MOLY2630: How I employed in depth UX research methods to uncover the needs of 26-30 year olds

Background

There was a gap of initiatives tailored to support older youths of Singapore, in the 26-30 age group.The MOLY 2630 project, also known as Moments of Life (Youth), seeks to address this gap by identifying the needs and challenges faced by young adults aged 26-30, with the goal of delivering targeted solutions for this demographic.

Info

Timeline: April 2021 to October 2021
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Role: Lead designer with one design intern
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Methods: User interviews, Focus group discussions, Diary Studies
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‍Tools: Zoom, powerpoint

Setting expectations

What this project is & what to expect

This project delves deep into the various UX research methodologies to understand the needs of the older youth and brainstorm solutions. Unfortunately, this project was halted after the ideation phase due to resource constraints. This case study covers how I applied the different research methodologies to extract quality insights

Problem

How might we design interventions that empower older youths to feel more confident and capable of navigating the opportunities and challenges in their lives?

Outcome

I lead a UX intern, conducted qualitative and quantitative research, affinity mapped the gathered data and presented key findings to management.

Obtaining high quality qualitative insights

Creating a fool proof interview session

Building on insights from secondary research, I identified key themes like career and finances that needed in-depth exploration.I also incorporated diary studies as part of participants’ assignments, to understand their highs and lows in a typical week. Data collected help shape meaningful interview sessions.

Ensuring a representative sample size

Introduced a detailed screener form to carefully select participants from diverse backgrounds. 17 females and 13 males from various backgrounds were recruited to participate in the study

Distilling vast amount of data to key insights

Employing affinity mapping, we synthesised data points through many rounds of clustering, re-clustering and re-visiting key quotes and extracted images to analyse for key themes. This iterative process allowed us to identify patterns and gain valuable insights.
Here are the top needs mentioned by most of the youths during the one-on-one interviews. Although career ranked top for the needs of older youth, we did not dive deeper into career needs as these were addressed in the 1st phase of MOLY.

01

Good career fit
I want a good career fit; to find a job that aligns with my personality and interest so that I can find work to be meaningful and sustainable.

02

Comparing with peers
Youths determine their self worth by comparing themselves with their peers and therefore may end up feeling inadequate and unfulfilled if they fall short in comparison.
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I want a clearer individual identity that will define my life principles and help me make decisions[reframed POV]

03

Attaining financial self-sufficiency
Youths are concerned about their finances because it is the first time that they need to manage living expenses, save, and be able to pay off their own loans concurrently.

I need to manage my expectations on how fast I can attain financial freedom so that I am not unnecessarily stressed out about my financial situation. [Reframed POV]

Hypothesis

Hypothesis to test

Qualitative results lead to a hypothesis we wanted to test
-Youths who know what they want to achieve out of their lives
- show a strong internal locus of control
- are more comfortable with who they are
- are more content with their achievements,
- have no relation to the level of self-care

Converging research scope

Establishing life principles, addressing commonly quoted challenges, finances, and prioritising youth needs were our key areas covered in the questionnaire.

Findings & Insights

Top ranked needs by participants

01

Having clarity in what I want to achieve in my life

02

Being comfortable with who I am no matter how I compare to my peers

03

Being capable of facing challenges in life independently

04

Being able to ask for help when facing challenges in life

Testing hypothesis

Hypothesis
Knowing the direction in life affects other variables such as being more comfortable / content / strong internal locus/level of self-care. Our UX intern who was also familiar with python helped to churn the results using a linear regression model.
Results
Hypotheses 1 –3 were supported by the linear regression model. For hypothesis 4, results suggest that when youths become increasingly clearer about what they want in life, their level of self-care will increase as well. This ran contrary to our initial hypothesis.

Ensuring a representative sample size

Introduced a detailed screener form to carefully select participants from diverse backgrounds. 17 females and 13 males from various backgrounds were recruited to participate in the study

Youth Archetypes

Consolidating all the data we gathered from the diary studies (as pictured below), interviews, and survey results, we developed 5 distinct archetypes to guide our ideation process.Among the 30 interviewees, we had 1 outlier on the other end, with clinical needs

End results

The research gathered gave us better clarity of the problem space. We reworked our initial problem statement, once we identified the late bloomers and the quarter life thinkers as potential youth archetypes to address in our solutions

01

MW help the Late Bloomer regain his confidence so as to improve his outlook towards higher education?

02

HMW help the late bloomer feel comfortable with who he is so as to gain contentment in life?

03

HMW help The Quarter Life Thinker develop a clearer sense fo self so as to lead a meaningful, purposeful life and make confident career decisions?

Reflection & Learnings

I enjoyed working on this project because we were given ample time to conduct research carefully and analyze the data before finding a solution. It was a great opportunity to improve my research skills and apply the various tools I have learned.

Unfortunately, this project has been temporarily paused and is scheduled to resume in Q2 of FY2023 due to restructuring within the team and the shift to new priorities.Please stay tuned for updates on the solutions we have designed for late bloomers/quarter-life thinkers.
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riaamoorthy@gmail.com

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