
Role:
Researcher
Date:
Spring 2022
This research will be presented in absentia at the conference for Corridors by Dr. Philip B. Gallagher.
Conference
2022 Remote Think-Aloud Protocol: Qualitative User Experience Research on Instructional Genre Design. Panel presented in absentia at the Corridors: The Blue Ridge Writing and Rhetoric Conference in Blacksburg, VA.
About the Conference
Conference Program
To view my and my professor’s project in the program:
- Hit Ctrl. + F on your keyboard
- Search for the terms “Juliana Hawkinson and Philip Gallagher”
Problem
Learn users’ expectations of instructions through the speak-aloud protocol activity.
Skills
- Research-soft skill
- Transcription-soft skill
- CITI training-hard skill
Solution
- Transcribe usability tests
- Create primary- and secondary-level analytical codes
- Research techniques that support the user’s expectations and design of instructions
Overview of the Usability Test Process
- Watch, transcribe, and code ten usability tests from the TCO 141 class
- Replace each participant’s name with an alias (fake name) to protect their privacy
- Create a usability codebook-first- and second-level codes.
- Use research articles to support the participants’ and my suggestions on what makes a good instruction set
Reflection
This project was my favorite because the speak-aloud process is my favorite usability research method. It’s my favorite method because I learn what users want in a product-in this case, instruction sets-and how they want to see the design.
This project is a stepping stone towards my research proposal and possible presentation.
Steps to Solve/Tools (in-depth)
- Watched and transcribed ten Zoom videos on the TCO 141-Introduction to Technical Communication.
- Coded each transcription through primary and secondary-level analytical codes.
- Created a codebook of the common codes and search for themes (or patterns).
- Used the patterns
- Created research questions about users’ expectations of instructions.
- Created a written report (as a memo) of the results from the Speak-Aloud Protocol project.
Report