Endurance

Overview

This is a research case study focused on the investigation and process to find out what kind of consequences COVID is causing on international students’ lives.

MY role

I was responsible for the entire project from elaborating the briefing, objectives and structure to recruiting, conducting interviews, making survey and storytelling.

Secondary research

” … [Coronavirus] can also live on a lot of surfaces for hours, so people can pick it up on their hands and infect themselves when they touch their face, something the average person does 20 times an hour.”

Coronavirus Explained – Netflix

Understanding the Context

The coronavirus pandemic has brought singular situations to people across the world. But how being someone studying overseas can differentiate your situation even more?

That’s the question that led me to elaborate this case study by using UX research methods and processes.

In order to better understand my target audience, I first started following group discussions on Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook pages, among other mediums.

I’ve noticed that regardless everyone’s unique situation, some topics always used to come up quite frequently. That helped me to shape a list of hypothesis and plan my future steps by choosing the right methodology.

Objective

To understand international students stories, objectives and the kinds of consequences coronavirus might have brought to their lives.

Research plan/methodology/approach

The coronavirus pandemic has brought

Observations

Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp

Secondary Research

Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp

Survey

Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp

Interview

Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp

Affinity Mapping

Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp

Survey

Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp

Interview

Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp

Affinity Mapping

Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp

Hypothesis

This is a list of hypothesis with main topics that reflect my observations on international students’ discussions and conversations throughout the internet.

Unemployment

Dissatisfaction with online classes

Visa issues

Lack of support

Online survey

To gain better understanding of the impacts of COVID-19, I firstly decided to create a questionnaire based on my hypothesis so I could get data from various students in different realities to have a general idea of what they are facing.

The survey has been taken by 39 international students from Brazil, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, Mexico living in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Taiwan and UK.

I have modified the visual in order to be more engaging. A lot of care has been taken with the number of questions, making them short, balancing open and closed ones using logic and paying attention to the grammar to eliminate bias as much as possible. The questions were focused on the reason for studying overseas, if the pandemic impacted different aspects of their lives and in which ways.

synthesizing data i gathering insights

After getting the data from the survey, an affinity mapping has been done to gather and group responses from open questions to discover common topics related to the reason for studying overseas, and impacts caused by COVID to their finances, classes, visa processes and health.

findings

Based on our interviewees’ responses, the following results could be analyzed.

76.9%

Have had their finances impacted

71.7%

Have had their classes impacted

69.2%

Have not had their visa processes impacted

61.5%

Have had their health impacted in some way

The common responses were clustered into categories that brought comprehension about:

1. Reasons for studying overseas:

Language

A lot of

user interviews

give me ideas to better explore in my future interviewsI have conducted 5 interviews with international students from different places and backgrounds. I could gain better understanding/explore better their objectives, lifestyle and how the pandemic caused changes in their routine and plans. Conscious that coronavirus might have caused difficult situations, the conversation was handled measuring how open and willing to speak about determined themes each person looked comfortable with, being careful when approaching sensitive subjects, starting with/from general questions towards to specific ones.

I have used Typeform to create the survey and modified the visual in order to be more engaging. A lot of care has been taken with the number of questions (10 in total), making them as short as possible, balancing open and closed ones and paying attention to the grammar to eliminate bias as much as possible.

Will, 30

about

Colombian
Married
Graduated in International Business
Worked as marketing assistant
Studying Leadership and Management
Working as cleaner

goals

Save money in order to go to Canada where she intends to immigrate with her husband.

Interview quotes

Have had their finances impacted

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insights

Have had their health impacted in some way

Daniela, 30

“I’m a very special person. I’m beloved by people around me. I’m sweet, easy to deal with, stronger than I could’ve ever imagined.”

about

Colombian
Married
Graduated in International Business
Worked as marketing assistant

goals

International experience in her field of study
Immigrate to Canada

Daniela, 30

“I’m a very special person. I’m beloved by people around me. I’m sweet, easy to deal with, stronger than I could’ve ever imagined.”

about

Colombian
Married
Graduated in International Business
Worked as marketing assistant

goals

International experience in her field of study
Immigrate to Canada

henri joe, 38

“I’m a very special person. I’m beloved by people around me. I’m sweet, easy to deal with, stronger than I could’ve ever imagined.”

about

Brazilian
Single
Graduated in Industrial Engineer
Worked as Product Analyst

goals

Immigrate to Australia

Daniela, 30

“I’m a very special person. I’m beloved by people around me. I’m sweet, easy to deal with, stronger than I could’ve ever imagined.”

about

Colombian
Married
Graduated in International Business
Worked as marketing assistant

goals

International experience in her field of study
Immigrate to Canada

making of

I’ve used typeform to create the questionnaire. I could modify the visual to be more appealing visually. (Engaging) A look of care has been taken with the number of question (10 in total), make it as short as possible balancing open and closed questions, paying attention/be aware to the grammar to eliminate bias and disconsidering* remove unnecessary questions.

making of

user

interviews

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goals

International experience in her field of study
Immigrate to Canada

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Have not had their visa process impacted

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goals

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Daniela, 30

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about

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goals

To learn English

Cleaner

course

Advanced Diploma of Leadership

about

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goals

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Act I - understanding the context

The Journey map

The coronavirus pandemic has brought singular situations to people across the world. But how being someone studying overseas can differentiate your situation even more?

That’s the question that led me to elaborate this case study by using UX research methods and processes.

That’s the question that led me to elaborate

My role

I was responsible for the entire project from elaborating the briefing, objectives and structure to recruiting, conducting interviews, making survey and storytelling.

making of

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

making of

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ACT I

making of

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overview

This UX research study takes us to understand more about international students’ stories and how the pandemic has been affecting and changing their lives.

making of

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

making of

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.