dscout Research Studio
How might Covid impact families’ goals and future plans?
May - August 2020
Research Concern
As a tech company that many turn to for answers and exploration, our client wanted to understand, amid the whirl of ambiguity of summer 2020, what behaviors and questions to expect from their users. How might Covid impact what users look for over the next few years?
Methodology
Through a remote diary study, we tasked our participants with creating a Venn diagram to capture how their future expectations had shifted as a result of Covid. They then spoke through their thought processes in in-depth interviews.
Findings
The activity didn’t seem too hard for anyone to complete, as many had found that Covid was a time to think and reconsider the next few years.
Their reflections cut across four themes.
Sense-making
But participants definitely weren’t all in the same headspace when it came to their futures. So we charted out four patterns we saw in proto-personas.
Implications
The personas allowed our team to articulate the story behind emerging usage data, and equip our clients with product recommendations to address the evolving needs of a variety of users.
The Project
This case study is a slice of a larger project I worked on for a technology client while at dscout. Our final deliverable had 3 other sections to focus on additional time horizons impacted by Covid, with this work framing the furthest out horizon. In addition to the methodology shown above, we fielded additional asynchronous research activities.
My Role
I worked on a team with another analyst, a manager, director, and graphic designer.
I came up with the Venn diagram methodology shown above, wrote the discussion guide, moderated interviews, conducted qualitative analysis, and was given specific ownership over persona development.
Bonus
If we have a chance to talk, ask me to show you a video I wrote specs for to illustrate one of our insights from another section of the project. We promise our participants we won’t put them on YouTube, so I’m afraid I can’t show it to you here.