research plan ( an overview )

Here's the current plan for my research plan.

Who I want to interview

So far, I've focused on one particular way to breakdown of the set of mini-fridge users, where I've labeled two ends (extremes) of the user spectrum:

1) Snack-users don't have a lot of items to keep in their fridge. There isn't a large variety in the types of items they have.

2) Meal-users have lots of different types of food and lots of it. They prepare many of their meals themselves. They would prefer a large fridge, but must settle for a compact fridge because of limited space or money.

At first, I plan on focusing on meal-users, rather than investigating other types of users for several reasons:

1) I suspect the needs of other types of users are often a subset of the needs of meal-users. Researching meal-users will likely spawn new user subgroups to investigate.
2) Meal-users seem to be the most underserved group.
3) Meal-users are less common than snack-users. I should recruit and talk with them sooner rather than later. Snack-users are easy to find.



What I want to find out

Figure: Representation of the 3 progressive levels guiding my inquiry.














Currently, I'm thinking about my research goals by organizing them according to 3 levels or themes. The core level is organization features of the mini-fridge. This level is primarily about function. It is about addressing user needs and creating a product that works better. The next level is mini-kitchen. This is about offering extended functionality to the user in the context of planning, preparing and eating meals. It's about a system of features and products that work together to help support the multitude of tasks related to food preparation. The final level is about creating an aesthetic, meaningful experience, not simply a functional system. It is about a system of products that is truly in rhythm with the life of the user.

I suspect most of my research will be focused at the mini-kitchen and internal organization level. Who knows what will happen with this outer level. I mention it explicitly to remind myself that I feel like a really great design is about more than satisfying user needs. I want to remember to ask questions, when appropriate, that help to uncover what type of product would truly be enjoyed by the user. Or maybe people just want something that works. I'm interested to find out.


Looking at these levels in more detail...

1. internal organization

So far, I'm setting the focus of my research around the theme of organizing items within the compact fridge. Organization becomes increasingly important as we move from snack-users to meal-users. Meal-users would benefit from an easy to use organization system that is also flexible and space efficient (clearly a tradeoff and hence a challenge).

Some general design criteria for an organization system, supported by some early observations:


Quick and Easy
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+ students are busy
+ organizing and planning meals is a constant and necessary task

Space Efficient
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+ limited interior space
+ there is always more stuff that could go in the fridge

Flexible
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+ varied needs of users in general
+ dynamic needs of a given user
+ preparing meals is a highly personal activity

Inexpensive
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+ college students have limited finances
+ small fridges viewed as short-term investments


This criteria is still very general. With my user research I need to get into more specific criteria. What are the frequent tasks which need to be quick and easy? What features can help better use available space? What methods do you use now? Which tasks in particular require flexible features? How do use patterns change from meal to meal? From day to day? How inadequate do youfeel the current system is? How much would you be willing to pay for the new system?

Another thought - the Inexpensive Criterion could be challenged by any the following assumptions:

+ there are many meal-users who are confined primarily by space (not money)
+ students have the option to rent or resell an expensive compact-fridge
+ the design is modular; expensive components can be added on as the user desires

I want to investigate the potential validity of these assumptions. As part of my context research, I want to research the market for meal-users other than students. Also, I want to look into current and potential business models for renting or leasing mini-fridges . It would also be good to look at other kitchen products, particularly products that help organize and products designed for small living spaces.

2. mini-kitchen

The second theme I want to focus my research around is the mini-kitchen. The general list of design criteria I mentioned earlier applies to the mini-kitchen as well. I need to work on developing more general and specific design criteria for a mini-kitchen. What are the important tasks that should be supported? (e.g. shopping, stocking, planning, preparing, cooking, eating, sharing, cleaning, ...?) What are the existing tools and methods that support these task? (e.g. kitchen appliances, utensils, storage containers, work areas,...?)

3. experience

Finally, I'm interested in what preparing and eating meals means to people. When is preparing meals fun and when is it a chore? Do you want to learn to cook more? How does eating and preparing meals fit into the social aspects of college life? What kitchen products do you love and why? What about college products? Are the inadequacies of the mini-fridges a constant frustration or challenges you've overcome?

In the following posts, I'll get into the specifics of my emerging research plan.