IMS 228 - Collaborative Laboratory (Focus on Biosensors)
Fall 2022
Overall Goal
The purpose of this project was to learn and understand user experience research using biosensors. Using biosensors is very beneficial in regard to user experience because, from that data, we can understand how to improve the experience better for the user in the future. My small group conducted three studies focusing on different biometrics and stimuli. We formed hypotheses, ran the studies, and then analyzed the results.
Starting Off
For this project, we used the book Eye Tracking for User Experience: A Practical Guide, by Aga Bojko as our main reference, as seen on the left.
The small group I worked with for this project consisted of three other members and we worked together over the course of a month to run the studies. Additionally, we had five different users participate in this study. Using a smaller number of users provided optimal usability findings and required minimal effort for screening subjects since our project was on such a small scale.
The small group I worked with for this project consisted of three other members and we worked together over the course of a month to run the studies. Additionally, we had five different users participate in this study. Using a smaller number of users provided optimal usability findings and required minimal effort for screening subjects since our project was on such a small scale.
Biometric Study Tools
Eye Tracker
Facial Expression Analysis
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
Eye Tracker
An eye tracker is a tool used to measure eye movement and eye position. Eye tracking offers incredible insights into visual attention above and beyond any other experimental method. The pupil can dilate when stressed, aroused, or the brightness changes. We used the eye tracker for both our comparison study and our study of Elite Daily.
Facial Expression Analysis
Facial expressions are tied to our inner emotions, and our emotions rule so much of our behavior, studying facial expressions gives insight into the reasons for our actions. We analyzed facial expression data with our galvanic skin response data for our advertisement study.
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
Galvanic skin response or also sometimes known as electrodermal activity reflects the amount of sweat secretion from sweat glands in our skin. Moreover, increased sweating results in higher skin conductivity. We used the galvanic skin response for our advertisement study.
Research Approach
1.) Familiarization with websites and the video advertisement
2.) Creating research questions
3.) Writing scripts (objectives & tasks)
4.) Running users
5.) Analyzing data from tests and specifying target areas of interest
6.) Presenting findings from the studies
Research Objectives
Comparison Study (Ulta vs. Sephora)
How do the differences between the presentation of the two beauty websites influence the
- user's experience in terms of the findability of key ingredients/content and details?
- user's experience in regards to finding a video of how the product should be used?
- findability of shipping information for the given product?
- findability of the moisturizing information for the product?
- findability of the precautions of the product?
Elite Daily
- Does the current layout of the website benefit the user in their search for certain topics?
- Can users find the search feature and is it helpful in finding specific information on certain topics?
- Does the layout of the website’s menu benefit the user in their search for a specific topic?
The Real Cost Advertisement
- Does the advertisement accomplish its intended purpose in regard to emotional response?
Creating User Tasks & Script
For our comparison study of Ulta vs. Sephora implemented retrospective thinking aloud, as we wanted our users to focus on the website and complete the task without having to worry about any distractions. Moreover, we just asked them follow-up questions after they completed all of the tasks. For the Elite Daily study, we implemented the think-aloud protocol as they completed the tasks. It allowed users to explain as they were completing the tasks what they were thinking. Additionally, for The Real Cost advertisement, we implemented retrospective think-aloud as well. As were mainly focusing on the galvanic skin response and facial expression analysis for that study.
Ulta vs. Sephora
- You are looking to purchase Thirstymud Hydrating Face Mask. However, it is important to you that the product include hyaluronic acid. You want to find out if the product contains hyaluronic acid. Let me watch what you would do and let me know when you are done.
- You just purchased the face mask and you are wondering how it is recommended to be used. You want to find an instructional video showing how to use the face mask. Let me watch what you would do and let me know when you are done.
- You are looking to buy a Thirstymud Hydrating Face Mask. You want to find different shipping options offered for the face mask, specifically picking it up in the store. Let me watch what you would do and let me know when you are done.
- Now you are wondering how long the hydration of the face mask lasts. Let me watch what you would do and let me know when you are done.
- You are looking for the precautions of the face mask. Let me watch what you would do and let me know when you are done.
Elite Daily
- You are wanting to find ideas for your Halloween costume this year. Using the website’s search feature, look for an article regarding Halloween costumes. Let me watch what you would do and let me know when you are done.
- You are going to use the website’s menu to locate an article about food. Let me watch what you would do and let me know when you are done.
- You are interested in looking for an article about music. Without clicking on anything, let me watch what you would do, and let me know when you are done.
Running Users Through The Study
We had five participants in total, so everyone in my small group brought in one person, and then one person brought in an extra participant. We had to edit our script a little bit after the first time that we ran a participant because we did not realize that one of our tasks was not applicable to the Elite Daily homepage anymore. Other than that, we did not really run into any issues with the rest of our script and we edited our script accordingly.
Analysis & Findings
Once we ran our users through our studies we analyzed the data. For the comparison study and the Elite Daily study, we looked at the gaze replays for the users completing the tasks. For the Elite Daily study, we also listened to the audio of the users implementing the think-aloud protocol as they were completing the tasks. For The Real Cost advertisement, we viewed the facial expression analysis and galvanic skin response data. From our data, we were able to draw conclusions about the way users perceived the different websites and create findings.
Finding #1
Comparison Study: The “How to Use” video is difficult to find on both Ulta’s and Sephora’s websites.
Ulta
The majority of the users began by looking under the “How to Use” section, as they initially skipped over the “Show More” button.
Sephora
There was more success but users were still expecting the information to be found in different locations.
On both Ulta and Sephora, 4 out of the 5 participants expected to find the videos under the “How to Use” section as they looked there first. The two participants that found the video on Ulta took an average of 36 seconds to find the video, while on Ulta it took them an average of 6 seconds. The rest of the participants were not able to locate the video on both websites.
The majority of the users began by looking under the “How to Use” section, as they initially skipped over the “Show More” button.
Sephora
There was more success but users were still expecting the information to be found in different locations.
On both Ulta and Sephora, 4 out of the 5 participants expected to find the videos under the “How to Use” section as they looked there first. The two participants that found the video on Ulta took an average of 36 seconds to find the video, while on Ulta it took them an average of 6 seconds. The rest of the participants were not able to locate the video on both websites.
Finding #2
Comparison Study: Hyaluronic acid is difficult to locate on Ulta’s website vs. Sephora’s website.
Ulta
All of the participants looked through the whole ingredients list under “Ingredients” expecting to find hyaluronic acid in the list. No one looked under “Details” or the “Show More” graphic, where that information is actually located.
4 out of the 5 participants were unsuccessful in finding hyaluronic acid in the list. It took an average of 11 seconds for all participants to first locate “Ingredients.”
Sephora
All of the participants found the hyaluronic acid successfully when reading the product summary. It took an average of 10 seconds for all participants to locate where hyaluronic acid was located.
All of the participants looked through the whole ingredients list under “Ingredients” expecting to find hyaluronic acid in the list. No one looked under “Details” or the “Show More” graphic, where that information is actually located.
4 out of the 5 participants were unsuccessful in finding hyaluronic acid in the list. It took an average of 11 seconds for all participants to first locate “Ingredients.”
Sephora
All of the participants found the hyaluronic acid successfully when reading the product summary. It took an average of 10 seconds for all participants to locate where hyaluronic acid was located.
Finding #3
Elite Daily: Comprehension Issue - The search feature is hidden in the menu section.
All of the users expected there to be a search feature in the top right-hand corner, but instead, there was a menu there. They all looked in the top right-hand corner within the first 4 seconds.
Support
“I’m looking around and the search is not very visible.”
Took one user 40 seconds to find the search feature after looking through the entire website.
Support
“I’m looking around and the search is not very visible.”
Took one user 40 seconds to find the search feature after looking through the entire website.
Finding #4
Elite Daily: Perception Issue - Once the menu section was opened, the search feature was difficult to locate.
When the users couldn’t find the search, they all eventually looked for it in the menu but they all initially skipped over it.
Support
Took all of the users an average of 10 seconds to locate the search feature once the menu was opened.
Support
Took all of the users an average of 10 seconds to locate the search feature once the menu was opened.
Finding #5
Elite Daily: Comprehension & Perception Issue - The menu and its subcategories caused confusion.
Not every user thought that “Food” would be found in the “New” section of the menu.
Out of the participants that were successful with this task it took them an average of 11 seconds to find the “Food” section which is a perception issue.
One user expected “Food” to be located in the “Health” section, which is a comprehension issue.
Out of the participants that were successful with this task it took them an average of 11 seconds to find the “Food” section which is a perception issue.
One user expected “Food” to be located in the “Health” section, which is a comprehension issue.
Finding #6
The Real Cost Ad: The teeth-pulling scene caused an emotional reaction of negative valence amongst most participants.
3 out of the 5 participants had a reaction of disgust or shock to the teeth pulling in the advertisement.
Areas of Interest (AOIs)
An AOI is a region of the stimulus that is relevant to the research questions; defining AOIs involves outlining the areas that are relevant to study objectives. For each of the tasks we created, we decided on areas of interest to focus on.
Ulta
“Details,” “Ingredients,” “Show More,” “How to Use,” “Check in-store availability,” “Shipping and Coupon Restrictions,” “Summary”
Sephora
“Highlights”, “Ingredients”, “About the Product”, Left side photo navigation, “How to Use”, “Get it Shipped”, “Buy Online & Pickup”
Elite Daily
“Movie” title on the list of articles, “Menu”, “Search”, Search results, Subcategories within the menu
Ulta
“Details,” “Ingredients,” “Show More,” “How to Use,” “Check in-store availability,” “Shipping and Coupon Restrictions,” “Summary”
Sephora
“Highlights”, “Ingredients”, “About the Product”, Left side photo navigation, “How to Use”, “Get it Shipped”, “Buy Online & Pickup”
Elite Daily
“Movie” title on the list of articles, “Menu”, “Search”, Search results, Subcategories within the menu
Outcome
The biometrics study was able to give us valuable data that we analyzed to find key findings on which we would base our recommendations. We overcame several challenges throughout the course of this project, such as scheduling participants, delegating work for the project, and having data from a couple of our participants not get recorded. Throughout the course of the semester, I have learned so much about different biosensors (eye tracker and galvanic skin response) and how they can be used to help us create better user experiences.
Ulta vs. Sephora Comparison Study
The comparison study was really insightful in realizing that users have different places where they expect information to be when viewing websites. For instance, when looking for a specific ingredient all users looked under ingredients, even though hyaluronic acid was not even located there. Overall, it is really interesting to see where the website could be improved to make the user experience smoother. Some recommendations would be on both Ulta and Sephora, put the instructional video in the “How to Use” section. That’s where most participants expected it to be. Still keep the menu video on Sephora though, as that’s also somewhat easy to locate. On Ulta, put hyaluronic acid under ingredients, since it’s expected to be there. Keep it in the same location on Sephora, users didn’t have trouble locating it on that website.
- The “How to Use” video is difficult to find on both Ulta’s and Sephora’s websites.
- Hyaluronic acid is difficult to locate on Ulta’s website vs Sephora’s website.
Elite Daily Study
The Elite Daily study was interesting to see where certain features are located on the website vs. where the user expects them to be. Some recommendations for Elite Daily include implementing a search bar and icon outside of the menu, having more categories that live outside the header categories, and fixing the hover feature on the categories within the menu in order to make the subcategories more accessible.
- The search feature is hidden in the menu section.
- Once in the menu section, the search feature was difficult to locate.
- Some of the subcategories on Elite Daily’s website were in confusing locations.
The Real Cost Ad Study
It was intriguing to look at how the galvanic skin response (GSR) data and the facial expression analysis related to one another at certain points during the advertisement. From the participants who viewed the advertisement and had a reaction, we believe that the advertisement accomplishes its purpose to make the viewer feel disgusted, scared, and/or surprised.
- The advertisement made the majority of viewers feel disgusted.