User Research
We begin by learning about our archetypal users to understand their motives, needs, and pain points. The research plan primarily tackles three broad questions: Who are our users? How will they use the website? And who are our competitors?
As a starting point, I leverage my experience as a fraternity member to map current assumptions about our users, which were then used to identify further avenues for research. Some generative research methods such as empathy maps and user journeys were also used.
In addition, I reviewed scientific literature that examines Asian-American issues in college, the role of Asian-American fraternities, and general college student psychology. These results provided an in-depth understanding of our users and their needs, motives, and goals related to student organizations in academia.
Lastly, I conducted a competitive analysis to compare competing student organizations. These findings define our UX strategy and help develop empathy among stakeholders.
Who are our users?
Demographics
Our primary users are male Asian-American undergraduate college students aged 18-21. They are 1st-3rd year students, generally middle-class or above, and are socially and academically motivated. While our demographics change year by year, our historical data shows that our members have predominately been Chinese-Americans and Vietnamese-Americans, who make up roughly 60%, while the remaining identify as Taiwanese, Filipino, Cambodian, Asian Indian, Thai, Hmong, and Korean, or other.
Psychological Profile
When applicants were asked in interviews for their reasons for joining a fraternity and what they wanted to get out of our fraternity, they responded with answers like “to become part of something larger than themselves,” to “push themselves out of their comfort zone,” “make the most out of their college experience,” and form meaningful relationships with people. When coding their responses, I realized most were thematically related to existentialism.
From an existential psychology POV, user interviews suggest that our applicants are having an existential crisis, which data from scientific literature studying college student psychology supports. According to existential psychology, people with an existential crisis are attracted to beauty, nature, meaningful experiences, and relationships, which are powerful themes to integrate into the website content and design (Frankl, 1984).
RESEARCH DEEP DIVEExistentialism & Emerging Adulthood
With this research, we learn that college is a difficult, stressful transitional period for emerging adults where they start to ask difficult questions about their identity, purpose, and meaning in life. Students need: an outlet to cope with psychological stressors; direction and avenues to explore their purpose, meaning, and identity; opportunities to establish meaningful relationships, including romantic relationships; personal accomplishments, encounters with others, art, and nature; and an environment for learning social skills, norms, and etiquette.
Asian-American Identity
An important factor is our user’s Asian-American cultural identity. During member application interviews, students reported that a high sense of belonging within the community was one of the primary reasons for joining. This high sense of belonging could be attributed to a shared cultural heritage. Wells & Horn (2015) state, “students’ sense of belonging is dependent on whether they perceive their Asian culture to be compatible with the campus culture.”
User interviews with alums and senior members revealed an appreciation for an Asian-American fraternity and its impact on helping members come to terms with their cultural identity. In a podcast with previous members, they all agreed that their experience in an Asian-American fraternity unexpectedly made them more proud to be Asian-American.
To investigate this further, I redirected my attention toward understanding the needs and circumstances surrounding Asian-American college students. My research found that our users, male Asian-American college students, face complex socio-economic issues that motivate them to join a fraternity. Specifically, fraternities allow Asian American students to challenge mainstream stereotypes, redefine their identity, empower themselves, and experience personal growth that isn’t accessible by traditional mainstream methods.
Additionally, our users, who may be more academically at risk, recognize a need for cultural spaces and communities in academic environments to increase academic persistence and success and, as a result, seek out organizations like our fraternity.
RESEARCH DEEP DIVEAsian-American College Students
How will the website be used?
Now that we understand the users’ needs and motives, we can narrow the research scope to the user needs in relation to the website. To do so, I draw on user journeys to contextually map the user in their environment. Additionally, I used an empathy map to explore user emotions and how they might influence thought and behavior. These methods provide insights into use cases, UX strategy, website specifications, and direction in which to structure the product.
CONTEXT BRIEFOur Recruitment Process
The primary strategy behind the website is to include it on our flyers to nudge students to visit our website to learn more about the fraternity, build trust and confidence in our organization, and attend our events.
INSIGHTS
- The primary use case is to learn about the fraternity.
- Optimize for mobile performance. Research suggests web traffic would mostly come from mobile devices followed by laptops.
- First impressions and fast loading times are crucial. Students are busy and may only have a few minutes to explore the website before moving on.
- Minimize friction between initial contact and attending our rush events. People are hesitant to attend an event based on a brief interaction. Linking the website on our flyers can nudge users into visiting the website where they can begin to develop trust and confidence in the organization.
- Students are likely to be recruited by multiple organizations.
Additional Considerations
Additional user needs, concerns, and barriers to entry are reputation & trustworthiness; social or professional fraternity; joining process difficulty; impact on academics; the high number of competitors cause uncertainty in deciding which fraternity to join; lack of accessible information on the fraternity; stigma, rumors, and stereotypes associated with fraternities.
Who are our competitors?
Among the Asian-American network at UC Davis, there are three fraternities students tend to join: Psi Chi Omega, Delta Epsilon Mu, and Alpha Kappa Psi. To document differences in our organization, I started by creating a list of metrics and compiled my findings in a spreadsheet.
INSIGHTS
Analyzing our competitors and their websites helped identify differences in organization attitudes, appeal, interests, and content strategy. It provided me with possible website features, identified potential opportunities to differentiate our website, and revealed design weaknesses and flaws to avoid.
- More users are joining professional fraternities than social fraternities. They have more than 2x members than Psi Chi Omega.
- Our competitors’ content strategy focuses on their members and achievements rather than the organization.
- Opportunity - If we shift towards a more professional culture, we can position ourselves as a balanced social fraternity that takes professional development as seriously as our competitors.
- Using a custom, well-built website can differentiate our website from theirs. AKPsi uses a digital application which could be something we implement in the future.
References
- Hune, Shirley. (2002). Demographics and Diversity of Asian American College Students. New Directions for Student Services. 2002. 11 - 20. 10.1002/ss.35.
- LeSueur, Ian, An Investigation of Existential and Positive Psychological Resources in College Students (2019). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 2669. https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2669
- Museus, Samuel D. and Julie J. Park. "The Continuing Significance of Racism in the Lives of Asian American College Students." Journal of College Student Development, vol. 56 no. 6, 2015, p. 551-569. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/csd.2015.0059.
- Museus, S.D., Shiroma, K., & Dizon, J.P. (2016). Cultural Community Connections and College Success: An Examination of Southeast Asian American College Students. Journal of College Student Development 57(5), 485-502. doi:10.1353/csd.2016.0064.
- Tran, M. and Chang, M. (2019), Asian American Interest Fraternities: Fulfilling Unmet Needs of the Loneliest Americans. Student Services, 2019: 73-85. https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.20295
- Samura, M. (2016). Remaking Selves, Repositioning Selves, or Remaking Space: An Examination of Asian American College Students’ Processes of “Belonging”. Journal of College Student Development 57(2), 135-150. doi:10.1353/csd.2016.0016.
- Yeh, Theresa. (2002). Asian American College Students Who Are Educationally at Risk. New Directions for Student Services. 2002. 61 - 72. 10.1002/ss.39.
