Research tools

In my research, I employ a variety of qualitative and quantitative research tools, depending on the needs of the project. They vary between the ethnographic approach, the diary, the questionnaire, the semi-structured interviews, the user test, the heuristic evaluation and the creation of personas. In qualitative and quantitative research in educational psychology, I analyze video documentation, I lead and analyze video clubs, I design and administer questionnaires and interviews. I also analyze quantitative data with SPSS and qualitative data with NVivo, QDA Miner and Microsoft Excel. In this page, I present these different tools with concrete examples taken from my projects.

Qualitative
and quantitative research methods

At the University of Montreal, I participated in qualitative research projects on the professional development of teachers, reading circles in the classroom and the integration of virtual reality in high school.

I carried out experiments with educational scenarios integrating virtual reality in high school in different disciplinary fields. I also carried out the shooting, the transcription and the counter-coding of educational circles.

I developed quantitative research reports (with SPSS) for the Center for Initial Teacher Training (CFIM).

At Concordia University, I participated in a research project focusing on empathy education through virtual reality. I also participated in projects on Maker spaces.

As part of my doctoral research in educational psychology, I am interested in the nature of teaching practices and classroom uses that make it possible to use a digital resource to maximize the effects on the learning of all students.

Do not hesitate to contact me to learn more about my research approach and its contribution in the field of education and the development of digital resources.

Ethnographic approach

I carry out an ethnographic approach to collect data in order to discover design opportunities. This approach allows me to better understand the cultural, social and behavioral habits of users. (CRABTREE, ROUNCEFIELD and TOLMIE 2012). From this data I can detect the problem that needs to be fixed.

As part of the BLOOP Project, for example, this approach allowed me to better understand the habits of residents and non-residents of St-Roch.

Diary

I complete personal diaries on the research topic in question.

In the BLOOP project, this diary focused on the St-Roch district with the aim of undertaking an auto-ethnographic reflection in relation to individual and collective experience in context.

Subsequently, I carry out a documentary research on the subject which allows me to consolidate the observations and to deepen my knowledge.

In the case of Project BLOOP, this research took various forms, reading articles in newspapers, magazines, brochures, reports and presentations from the City of Quebec, as well as researching applications designed for city dwellers.

Survey

I design and administer questionnaires in order to get to know the users better.

In the context of the BLOOP project, for example, the population was those who live within a perimeter of 2 km from the St-Roch district. Our goal in the team was to find out more about their frequentation habits as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the physical environment of St-Roch.

I also design and administer online surveys to obtain information on perception and feelings.

As part of the BLOOP project, I administered surveys during activities in the neighborhood. These surveys were sent to residents and non-residents.

Example of team problem solving: Sometimes we, as a team, encounter problems, but together we find effective solutions. For example, we designed a word association form because we saw the need to clarify the mental diagram of passers-by in the neighborhood. It was essential to understand and know the global vision of the elements that can positively or negatively influence the experience in St-Roch.

Semi-structured interview

I carry out semi-structured interviews (GOODWIN 2009) with potential users.

As part of the BLOOP project, my team and I conducted interviews with a freelance worker, user experience experts and an expert in the field of video games. These interviews gave us a more realistic and empathetic vision of the daily life of workers.

As part of the project to redesign the Objectif Québec website, we conducted in-depth interviews with 8 users, to assess their knowledge of the association and to know their needs and expectations in relation to the latter. This, not only through their responses, but also their behaviors, reactions and facial expressions.

The interviews were semi-structured. Before meeting the user, we had prepared an interview grid with relevant questions. People's responses sometimes opened up avenues for other relevant questions that respondents were asked to better understand their reactions to the association and to life in Quebec. This method allowed us to draw a clearer portrait of the target users, since it goes more in-depth in the analysis of their needs and allows us to collect important information to better understand them.

User test

I conduct low-fidelity prototype evaluations to uncover navigation issues, for example, checking qualitative data to spot usability issues.

I conduct user tests to obtain more complete data on the realization of a process or the use of a product.

For example, in the BLOOP project, the test allowed me to identify whether three specific tasks (The three tasks are: see the location of self-employed workers in the sector, consult and accept a job offer and modify the email in his personal file) were easy for our typical user to do. The aim of the process is to identify problems with the use of the application by asking users to perform specific tasks.

As part of the CAPSULE redesign project, my team and I also carried out user tests with colleagues at the university in order to validate our interfaces. The comments collected enabled us to make the last corrections to our functional models in order to improve the efficiency of the new proposed system.

Heuristic evaluation

I conduct expert evaluations according to the heuristics of Bastien and Scapin in order to identify usability issues. It is also a way to validate the proposed solution.

In the BLOOP project, for example, the main issues raised concern consistency and error handling.

In the project to redesign the Objectif Québec website,

we first carried out an analysis of the current website. The main idea was to formally describe everything we found inconsistent and what could be improved. The expert assessment of the existing website was carried out in two stages. First, we did the inventory and the content structure. Then, we carried out the ergonomic audit (grids taken from the book "Website audit" by Vincent Hiard), to better understand the options and the type of navigation it offers.

The inventory allowed us to bring together, in one place, the information about each page of the site:

Address or URL,
Title of the page
Description of the page
Page content
Destination of this page
Strengths and weaknesses of this page
Granularity
Page Life
Audience

We also carried out the expert ergonomic assessment which allowed us to make the right decisions regarding the design of the website pages. We did this based on ergonomic heuristics, which define the rules to be respected in the creation of interfaces adapted to the user. This heuristic evaluation allowed us to see the shortcomings of the current website that we took into account for the development of the final models.

This analysis grid was organized according to the following criteria:

Global perception and brand identity
Navigation and location
Information architecture and visual organization
Text and readability
Color and visuals
Internal search engine
Forms

Creation of personas

I create personas in order to better understand the profile of the users of the product I am working on.

For example, for the CAPSULE project, my team and I created three typical user profiles that were taken into consideration throughout our improvement project.

Indeed, after having determined the three tasks
to run on CAPSULE, we have defined three personas with social and cognitive backgrounds as well as a different level of literacy. They also have different behaviors when it comes to using the study management platform. This is why throughout the development of our overhaul strategy we have kept in mind the importance of meeting the needs of these key users. Here are the 3 personas.

Profile 1 - Marie-Claude Leblanc

Part-time master's student (6 credits)
Full-time worker (35h)
23 years
French Canadian
Field: Graphic and multimedia design
Literacy level 5
Experience with multimedia interfaces: expert
Previous experience with Capsule: Seven semesters
Mental diagram / representation: Tool can perform well, hard to use, lack of consistency, not at all intuitive, frustrating
Task: Consult the invoice for tuition fees
Always at the last minute, very busy schedule, stress. Need for systems efficiency.

Profile 2 - Abubakar Latif

Full-time Baccalaureate student
41 years
Originally from India, Quebec for a few months
Field: business administration
Literacy level 3
Experience with multimedia interfaces: novice
Previous experience with Capsule: None
Mental diagram / representation: Tool that seems to simplify access to information and the performance of tasks by

relation to academic progress
Task: Consult and modify your personal file
Wants help with their integration in Canada (work, CV, Visa, basic administrative procedures, etc.)

Profile 3 - Mathieu Couture

Full time student
19 years old
French Canadian
Field: Civil engineering
Literacy level 4
Experience with multimedia interfaces: intermediate
Previous experience with Capsule: None
Mental diagram / representation: Unknown technological tool used to replace old paper forms, can be compared to the Omnivox system in college.
Task: Consult the description of a course for registration
Wants to get involved in student life on campus