Meta UX Research Internship Project (2022)
As a UX Research intern at Meta, I conducted an end-to-end user research project using evaluative and comparative methods to produce design considerations for several products in Meta’s suite of applications.
Duration: 12 weeks
Challenge: produce actionable qualitative insights into user sentiments for design teams leading the user experience for several products and markets (US and international).
Team: My team was housed in Meta’s FinTech (Financial Technology) Organization, and consisted of several senior researchers and one UX designer.
TL;DR:
I designed and administered a multi-part qualitative user research study to evaluate the experience of products in Meta’s family of apps. Results yielded specific, actionable, and priority-ranked design considerations and research recommendations for multiple consumer payments products.
Proprietary details not included for work described this project.
I continuously refined the scope and goals of the summer project to consider the first four of Meta’s six core values throughout my 12-week summer internship:
Move Fast
Focus on long-term impact
Build Awesome Things
Live in the Future
Be Direct and Respect Your Colleagues
Meta, Metamates, Me
Ramping Up: Secondary research and literature reviews
To kick-off the development of this research project, I first needed to familiarize myself with both internal and external studies conducted related to the area the team was studying and designing experiences for. In my “desk research” prior to the study, I produced two key artifacts that would later aid me in refining the initial research question set provided by my manager; these artifacts were: 1) a collection of relevant studies and insights gleaned from previous works. Focal points for this collection were on the study context (e.g. US or another market), methodology, user sentiments, design recommendations from researchers; 2) a shareable deck on particular user behaviors and sentiments when using several products across several markets. Creating this deck was helpful both for my team and developing my own understanding of each product and market.
Process: Study design and rationale, screeners, interview scripts
Based on secondary research conducted in the “ramp up” stage, I decided on the most fruitful methods for this qualitative study given time, market, and cost constraints. I chose two methodologies for this work to be administered virtually, which were diary studies and semi-structured interviews. I selected the diary story method for it’s accessibility and ability to provide a window into what and how users think in real-time while completing particular actions/activities. Semi-structured interviews served as deeper dives with select diary study participants to collect stories of experience for a more comprehensive picture of attitudes and habits during the diary portion.
In creating the participant screener for this study I took care to screen for participants with frequent use of the products in the study, those who typically engage in the activities we’re examining (both within and outside of meta’s family of apps), and notated those who may be available for a follow-up interview if selected. A mix of participants were chosen for balance in age, demographics, income, gender etc. The diary study question set consisted of a strategic mix of open-ended, multiple choice, and scaled questions with one short video response.
For the interview portion, it was important that participants be given the opportunity to tell their own narratives about their habits and experiences. The highest level questions begin with “Can you tell me about a time when you” ……. follow by relevant questions aimed at delved deeper into these responses. Some questions were about attitudes and actions when using our products, some allowed participants space to talk about their general habits and attitudes on broader conceptual topics. Rationale for the number of interview participants and the length of each interview follow a blend of scholarly suggestions of best-practice in qualitative research.
Synthesis, insights, and shareout
Once diary study and interview data were collected and I had familiarized myself with the dataset, I began analysis with an open coding process. These codes were then organized into groups, which were then translated into larger themes that formed the TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) for the research share-out presentation. These themes in TL;DR format serve as the key insights and takeaways for design teams to consider. Though I’m not at liberty to share these design considerations publicly, I will say that they produced actionable next-steps for design and for full-time UX researchers within Meta Design.
