Evaluation of Survey Monkey via Fathom Consulting personnel
Role: Researcher/Designer
Research Team: Rawnson Ivanoff, Lamara Greene, Lengiso Hussein
Methods: Cognitive Walkthrough, Contextual Inquiry, Remote moderated usability test, Affinity Diagramming, Wireframes & Prototyping
Tools Used: Sketch, Trello, Google Sheets, Google Docs, Zoom, Quicktime Player, SurveyMonkey Platform
Product: SurveyMonkey Platform
Target Audience: Small businesses with various employees such as HR directors, UX consultants and business administrators.
Project Overview
By: Lengiso Hussein
Fathom Consulting uses SurveyMonkey as a tool to conduct various types of surveys such as employee satisfaction surveys, client satisfaction surveys and quantitative research surveys. SurveyMonkey was evaluated using real everyday users from one of their key customer groups, Fathom Consulting. The research yielded results that would allow for changes to be made to different internal features. Fathom contacted us to find any improvements the platform had in order to ease their overall use of the site.
Users
This platform is used by small businesses with numerous employees within an organization varying from HR directors, UX consultants and even business administrators. They all need the ability to create customized surveys, distribute surveys and analyze data in an effortless manner.
Design Process
Cognitive Walkthrough
Based on the users needs a set of given tasks were going to be tested against our participants in hopes to evaluate the Survey Monkey platform against these tasks.
The challenge presented to our team was to go through these tasks in the mindset of a user while trying to find potential pain points. The team was given 8 tasks which ranged from creating a survey all the way to distributing and analyzing the data. My role during this process was to evaluate the user’s flow while testing, launching and monitoring survey completions. The results yielded a couple of pain points that would then transition into recommendations on how to improve them.
For example, in the launching a survey portion, a suggestion disclosed was to change the phrasing of the title ‘collect responses’. This title could be misleading which would then lead to further confusion for the user. After the cognitive walkthrough was completed the next step in the process was to put together our usability test script.
View Cognitive Walkthrough PDF here
Usability Test Script and Contextual Inquiry
The usability test script consisted of different sections that would lay the groundwork for our contextual inquiry. The test script included research goals, a section for the moderated contextual inquiries and various types of context setting questions.
During the contextual inquiry the moderator would use the test script as a guide in case content was missed while overseeing participants complete given tasks. The point of the inquiry was to sit back and observe not only what the actions participants are taking but also observing their process in general. This includes their emotions, body behavior, testing environment and also what they’re thinking.
Since our team consisted of three members, while conducting the sessions there was one person moderating, one person taking notes and one person in charge of the technological aspects. The notes were compiled using a trello board. Our participants work for a small consulting company with Lead Consultant and Senior Consultant roles. Having this context information helped our research because it allowed the team to understand at which levels within the organization our data was coming from. After conducting our contextual inquiry sessions the next step was to synthesize our notes in trello using affinity diagrams.
View Contextual Inquiry Test Script here
Screenshot of a Contextual Inquiry Session via zoom
Screenshot of Synthesized of Notes via Trello Board
Affinity Diagramming for synthesizing notes
The next step in the process was to create an affinity diagram which was used to synthesize our notes in the trello board. The further our notes were synthesized the more apparent themes or key findings became to us. After compiling a list of key insights, those were then condensed into two insights that needed to be prototyped. Once the insights that needed changes were finalized, user stories and user scenarios for each insight were created. From those insights, we created two user goals that encompassed our research results.
“The desire to have an ability to distinguish the difference between qualified vs disqualified responses on ‘my survey’ section within SM platform”
“The desire to have an ability to analyze data seamlessly in excel within the SM platform without dealing with the hassle of formatting or minimizing unnecessary items”.
The above goals were expanded in our user stories.
Once the user stories, scenarios and goals were finalized the next step was to hand sketch the prototype and exactly what changes to make.
View Research Finding & Prototype Plan here
Hand-Sketched Wireframes to Interactive Prototype
By using a grid notebook, the first round of my sketches were completed. While sketching, the focus of my attention was concentrated on how to improve the responses tab within the ‘my survey’ section. The users expressed a need to distinguish which respondents were qualified vs disqualified. The decision to display a flow that allowed users to check the classification of responses was made.
The second insight which was prototyped referred to evaluation integration methods. The change made was the addition of an interactive button which allowed for users to view their data in excel within the platform without unnecessary minimizing. After finishing all of the hand-sketched wireframes, the next step in the process was to head over to the Sketch app to start the first round of high-fidelity prototyping. .
During the prototyping stage, an epiphany moment happened which led to the realization that instead of only showing the amount of responses and classifications more details could be helpful. Thus leading to the addition of a pop up table that could also show which questions led to their classifications. This would save users the trouble of manually having to go into each respondents answer and fishing for the answer. After the appropriate changes were made within the Sketch Software, the prototype was exported to Invision in order to add interactivity to it. This part of the process consisted of adding interactions and making sure the flow was smooth and easy for the user.
View Interactive Prototype here
Prototype Walkthrough
Next Steps
Some questions that still need to be answered through another stage of contextual inquiries or usability testing would be:
How do the users feel about the classifications of respondents and the answers that led to their classifications?
Does it ease the process of monitoring completions?
Does having the option to use excel within the platform allow for the evaluation process to move along at a faster pace?
Being able to see how users interact with the pop-up options should yield results that can either help improve the design further or give reassurance to the designer.