Research Plan
Questions
3. How can we let users know that the bus will be later than usual because of traffic? How can we let users know that their particular bus is assisting a passenger with a wheelchair at the moment? How can we alert users that there will be a lag time because a bus is being taken out of service for maintenance? How can we let users know which bus is coming to the stop so they won’t be rushing in vain for the wrong bus? How can we let users know how much time they have to get to the bus stop? How can we make the bus stop at Washington and State less hectic for users and make them have a smooth experience?
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Methods
4. Ethnographic Study: It would be very helpful to observe the passengers in their natural environments. We can gain insight on what the users need without test bias or influence. This will make the users more comfortable and prone to say what they really feel
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Interview: Interviewing different users one on one will show us what individuals want from the app. One thing to look out for will be if there is some overlap between each individuals needs and wants.
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Usability Test: The usability test will be useful when a prototype of the app is made so we can see if the users can operate it easily. Since there is such a diverse group of people who take the bus we should use a diverse group in the usability test.
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Competitive Analysis: Seeing how other apps with the same end goal for the product react will give us insight on what works & what doesn’t.
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Focus Group: Having a group of participants share their thoughts view, experiences, and opinions will help us refine what type of features the app should have. Again this group should be diverse to mirror the actual passenger population.​
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Task Analysis: Similar to the usability test, this analysis will help us see if users can truly perform the tasks with ease.​
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Heuristic Evaluation: The evaluation will help refine the interface & see how usable it truly is.​
Recruitment Plan
5. Online participants along with friends and family. I will use slack & other platforms to recruit the online participants. I will simply ask my friends and family if they would be willing to participate
Timeline
6. These activities will take place over the next month.​