Week 6: Transcribing User Research Interviews With Teen Stakeholders

This week I worked on transcribing the user research interviews which I conducted with teen stakeholders. Though transcribing these interviews was more time-consuming than I had initially anticipated, it was extremely rewarding as I was able to not only hear but also ruminate upon the feedback that I received.

Though I mentioned in my previous post a few aspects of Gieia which teens responded positively and negatively to, I would now like to detail a few findings which were of particular interest to me upon reflecting on the information conveyed in these interviews while transcribing them. 

First, I was particularly interested to learn that most teens felt comfortable using the app without the integration of a password-protection feature as well as without a feature which erases all data from the app upon exiting. This finding was surprising to me as I had initially anticipated that teens would not feel comfortable using the app without the integration of either or both of these features. Given the sensitivity of the information the teens provide, I was planning to make those modifications, but now I may reevaluate that change.

Another finding which was of particular interest to me was that teen stakeholders generally felt that Gieia’s results sounded too similar to a formal diagnosis. Though the screening tools and scoring guides used within Gieia are validated and research-backed tools, teens questioned how such a small set of information could lead to such a diagnostic result. This feedback is incredibly vital as the core of Gieia is not seeking to provide a diagnosis, but instead to give general guidance for teens to take the next step towards a diagnosis and receive medical support. Based on this, I plan in the future to modify the various results produced by Gieia such that they incorporate less jargon and take on a more casual tone, more like a suggestion.

Next week I look forward to analyzing the transcribed interviews in order to draw further concrete conclusions regarding aspects of Gieia which teens positively and negatively responded to as well as teens’ recommendations for future modifications to Gieia.