Assignment 4 - UX Research

This assignment should be completed alongside Assignment 3 in CSC454/2527. In CSC454 assignment 3, you will be expected to do user research with surveys. This extension to that assignment expects that you have some sort of paper or UI prototype of key functionality with which to engage potential users.

This research should provide you insights into how users work and gain valuable insights on your assumptions.

Furthermore, you should have continued working on your product and made significant progress since CSC491/2600’s Assignment 3. Ensure that you roadmap is updated.



Initial Requirements

  1. User Research
    • For at least 1 user whom you think may use the product, complete a research study with them using a prototype
    • You must also complete the UX research with the instructor
    • I recommend you complete the research studies at the same time you give the survey in CSC454/2527 A3 to reduce your own work
    • The prototype can be a paper prototype, mockups, an Invision doc, Figma doc, or other form of visual interface
    • Explain to the user what you want them to accomplish, not which parts of the UI to interact with
    • As they work to complete the task, take notes on anything that seems interesting, any mistakes they made, and any questions they ask. I recommend recording the conversation if possible.
    • Include any notes, questions, mistakes, and feedback from the user in the final submission as an appendix
    • Summarize how the research sessions went in the main report. Reference the notes if needed.
    • See the UX page for more detail.
  2. Roadmap
    • Given the research you performed and the work you’ve completed since A3, ensure that the roadmap has been updated from your previous assignments in the repo.
    • The roadmap should now give a good sense of what you are planning, and should list goals on at least a monthly cadence, if not bi-weekly (given the short time frame of this course).
    • Make use of GitHub Projects, Issues, and Milestones as you see fit.
    • Include a paragraph in your Release submission explaining how your roadmap has been adapted.

What is the purpose of this assignment?

This assignment helps you understand if your team is implementing something that actually makes sense and respond to early user feedback. This is an exercise often seen in industry.

We expect all CSC491/2600 students to actively participate and have thoughtful discussions. UX lessons should be watched first in order to effectively complete this assignment.

Submission

You must also create a release on your repo where the code is located. This will give us a snapshot in time and allow us to grade it. See release body criteria and example below. Assignments without a coherent release body that follow the instructions in this assignment will be rejected and marked 1 day late.

The release does not need to include pull requests or commits from every member. The body does not even need any content, just ensure it is there and appropriately labelled.

Assignments are always due at 11:59:59pm Eastern Time.

You must submit the release on the LearnSoftware application. You can find the submission location here: https://learnsoftware.engineering/my_assignments

Release Body

Release bodies must include:

Example release body demonstrating the written instructions

Questions or Concerns?

Rubric

SectionDescriptionWorth
UX ResearchInterview the class instructor and another individual. The other individual should be someone who would use the product you are building.
Includes appendices including notes. These can be rough, but they must show that you asked all individuals approximately the same questions, recorded questions, mistakes, and feedback.
Concisely summarizes the results and does not sugar coat the results.
75.0
RoadmapUpdate roadmap with the changes related to the UX research.
Explain the changes and things that you have completed in the release body for the assignment.
Paragraph included in release covers progress and answers questions (-100% on this section if not included).
10.0
Participation & Teamwork (Individual Grade)Effectively worked as a team member and shared equitable work load during this assignment.
Communication was regular and effective & acted in accordance with team principles.
15.0
 Total:100

* It is ok to say “I’m not sure, thank you for bringing that up. I’ll research it and get back to you” as long as it’s not a large portion of the questions

Rating Scale

This scale is used for each line of the rubric above.

RatingResult
Outstanding, Thoughtful and thorough100% of pts
Strong, Provides some thought80% of pts
Acceptable, Simple explanation60% of pts
Insufficient, Little effort was made to give explanations40% of pts
Unacceptable, No effort was made or the section was missing0% of pts