Creating a research repository database for enterprise-wide insights.
Challenge
This insurance company regularly conducts moderated and unmoderated prototype feedback sessions, surveys, interviews, and AB tests. However, most team members (both UX and business) had never observed employees working at an insurance agency even though several projects had foundational questions requiring first-hand observation.
Team & My Role
A research colleague and I organized, led, and managed this initiative. He focused on getting us into agencies, and I focused on upskilling team members, setting up a data capturing system, and designing the repository system.
Process
Preparing team for fieldwork
To prepare for this effort, I trained my business and UX team members on ethnography best practices including example questions, and practice activities. For each of their business areas, I outlined research questions based on their goals and objectives, and compiled resources on 39 of the software tools they might see in the field.
Fieldwork
Capturing Data
We shadowed insurance agents, license sales representatives, and call center staff throughout their work days.
1 call center
15 insurance agencies visited
54 staff members observed
144 hours of observation
Each observer was provided with a cheat sheet summarizing best practices and research questions, and data sheets for not taking. Data sheets included space for the time of observation, detailed notes, and questions from the observer.
After field visits, observers entered their notes into a database that a colleague and I created. They filled out the form shown for each interaction than an agency staff member had, tagging the cases based on a system I synthesized and developed through pilot observations, detailing each of the agent task types. This tagging system and database of cases has allowed us to search across business units to find relevant observation notes.
Outcomes
This effort resulted in a database that can be easily searched for relevant contextual observations using meaningful tags, key words, and/or agency data (performance metrics, number of staff members, number of customers, etc.)
This database has allowed us to quickly answer quantitative and qualitative questions, and has provided people across the organization with access to comprehensive research, circumventing double-work across silos.