UX Research

Focus: Assessed the initial design for ScanBright, a game to address gaps in radiology training.

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Research Approach: Conducted focus groups with radiology educators and trainees to refine learning objectives and gameplay.

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Key Insight: Identified usability and engagement improvements to enhance educational value, particularly on magnifying abilities, scan contrast and inversion, and glossary functionality.​

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Sample Artifacts: Concept Testing Focus Group Presentation

Focus: Investigated player interactions with key features to inform Mission HydroSci’s development.

Research Approach: Conducted lab observations and interviews with 11–14-year-olds, analyzed using thematic analysis.

Key Insight: Identified mismatches between player behaviors and intended design, especially in the topographic mini-game and map functionality.

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Sample Artifacts: Lab protocol, UX test results presentation for the design team.

Focus: Investigated how awe-inspiring VR experiences drive curiosity and influence user behavior.

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Research Approach: Combined quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interviews to analyze user responses to awe elicitors.

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Key Insight: Found that awe tied to mystery or perceived supernatural causality sparked deeper user exploration and engagement.​

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Sample Artifacts: Presentation, Protocol, Laboratory Procedures & Measures, Interview Questions, and Replication Data (Harvard Dataverse)

Focus: Explored the social and artistic dimensions of virtual photography in video game environments.

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Research Approach: Conducted interviews and card-sorting activities with members of the Society of Virtual Photographers using a hermeneutic phenomenological method.

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Key Insight: Defined virtual photography as a practice blending creative expression, skill, and community dynamics, transcending traditional photography.​​

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Sample Artifacts: Interview & Card Sorting Protocol, Screening Tool​, Data Analysis Presentation

Focus: Investigated how users interact with virtual documents in immersive storytelling worlds to understand information behavior.

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Research Approach: Employed qualitative methods, including remote observations and semi-structured interviews with virtual artifacts and stimulated recall.

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Key Insights: Found that users treat documents as "narrative ephemera," influenced by environmental factors, search processes, and narrative expectations, shaping how they engage with a story.​

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Sample Artifact: Infographic, Journal of Documentation

Focus: Explored how visual-attention patterns in Mission HydroSci can differentiate between low and high performers and inform learning predictions.

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Research Approach: Utilized eye-tracking data to analyze visual-attention patterns and their correlation with self-reported demographics like science, gaming, and navigational expertise.

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Key Insights: Identified distinct visual-attention patterns between low and high performers, with correlations between gaze metrics and self-reported expertise levels.

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Sample Artifacts: CLS 2019 Presentation

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Focus: Investigated how fiction reading and gaming alleviated stress during the pandemic, exploring user motivations, behaviors, and preferences across different media forms.

Methodology: Conducted open-ended online surveys with 76 adult fiction readers and 135 players of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Utilized qualitative coding to analyze motivations for reading and gaming and their impact on emotional well-being.

Key Insights: Fiction Reading: Readers engaged in escapism, re-reading familiar books, and selecting formats based on cost and access. Motivations included comfort, coping, and connection. Gaming: Players sought social support, freedom, escapism, and achievement, finding emotional relief through interactive elements. Insights inform recommendation services for fiction and games to better align with users’ emotional needs during stressful times.​

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Focus: Investigated how the social-impact game Fake It to Make It motivates users to critically analyze misinformation on social media through persuasive design and gameplay.

Research Approach: Analyzed player-participant data using screen-captured gameplay, interviews, retrospective think-alouds, and pre- and post-intervention media literacy assessments.

Key Insights: Identified ways the game influences procedural knowledge, emotional impact, and behavioral changes, providing design recommendations to improve usability and encourage continued engagement.

Practical Application: Demonstrates the potential of video games to enhance digital literacy by motivating users to verify social media posts and combat disinformation.