Research Plan

The user research team decided to do interviews and observations with current NYU students and created a research guide to do so.

Research Questions

• What are students' experiences like with the current Bern-Dibner room reservation process?

• What are areas of success and improvement?

• What are student's priorities when booking a room?

• Do students cancel their reservation if no longer needed?

• What other suggestions do students have for the process?

Target Groups

Graduate and undergraduate NYU students, including students who have prior experience reserving rooms (group 1) and students who have not reserved a room before (group 2). Future research will involve interviewing staff on what information they need or pain points they have.

Methodology

Contextual Inquiry will be used for usability testing of the current Bern-Dibner study room reservation process: A member of the user research team will interview participants one-on-one for approximately 30 minutes over zoom or in person. Participants will be asked to locate and utilize the study room reservation site on Bern-Dibner. The facilitator will ask probing open-ended questions during and at the conclusion of the session to better understand the participant’s specific sources of satisfaction and frustration during the experience. We can speak to people we already know, but also ask the engagement librarian to get volunteers to participate in interviews. Surveys are only really reliable when you have a large sample size and it can be difficult to eliminate bias within the survey questions. Therefore, at this point in the process, we have decided to focus our efforts on interviews and observations as these will provide a better understanding of the current situation and needs of our users. 

Set-up

Briefly describe the purpose of this interview (to understand student’s past and current experiences booking study rooms in Bern-Dibner for a potential new Bern-Dibner app) and ask whether they’d be more likely to reserve a room on mobile or laptop - ask to set up an interview over their preferred device. Note if participants have prior experience with booking study rooms and what device they have chosen to use.

Ask the interviewee if they are alright if you record the interview. Let them know this is only for you to refer back to later if you need to and it will be deleted once you have taken all the notes you need from it.

Script

1. Can you tell me a bit about your experience with the Bern-Dibner Library?

1. [If prompting is needed] How often do you go? What resources do you utilize?

2. What do you know about or what has been your experience with room reservations for Bern-Dibner?

1. [If have prior experience, potential follow up questions] ex. What for? Can you tell me more about that process? Do you recall what was easy or difficult about it?

2. [If no prior experience, ask follow up questions] ex. Why not? Have you considered it before? What do you expect the process to look like?

3. What information would be important for you to know before choosing a room to reserve?

4. Why do you prefer accessing room reservations on mobile/laptop? or Why do you not have a preference?

   1. Would you prefer reserving over a browser or over an app? Why?

So I’m going to ask you to share your screen and give you a series of prompts to navigate through room reservations. There are no right or wrong answers, it’s just for me to observe how you might normally go through this experience. As you’re doing so, please try to think aloud, tell me if you are confused, what you’re noticing on a screen… anything that comes to mind. Any questions before we begin?

So can you open up a new tab and share your screen with me.

Let’s say you want to reserve a room for a study group of 4 people in Bern-Dibner before your midterms on Tuesday

1. Where would you go to reserve a room? [Take notes on what they do, remind them to think aloud if necessary]

1. How easy or difficult was that for you?

2. [Bern-Dibner Room Page] Without clicking anywhere just yet, can you describe to me what you’re seeing on this screen?

3. What would you do next to reserve a room?

[Continue and prompt with questions if necessary, go through everything besides pressing submit]

1. So don’t actually submit this request, but what would you expect to happen once you click submit?

1. How would you like to receive confirmation or reminders?

2. Let’s say you’re having issues with your reservation or you have additional questions. How would you get help?

3. Let’s say that the day comes, and half of your group can’t make it. What would you do?

1. [If not addressed] Realistically, if you decided not to meet, would you cancel, try to edit your reservation or just not show up?

2. How do you expect to be able to cancel (or edit) your reservation?

Conclusion

1. What was that experience like for you?

1. What did you find the most helpful?

2. What did you find the most challenging?

3. How did you feel about the room reservation information given to you? Was it too much or were things still unclear?

2. Is there anything you wish you could do that isn’t currently possible?

3. How frequently might you use room reservations?

4. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experiences with room reservations that we haven’t already discussed?

Wrap-up

Let the interviewee know that is all the questions you have for them and thank them for their time. See if they have any additional questions or concerns to share with you about room reservations, the Bern-Dibner website, or Bern-Dibner in general.