User Research

Practicing various user research methods on the Duolingo language-learning app.

OVERVIEW

The following materials are all part of a case study completed for a Research Methods course. In order to do so, I had to

draft and collect signed research participation consent forms
conduct interviews with real Duolingo users
create and distribute Heuristic Evaluation worksheets
analyze the results to compile a Duolingo persona and make suggestions to better the design of the app

I created a Google Form to evaluate the application and research how it could be improved.

Although users reported being mostly happy with the application (80%), only a third of them reported that they used it as their sole method to studying their language.
I also conducted two in-person interviews to further gather how users frustrations and uses of the app.

Read the PDF version of the persona document by clicking below.

The 3 major pain points and provided recommendations:

Visibility of system status: No indication of current page or lesson title. Include headings to solve.
Limited user control: Increase contrast of exit button to adhere to accessibility standards and provide users freedom to move about the lessons.
Error prevention: Users frequently receive lower scores as a result of spelling mistakes or other minor technicalities. As an addition to underlining misspelled words, the app should provide a warning signal for the user to review their answer before submitting.