Exploring the Challenges and Rewards of conducting Primary Research in a School Setting
Our primary research interviews have finally kicked off! Primary user research is a crucial aspect of product development. However, conducting user research in a school setting presents unique challenges. This article explores our experiences in this process.
Kicking off Sprint 4 by meeting teachers
Our team was brimming with enthusiasm as we returned from a well-deserved Spring Break, eager to dive back into our project at South Fayette and engage with teachers and students once again. Without wasting any time, we headed straight to the school on Monday morning to kick off Sprint 4.
As we made our way through the hallways of the middle school, we could feel the difference in the energy as we passed the cafeteria.
The middle school cafeteria was bustling with activity, and we couldn’t help but wonder what was happening there. We each observed two periods to get a glimpse of how things work there. Afterward, we introduced our project to middle and high school teachers and invited them to a 1:1 interview. To create a welcoming atmosphere, we started with an ice-breaker activity. We drew a tree with several branches. Teachers added stickies (as leaves) to represent what they appreciate about South Fayette, leading to deeper discussions about community factors. This approach helped us build stronger connections with educators who play a crucial role in shaping education.
To get more teachers on board with our project —
- We designed recruitment flyers with QR codes to ease the process of scheduling an interview.
- We shared extra flyers with teachers to share them with their colleagues.
- We went through the publicly available teacher directory and personally reached out to as many teachers as possible.
We wanted every teacher to have a chance to be a part of our study!
To ensure that we cover all the necessary topics and maintain consistency across all the interviews, we created a comprehensive research guide for the teachers. So far, we’ve interviewed about 7 teachers, and we’ve got 3 more lined up for this Friday!
We felt incredibly delighted after talking to the teachers because they shared a plethora of new knowledge with us in each sentence, leaving us feeling uplifted and overjoyed.
Progress on research with students
We created a screener survey that our client shared across middle and high school. While the response rate was reasonable, we quickly realized that we needed to broaden our outreach to ensure that we were speaking with students from all segments and backgrounds.
- We plan to go to the school to share our recruitment flyer with students personally.
- We have requested our client to reach out to all segments of students we asked for.
For students who responded to the survey, we reached out to them to schedule a time that best suits them. We are yet to receive any response, but we are hopeful. We believe that their biggest hurdle is obtaining consent from their parents. It’s taking some time, but we understand that following the proper procedures is essential.
Synthesis Process
We are currently consolidating our notes from secondary research, observation day, and ongoing interviews. The sheer volume of data initially seemed daunting, but we are learning how to handle it.
To gain richer insights, we are trying to include data from different types of research under a finding, such as at least one from secondary research, observation, or interview. Although synthesizing such a vast amount of data can be challenging, we found that the most effective approach is to start with one sticky note and continue to form clusters. As a result, we were surprised to see that we had already created several headings.
However, the next step is more challenging because not all the headings are insights; they are just findings.
Our faculty has guided us through an interesting way to determine if a heading is an insight or just a finding by asking, “So what?”
If the answer leads to a solution, it is considered an insight. However, if it does not, we need to cluster different findings to uncover a more meaningful result rather than just stating a fact.
We continue to use this method to hone our analytical skills and discover new perspectives on the data we have collected.
