| Personas and Scenarios
Persona Development
Part of the needs assessment process is defining
the user base and determining how and why they would use our
application.
Based on Leah’s experience at CBE working
with researchers and clients, we were able to identify three
(3) types of users who are interested in exploring data collected
via the Occupant Satisfaction Survey. Over the past eight
months, Leah has been responsible for assisting these users
in gaining access to certain subsets of the data and producing
graphics and tables for use in reports. We have also studied
typical reports and graphs produced by the researchers so
we can each get a better idea of how the data is used. This
familiarity has provided some invaluable insight into the
needs of the users and the types of tasks they may want to
perform.
With this knowledge, we developed a questionnaire
(see appendix 1) to
guide us through our four interviews and one observation (see
appendices 2,3,4,5
and 6 for summaries).
Two of our interviewees are accomplished
research specialists interested in improving occupant satisfaction
through building design techniques. One is employed at CBE
and the other is a client. It was on these interviews, as
well as informal conversations with other researchers, that
we based our researcher persona, William
Greenhammer. The formal interviews allowed us to understand
more clearly the needs and desires of our users.
We also interviewed two Graduate Student
Researchers who work for CBE research specialists on two different
research projects. One of the GSRs had just received data
from a recent survey, and this interview included an observation
of initial steps taken when analyzing survey data. The observation
in particular, provided great insight into the methods and
thought processes of someone approaching data for the first
time. These GSRs are responsible for much of the initial analysis
and are therefore the basis for our first persona, Hope
Lee.
Our final interview was with a designer
specializing in acoustical engineering employed at an architectural
firm that is a CBE partner. Prior to this he worked for CBE
and was involved with the survey development and administration.
He works closely on several projects that use the Occupant
Satisfaction Survey and has surveyed his own projects to measure
the success of his techniques. Blane
Malczewski is our third persona and is based mostly on
our contact with this user.
Given that the Research Specialist and Graduate
Student Researcher work closely together, it is very important
for both of them to be considered primary users. However,
since their goals and needs are somewhat different we decided
to think of them separately so we could be sure to accommodate
their needs as much as possible. We also felt that since our
third user, the designer, was familiar with the survey and
currently analyses the data, his needs would be similar enough
to the researchers that it may be possible to meet them.
Personas:
Scenarios
Once we developed personas that embody our
primary users, we defined typical scenarios in which they
would be using ArchMiner. Through our interview and observation
process, we were able to determine specific instances where
a tool such as ours would be useful, and used this information
in deciding the design and functionality of our system. The
scenarios are specific instances of the use of ArchMiner and
helped focus and direct its design.
We developed three (3) specific scenarios,
one for each persona:
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