Assignment M1

Anna He
annahe@gatech.edu

Abstract—This series of M assignments seeks to investigate and

redesign an aspect of Strava: an exercise tracking and social media
app. In particular, the investigation will deep dive and discuss
the interface while the user is engaged in a physical activity i.e.,
running or cycling.

1 PROBLEM SPACE

The problem space of this series of assignments is Strava: a social media and
exercise tracking app. In particular, the space I am looking in is how the user
interacts with the mobile app while they are also currently engaging in a physical
exercise outdoors.

The expected elements of the environment are that the Strava activity has begun,
and the user is currently engaged in the Strava activity. The context when the
problem takes place is during the activity, generally outdoors. In general, while
exercising outdoors, one will be too preoccupied by the environment or the ac-
tivity itself to navigate the app on their phone well. For this reason, this project
is interested in investigating two main target domains:

• The domain that can be accessed hand-free from the mobile app
• The domain that can be accessed quickly i.e. during brief breaks at stop lights

2 USER TYPES

The users include both runners and cyclists who use Strava to track their activity.
These users can be both female and male. The level of expertise in the activity
can vary from users who run or bike occasionally to those who are actively train-
ing for an upcoming race or competition. The level of expertise with the Strava
app can also vary between users who have recently downloaded it and those
who have been using it for a year or longer. These users can be located anywhere
on earth with public or private accounts. The motivations for engaging in track-
ing their running and/or biking activity should be to keep a record of their

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workouts. Their needs are to find information about their activity and their tasks
are to complete a physical workout activity (either cycling or running).

3 NEEDFINDING PLAN 1: PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION

The first needfinding plan is using participant observation.

To execute this needfinding plan, I will conduct a running or cycling activity in

which I access the Strava interface throughout my run or ride. I will try and see
various statistics on my current activity both while moving or and when I am
stopped. During my experience, I will use a voice recording to record any obser-
vations while the activity is in place.

Using this method, I plan to collect the following data to fill the data inventory:
I will be able to better understand the context of the tasks and what else competes
for the user’s attention. I will understand the tasks and subtasks of the activity.
And I will understand the user’s needs during the task.

Being the user myself, I may encounter some confirmation bias, especially re-
garding the ease to access certain statistics during the activity. To combat confir-
mation bias, I plan to time the amount of time it takes to access some statistics so
that I have an empirical record of which is truly more accessible.

Recall bias is also a risk since the running or cycling activity may span a long
period of time. I plan to counter this by thinking out loud and recording myself,
but it does raise the new risk of diverting my attention away from the activity
itself. This second risk will be explicitly recorded.

4 NEEDFINDING PLAN 2: SURVEYS

The next needfinding plan is to use surveys to assess some items in the data in-
ventory.

The survey will ask questions about the user’s age/gender and expertise with the
interface and with the activity. I will ask about the environment while they use
the app and what else competes for their attention while they are using it. Finally,
I will ask why they use the app to better understand their goals.

This survey will be distributed among the students in this class. For additional
reach to my target users, I will also share this survey among some cycling groups

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I am a part of since many of members of those groups use Strava. I will also ask
friends and acquaintances on Strava to complete the survey for me.

Using this method, I plan to collect the following data to fill the data inventory:
I seek to collect data on user demographics to better determine who are the users,
what environment they are in during the tasks, their experiences using the app
in context and what competes for their attention, and their goals and motivations
while completing these tasks.

The biggest risk of this needfinding plan is the social desirability bias. Since I am
asking members of a cycling group that I am part of for responses, the respond-
ents may answer different knowing I am the one collecting the information. To
do mitigate this, I plan to ask the subjective questions among more objective data
(eg how many activities have you recorded this year, how many years have you
used Strava, etc.)

Additionally, since I am asking for responses from my cycling group, I am con-

ducting non-probability sampling so there is a risk of sampling bias where cyclists
are overrepresented in the responses compared to runners as I had also intended.
To prevent this, I may also ask some runners I know to help me circulate my
survey among their running groups. I may also limit the which responses I ana-
lyse to match the proportion of runners to cyclists that I expect from the target
population.

5 NEEDFINDING PLAN 3: FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEWS

The third needfinding plan is to conduct interviews to collected targeted data

about a user.

To accomplish this goal, I will seek and identify Strava users near me and ask if
they are willing to participate in a focus group interview with me. I will organize
an interview and record the responses to review later. Particularly, I am looking
to collect information on the six Ws: who, what, where, when, why, and how
while interviewing.

Using this method, I plan to collect the following data to fill the data inventory:
The interviews will also collect more detailed data about the users’ goals, their
needs, and the context of their activities. I will also note the users’ demographic
information and record who they are.

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One risk of this needfinding plan is again the social desirability bias. Especially
since many of my friends use Strava and may volunteer to be part of the inter-
view, they may also respond differently if I am the interviewer. To prevent this,
I may ask partner in the class to conduct the interview for me which could alle-
viate and control some social desirability bias but not avoid it completely. This
risk will be explicitly recorded.

Another risk is coverage error where most of the focus group participants may be
friends or acquaintances of mine and the responses will be skewed to my geo-
graphical area. The environment and experience within in may vary greatly
across geographical locations so this poses some risk. It is difficult to collect in-
terviews to sufficiently represent the entire nation or globe so this risk will be
explicitly recorded.