Case study: TikTokers entered grammar school, takeaways from a research study
Introduction
In one of my ongoing love projects, I am elaborating on a mobile app design specifically for grammar school students. I plan to publish the project as finished.
Now I share one part of my UX research to provide some tips and takeaways as far as methodology and the specific outcome are concerned.
I researched a sample of 15-year-olds for this project. One of their interesting characteristics is being the first representative of the TikTok generation and the last of Instagram (?). The other is that they just started grammar school last Autumn, but because of the pandemic accomplish the school year almost entirely in the digital classroom.
Top-down vs bottom-up: never neglect UX research
When creating a strategy, the top-down approach is perhaps the most commonly used methodology. Its advantage is speed, part of which is that we only deal with the validation and elaboration of what supports our top-down hypotheses and nothing else that takes our focus away. My practical experience shows, however, that one should have made a lot of real-life bottom-up (mistakes) to be a good top-down strategist.
Knowledge sharing is essential in all professions, but even so in UX design. Attending lectures, webinars by others, and readings by others is a must but it does not replace the building up of own experience.
Turning to digital product design, for my current project, I had top-down assumptions, obviously, since e.g. being graduated from grammar school. The reality, however, brought me surprises in the first phase of the UX research, already.
In the digital age, many customers articulate their requirements towards UX designers with less or no focus on proper UX research. Either because ‘they know what the client wants or because they don’t want to spend on it. These product development processes can only be successful in a lucky case. In a less favourable case, there will be more iterations after testing (a slower, more expensive process), or the product will not be suitable at all.
In a conclusion: it is good if you have a top-down idea in mind about a product. However, if it is not researched properly then it is a product concept only, not a product.
Desk research is not enough
UX Research is not bypassable, within which direct user research is not triggered by any desk research. For example, in this particular case, there is only one domestic application that is several years old. It was not developed for this target group, it is not widespread, and it is not used by many at all. Of course, foreign examples should always be viewed, but their adaptability is questionable. Their partial copying is possible, though: e.g. specific UI solutions.
What is our goal in the research phase? We want to map a user journey with pain points, create a persona and list the required features. We need these as a minimum for product design. Desk research can add some clues to features, but it certainly won’t trigger the rest.
Research vs testing: pool size
In product testing we get the most important inputs from 5–6 testers already, e.g. does the flow work and is seamless, etc. In the research phase, it is advised to double that figure for the interviews in person, even multiplying it in case of online questionnaires processed automatically by a relevant tool, so that the patterns are well-founded.
Survey
At the beginning of my project, the pandemic restrictions had not been fully lifted, so I thought the simplest method was using a questionnaire. It can be filled flexibly at any time, no date has to be agreed upon. The experience is that whoever really cares fills it out quickly, then it’s no longer worth the wait.
The questionnaire always has a warm-up part, the main part specifically related to the planned application, and a closing part leading through to the next design stages. As far as proportion ¼–3/4 for the first two parts, while the end could be 1–2 questions only like ‘did you forget to mention something relevant or ‘do you wish to participate in testing the prototype’.
The warm-up part should, on the one hand, make the mood relaxed, but at the same time provide useful inputs, it is not just about politeness.
The questionnaire should be pre-tested to draw unclear questions. I immediately drew a question after testing it. An even number of responses are recommended so that responses do not drag in the middle. What, why, how? All questions should be reviewed accordingly. It is compulsory to exclude all questions ‘Would you do this or that?’ Answer: ‘ Yes, I would do’ while in reality it almost never happens, etc.
Beginners try free tools first
For starters, a plethora of tools are out there to help you get the job done throughout the double diamond process. All free tools should be mapped first and experimented with. If the free tools are not appropriate for you only in that case you should pay for a tool as a beginner in my view.
Free tools typically have some kind of trade-off, but you can be almost sure to find a free tool for a specific task. The tools are more or less the same for a specific element of the double diamond thus you get used to either with a short learning curve.
But even more importantly, you need to do a thorough job — in every element of the double diamond — and be able to document it structured.
In the questionnaire section, you need a Survey Tool, possibly a Processing Tool. I used a Word Cloud Generator as well. You can use as many tools as you want it really depends on how you intend to visualize the outcome of your research. There is an abundance of TOP ‘X’ Tools type articles that help. I accomplished a table (in A-Z order) to name the tools that you most likely run into. Most of them are free or have a free version.
Tests and comparison articles are good sources of information, but in my view, you have to experiment with these tools to find what fits you in the daily UX design work.
Testing tools were not the focus of my current project, thus, I‘ve chosen Google Forms for questioning. However, I suggest trying the top three at least. I then exported the end result database and continued its visualization in Excel. The reason is that although Google forms process the inputs I was not satisfied with it. If you think Excel is old-school for visualization, you can use Tableau etc. for instance.
The security and encouragement of participation in UX research
You can recruit via friends or in social media’s similar groups. But when you research minors for a product design I think it is necessary to get consent from their parents/legal representative. This is an ethical issue and it can be even legally binding.
Generally, you can encourage/thank the participation of interviewed offering them the opportunity to take part in testing, some may find this interesting or give them coupons providing cash equivalent discounts for buying stuff.
In the case of minors, chocolates, tickets, coupons etc. provided in person could work. If research is accomplished fully digital and you do not know them and won't meet them, you should probably be more creative e.g. offering downloadable stuff with passwords etc. It is worth a Mass what practices others use.
Research warm-up: smartphone habits of 15yrs old
After the above methodology tips, in the warm-up questionnaire as part of my UX research, I asked about the smartphone habits of 15-year-olds from a balanced sample by gender. (I made the survey in Budapest, Hungary, in May 2021 in one of the top grammar schools.) Here is the result:
Taking into account the price strategies of mobile manufacturers my preliminary assumption was that Android will have a vast majority as the operating system given the fact that there is a wide choice of phones for students priced more affordable.
In this sample, however, I found a surprisingly high share of iOS. Though the hardware is not the newest, phones are ~2–3 years old it is still difficult to deal with the popularity of Apple especially if it offers more affordable phones like the SE.
Why this is important for a UX designer? Because in a clear position the relevant design systems could be used simply. In a more balanced situation like this, a UX designer can develop its own UI for the app.
For what and how actively do these students use their phones?
There are 52 apps on average on a 15-year-old’s smartphone. It seems that there are two distinct groups. One is using the factory presets with just a few additional downloads. The other is fully open to trying things and actively downloading apps on a much wider scale.
18 apps on average are downloaded by themselves. What type of apps?
Almost one year of the digital classroom due to Covid19 definitely had an impact on how students use their phones.
They should have to use learning-related apps that otherwise would not have such popularity. Pandemic intensified Messenger too, unrivalled, where classes are grouped by specialization etc.
They should have fought against isolation, stress and boredom during this period. Social media including chat apps and streaming media has the biggest chunk. Hobby covers all of their various interests. You would have thought that gaming has a higher share, it is the last stress reliever tool, in fact. If they are a little more relaxed, they are already engaged in entertainment or their interests and not gaming.
Why this is important for a UX designer? You should take into account that what you plan as a digital product design incorporates topics, features or visual solutions that reflect what and how they respond to the mentioned isolation, stress and boredom.
The common point is that they use these apps regularly, most of them several times during the day living their life online. Being active users can be different from other generations in whom there can be a large but passive stock of apps on their phones. The green ones are related to learning, while I think the reds manifest the generation characteristics. Instagram is their Facebook. YouTube offers entertainment but is also mentioned for useful content. They are on Facebook technically only, passive, because of Messenger. TikTok is already ahead of Facebook, not just by mention but by active use. Learning-related Messenger and Snapchat are for messaging. Interestingly no mention of Viber or others at all. Streaming music and film is on a dynamic rise and will be.
‘Imaginary shopping’ as a new phenomenon was a big surprise for me (see next exhibit). It seems to be fun to drive away boredom. If so it should be temporary and likely disappear when physical encounters return.
Why this is interesting for a UX designer? Because the students are very familiar with the UI solutions of these apps. So I should not invent the hot water again but investigate which solution fits my app.
Why do they use these apps?
Briefly, 1) they need each other’s company, especially at this age 2) they want to have relax and fun 3) they increase their knowledge.
The apps are: to follow others’ life, chat to maintain relationships instead of phone calls, easy to handle, capture attention, intensive fun, ‘entertaining education’, and against boredom.
They are also actively transacting with their phone.
Though only 11% paid for an app (Apple Music) in this sample, they regularly purchase with their phone.
To a surprisingly high extent, they use tools for organizing their lives. In my view, switching to a digital classroom due to pandemics supported this process. The durability of this process is yet to be seen after returning to school.
Why the two of the above is important for a designer? They are in general capable of handling reservation solutions and going through processes of multiple elements.
Concluding remarks
On top of gaining valuable input to develop my app, there is some general takeaway.
Every generation has its own trendy apps that characterise. This one is the first using the TikTok format and possibly the last using Instagram. The first statement is a certainty, the second is an assumption yet.
Basic human needs and properties won't change but how to serve those needs should definitely be adjusted in the digital age. This generation needs more than ever things that capture their attention very intensively from the first second, they are only capable to maintain the attention for short periods, while want to acquire the knowledge while having fun. Pessimistic, I am not sure that most of them will ever know what dramaturgy is.
Let me give you one example to understand what is the impact of all of these drastically changing patterns.
On the one hand, this generation is used to watch 15 seconds intensive fun videos for one hour a day.
In a rigid education system, they sit in the school 5 consecutive days and 7 * 45 minutes per day with a high share consisting of boring administrative tasks, and partly obsolete or outdated processed materials to which they do not have a real-life connection at all, on the other.
The failure is built into this setup. All these pose an extremely difficult task for today’s teachers and call for urgent reform in compulsory public education to comply with changing patterns. If unchanged, it is a failure expensive for all of us.
Getting to know for whom you design, and taking into account their patterns is quintessential in the UX | digital product design process.
