previously attend student-run, creative events on campus.
Recruitment Methods:
Flyers placed within university buildings. Texting students in the School of Art and Design, and the School of Music Theater and Dance. Texting students in my sorority.
Informed Consent:
Each interview last between 35 to 50 minutes, depending on the experience of the participant and their willingness to answer each questions. Participation in this study was entirely voluntary and had no incentive. Participants had the option to skip questions, end the interview at any point, or request that their data not be post-interview. A detailed consent form was provided prior to beginning each individual interview.
Avoiding Bias
While bias is impossible to avoid 100% successfully within a research study, I took five specific steps toward avoiding bias within my own interviewing.
Questions focus on the participants experience, not extrapolation of information.
Questions avoid judgmental language.
Questions focus of a single topic.
Defining terms and keeping language simple.
Avoiding re-stating answers.
Coding & Themes
Upon completing all five interviews, I used the generative AI platform Parrot AI to assist me in transcribing the five transcripts. Despite the use of AI, I still manually adjusted each transcript to account for speakers and missed words.
Each transcript was coded for overarching ideas, feelings, experiences, and general statements which felt necessary to address within my research.
All codes were then transferred into a Miro to create an affinity diagram. In this diagram, all themes are color coded and contain at minimum six codes. Additional themes with only five codes were included at the bottom.
Key Findings
1. Students Feel Overwhelmed
Students feel incredibly overwhelmed by the abundance of information available on campus. They don’t have the mental energy after class to read unnecessary emails, or to stop and notice posters around campus buildings and Ann Arbor.
4. “In-groups” and “Out-groups”
Students are aware the existence of “in-groups” and “out-groups” on campus, specifically within individual schools. School-specific events can be kept private by these groups, who extend invitations only to close friends.
2. Word of Mouth
Students rely heavily on word of mouth to learn about upcoming events on campus. This relieves the stress of searching for a specific event, and you are hearing information from trustworthy sources (friends).
5. Bonding Opportunity
Many students use on-campus events as an opportunity to catch up with, and bond with, their friends. Students are more likely to attend an event if a friend(s) is interested in joining.
3. Sharing on Social Media
Students rely on social media sharing and stories to learn about new events hosted by organizations on campus. This requires that the student already follow the organization, or that a mutual friend re-posts a social media graphic.
6. Localizing Information
Students wish that there was a consistently updated website or application where information about on-campus events was localized. Currently, multiple different websites exist for this reason and they are not always updated or reliable.
Persona
Based on the findings from my interviews and affinity diagram, I created a user persona to communicate the characteristics, needs, and goals of students at the University of Michigan wanting to be more involved with creative on-campus activities.
Storyboard
Alongside the creation of a persona, I made a quick storyboard which depicts the most common barriers identified preventing students from attending student-run, on-campus events.
The storyboard sketch depicts my persona, Allison Fox, who feels constricted in her current daily schedule. Allison would like to take advantage of the opportunities on the U of M, Ann Arbor campus. She asks her friends if they have hear of any upcoming creative events, she scrolls through Maize Pages only to find past events, and she checks social media. Allison goes on a walk to clear her head, and instead becomes more frustrated by the amount of posters on campus which are missing pieces of information. She finds herself sitting at home later, feeling defeated.
Recommendations
Through a semester of gathering and analyzing data, I’ve identified the key barriers preventing student from attending student-run creative events on campus. Additionally, I’ve defined specific issues students currently face in seeking for information about on-campus events, as well as solutions informed by students themselves. My recommendations are as follows:
Recommendation 1:
Create a new website and application which grants access to all registered U of M organizations. Allow for organizations to promote their current events within this one platform. Market this platform as a form of social media for U of M students, creating an inviting and free culture around using the application. This will localize the information in a way that is familiar and easily accessible to students
Recommendation 2:
Allow for consistent information updating, and re-design, of the Maize Pages website. Maize Pages allows for students at U of M to search for and RSVP to events around campus. However, students complain that the posted events are often outdated, and that the website itself does not allow for easy sharing and searching of information. Generally, this website is not favored by students. I suggest a full UX/UI re-design be completed and made known to the student body.
Next Steps
This research was completed for the class SI 422, Needs Assessment and Usability Evaluation. For this reason, I was not able to implement my research into real change. I would recommend the following next steps:
Conduct usability testing on Maize Pages and Happenings at Michigan. Both websites were created by the university to promote on-campus events ranging from social, creative, sports, and academics. Identify what students like and dislike about these websites. Identify how user friendly these websites are and if they are missing key components.
Complete a UX/UI redesign of these two websites and pilot different versions with students to see what new features are, or are not, effective. Generally make the websites more modern and understandable to students looking for information quickly. Offer an incentive to students participating in this study to gather and larger participant group.
Follow either of my aforementioned recommendations to implement these changes.
Generative AI
Generative AI was used lightly throughout this research study. In the beginning stages of creating, piloting, and revising my interview guide, I used U-M GPT to gather ideas for UX research questions. This was incredibly helpful for confirming my own thoughts, and addressing bias within my user guide. After being so accustomed to my own writing, it was helpful to have an unbiased second opinion. Upon completion of my interviews, I used Parrot AI to help transcribe my interview scripts. While this was generally helpful, I had to go into each transcript and accommodate for speaker changes and missed words. GenerativeAI was not used to create this portfolio.