client overview

In 2015, I joined the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI, then the Toolbox Project) as a postdoctoral researcher. TDI runs dialogue-based workshops for teams to help them enhance their communication and collaboration. The focal point of these workshops is a survey-like instrument consisting of collections of themed prompts that users rate their agreement or disagreement with. In a typical TDI workshop, teams complete this instrument, have a lightly facilitated dialogue, and then complete the instrument again. TDI researchers look at the changes and trends between the pre- and post-dialogue instruments.

project overview

When I first joined TDI, data collection was performed manually. Researchers entered data from paper instruments into Excel after workshops. The goal of this project was to develop a web interface to collect and store responses to pre- and post-dialogue instruments that could then be analyzed with a variety of tools, including R and Excel.

My role: User experience researcher and designer, client

Team: UX designer, programmer, Client lead, additional postdoctoral scholar affiliated with client

The process

The first steps in designing this interface were to evaluate the existing instrument and determine what features needed to remain constant in an online version. This included collection of demographics, the ability to anonymize the data to comply with our IRB, and collection of pre- and post-dialogue prompt scores. I met with the programmer within Michigan State University’s College of Arts and Letters to determine our constraints and conducted informal discussions with members of the TDI team about their design preferences for the interface, their research needs, and their technological readiness and comfortability with using an app in lieu of the paper-based approach.

The opportunity to create a web-based interface was also an opportunity to reflect on the demographics that TDI collected and create a more inclusive experience for workshop participants. We decided to change some categories that had been multiple choice to open-ended (for gender), provide guiding information that multiple options could be chosen (for race), and chose a taxonomy-based approach for discipline with the option to add multiple disciplines.

From these discussions, we developed a web-based interface with a straightforward design that allowed TDI to collect and process data without the need for manual data entry. We retained the sequential flow of the instrument, although we reordered some steps. We chose a straightforward visual design for the app; we chose a sans-serif font for the entire app and kept the palette that stuck mainly with black and white, but used color for visual cues such as how far through the instrument a participant was or when it was time to finish the app.

One especially exciting feature we chose to add based on years of feedback from workshop participants is that the web app allows a participant to have their instrument mailed to them. Previously, participants did not receive copies of their completed instruments.

Throughout the process, I was in charge of the app’s information architecture, feature selection, and visual design, while the programmer coded the app. Our working relationship was deeply collaborative, through frequent conversations and emails, we were able to blend our skills to create a functional, easy-to-use web interface for TDI.

deliverables

This web application was used in 50+ TDI workshops for groups including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from 2016-2020. In 2021, additional funding was secured through a National Science Foundation grant to create a new version of this web application; however, this one still remains in use by some TDI members.

Lessons learned

Informal vs. Formal UX processes
This app was one of my first UX projects and would have benefited from dedicated user interviews and usability studies in lieu of informal processes. However, for this particular application and client, these informal processes led to the development of an app that allowed TDI to move rapidly, design/test/change features immediately prior to a workshop, streamline workshop delivery, and ease the time and burden of data collection and processing. As a current UX researcher, I urge the TDI leadership to consider experimenting with formal UX research steps for their new next generation app to see what information could be gained.

Flexibility
A key to the long-term success of this interface was our flexibility. We were willing to both listen to workshop participants about changes that they needed as well as accommodate the growing TDI community and their research needs. For example, features that were added over time included the ability to change the human subjects recruitment script, different formats for downloading the data, and the ability to change prompt type/scale. The pared down visual design of the app also allowed TDI to continue using this app after they changed their name, logo, and color palette.