Scenario: You are working at a new start-up company EVENSNAPPIERCHAT. The flagship product is an app that allows users (mainly teens) to send and receive images/texts that will disappear on the recipients phone after 10 seconds. Given a recent spate of bullying, the government has outlawed such apps as of June 1st as they by intention do not leave a paper trail, so cannot be used to prosecute cyber-bullying crimes. Your company is in danger of folding and the entire team is scrambling to figure out a way to maintain the essence of your product, while allowing for appropriate investigative mechanisms for law enforcement and/or parents (for users under 18) to access a history of communications to/from each account.

You have been employed by the Boss to find out the answers to the following research questions:

1. Will teens still use your app if they know that their communications are no longer ethereal? What features would be necessary for them to continue as users?

2. What proportion of texts/photos would they NOT send if there was an easily accessible history?

3. How should log access be managed? (Should someone logged into the account able to see the logs? Should it only be accessible at the corporate level)?

The Boss (who has no HCI chops) has read a UX methodology website and is firing out methodologies to use. You have been assigned a set of two seemingly random techniques to use. Focus Group & Online Questionarie

Write a 4-page report for the boss.

Page 1: Provide an analysis of the two assigned research methodologies and their appropriateness for use given the research questions (strengths/weaknesses/tradeoffs/how they complement each other (or not!) and your need for quick and accurate results (the future of the company depends on you!). Use references as needed to justify your claims.

Pages 2-3: Provide a brief outline of the best study design you can come up with using the assigned methodologies (overview of protocol, tasks, setting, give examples of questions/things you could observe/etc.). You may either deploy the two methodologies concurrently (2 studies) or do a mixed method approach (one study employing multiple methods), whichever fits best. You should choose the best variant of each methodology to achieve your goals (e.g., focus group with or without activity)

Page 4: Analysis of study design. Discuss the strengths of your study design and any remaining limitations (what questions will be unanswered/partially answered? Are there any concerns about generalizability/precision/realism of the findings? )

Marking scheme: 2 pts Analysis of assigned methods (correctness/completeness/clarity of arguments) 4 pts Study design (does it maximize the benefits and minimize the limitations of the methodologies? Does it make good use of time/limited resources? Is there enough detail and clarity to understand your approach?)

3 pts Analysis of study design (correctness/completeness/clarity of arguments)

1 pts Overall professionalism (punctuation, grammar, consistent formatting, references)