Thermal Perception Usability Research

Project

The LAVA lab at San Jose State University secured three ux research contracts from the Google Hardware UX Team to research participants perception of thermal comfort.

Problem

Users reported being uncomfortable holding/owning devices that could warm up significantly.

- The three usability research projects investigated user's responses to varying device temperatures/materials during usage.

- The focus was on identifying the ideal temperature range that users favored, as well as the critical temperature threshold based on user's comfort.

Impact

This research was used to inform the new thermal limits for all of Google’s future hardware products (Pixel 8 and beyond).

All of my work during this project is under an NDA. Please reach out to me if you have any questions regarding my work.

High level timeline

My role

Make of the team

Key goal

Methods and tools

Aug 2022 - Dec 2022

UX Research Associate

Team Lead

Qualitative Researcher

Study Moderator

LAVA Lab

1 Head Researcher

2 UX Research Associates

4 Research Assistances

Google Hardware UX Team

Lead UX Researcher

Mechanical Engineer

Product Design Manager

Find the preferred thermal limits for handheld devices

Mixed-Methods Design

Usability Study

1:1 In-person trials

Thematical Analysis

Data Visualization

Descriptive Statistics

Google Sheets, Google Slides, Qualtrics

My role

I have been involved in all three of the projects, where I collaborated with the Google Hardware UX team to co-lead three rounds of mixed methods research related to user perception of thermal comfort.

I took charge and supervised a team of four, organized schedules for participants, the team, and user study sessions. Moderated the usability sessions, took notes, analyzed qualitative data, and presented key findings to stakeholders.

A detailed breakdown of my role and responsibilities:

Research Planning and Coordination

Provided guidance and support to team members
Collaborated with cross-functional stakeholders to understand project requirements
Assisted with the development of instructional materials
Co-managed a team for coding user feedbacks
Maintained clear communication channels with participants, team, and stakeholders

Recruitment

Created recruitment documentation: screening survey, database, and email template
Coordinated participant selection and scheduling
Greeted participants
Explained informed consent form

Data Collection and Study Execution

Oversaw all phases of the user research process
Managed setup, troubleshooting, maintenance, and sanitation of equipment
Distributed and analyzed survey responses
Led, facilitated, and moderated on-site user studies

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Analyzed and interpreted qualitative data with thematic analysis
Managed and led qualitative data review and clean-up
Parsed findings into insights and generated data tables
Created graphs and sentiment boards to visualize user perception
Collaborated on quantitative data analysis and interpretation
Reviewed inferential statistical analysis (ANOVA) and interpreted graphs

The user

In 2021, 97% of Americans had a cellphone. Thus, the ideal participant to recruit were any person who owned a phone. We recruited a well balanced pool of mobile phone users from different age groups, gender, handedness, and OS user.

We were interested in the everyday phone users from different backgrounds so we can generalize our findings to the general public.

Our participants came from all over the SF Bay Area and displayed a diverse background.

Study Flyer:

My contribution

As a key contributor of the team and the projects I worked and made my mark on numerous areas in the research projects.

Project Development

Collaborated in setting up the first project that involved:

reviewing IRB, creating foundational documentations, research methods and research design, writing guidelines. Setting up the moderation room, recruitment and scheduling. Creating the coding and categorization of the thematical analysis. Building the first project report and presenting it to stakeholders.

Recruitment

One of the important element of a user research project is participant recruitment.

I took pride creating and running the first project's recruitment (among doing moderation, qualitative analysis, and report creation). With careful sourcing and scheduling we were able to wrap up data collection two weeks ahead of schedule.

Qualitative Analysis

Developing the thematic analysis and synthesizing the findings were a crucial part of the project success.

It was a huge team effort to develop, code, and summarize the qualitative data as we collected hundreds of feedbacks. Control for constancy among data coders were an important factor to reduce subjectivity and ensure the reliability and validity of our findings.

TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK

Impact

This research was used to inform the new thermal limits for all of Google’s future hardware products (Pixel 8 and beyond).

The finding were presented at Google's internal conference

Conference presentation: Brennan, J., Cooper, J., Szladovics, N., Levesque, H., Dong, M., Andrade., C. (2023). Ouch, My Phone is Hot! Understanding User Thermal Perception. Google UXU Conference.

Conference presentation: Billman, D., Hobbs, A., Cusano, L., Szladovics, N. (2023). Survey assessment and initial data: Flight context and pilot techniques in everyday flights. 2023 International Symposium of Aviation Psychology.

Takeaways

After the three delivered project reports and the one executive summary I have learned...

that a great report is not only backed by hard facts, but carefully curated sentiments from the users

that empathy create a deeper stakeholder engagement
- emotional quotes from users helped us highlight the findings and built credibility

that the different cross-functional stakeholders' have their own area to focus on and their questions need to be considered and answered first and foremost

that active listening is crucial in research as it enables better understanding of users' unique perspectives.

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