About the Project
For this research project, My team and I were responsible for performing a range of studies to gather information pertaining to the MSU Library's beta search engine. This search engine was designed in a "bento-box" format, displaying search results in different content sections for different types of media. The goal of project was to gather information and suggest edits to optimize user interaction with the site.
Way-Finding Study
To begin this phase of research, our group took a look at the website and outlined some of our main concerns pertaining to navigation and content organization. From there, we developed a list of questions and tasks. These questions related to what users would expect to appear under different content section headers, and where they would navigate to find certain pieces of information. We also picked out a few specific documents in a range of media types for users to attempt to find.
Once our list of questions and tasks was formed, our team created a google form to standardize a rating system. This also provided a means for team members to record data for each user, and visualize results at the end of the study.
Public Survey
Similarly, our team created a public survey with questions related to the website. These questions had more to do with overall aesthetic and ease of interaction. A task would be outlined for the participant, and they would be asked to rate their interaction. We also created an additional comments section to gather all necessary information.
Final Recommendations
