Tribunal Focus Groups
Using focus groups to pinpoint actionable areas of UX improvements for next-generation online dispute tribunal
Skills: focus group planning, facilitation, participant communication, Zoom, insight discovery, qualitative data analysis, quantitative analysis
December 2023 - February 2024
Overview
I planned, organized, and facilitated six focus groups to identify key issues with online dispute resolution services and used the insights to develop user-centric solutions for urgent problems in the work-in-progress product.
Problem Statement
The online dispute resolution system has not been updated since the initial development 6 years ago and users regularly express feelings of frustration while interacting with the platform. CAO is rebuild the product in house.
Impact
🎨 Complete redesign of the dashboard and UI for our online dispute resolution product
📈 Highlighted user research's role in design, leading to a 7% increase in engagement in user research outreach
✨ Sessions received a 94% satisfaction score, enhancing customer relations by providing a space for interaction with the organization
“I just find it’s maybe like a Volkswagen’s car, overly engineered.”
Goal
Engage the condominium community and previous users of the online tribunal platform
Identify the current failings of the current system and prioritize the key improvements for the next iteration
Create actionable steps for improving the user experience of the tribunal
The CAT
The Condominium Authority of Tribunal (CAT) is Canada’s first online-only dispute resolution tribunal that allows condo corporations and owners to resolve disputes within a strict jurisdiction quickly, efficiently, and affordably.
The CAO initially partnered with the Universite de Montreal’s Cyberjustice Laboratory and based its first iterationon an open-source solution dealing with consumer disputes in Quebec.
The Problems & Solutions
The feedback was easily categorized into 5 distinct buckets, seen in the chart.
This feedback drove the following changes, which are in progress.
The Dashboard & Navigation
Guided Tutorials
Assigning Users Tasks
Simplification of the application process
Main issues found in the current CAT system
The Procedure
We identified that there were three major categories that our potential user set fell into:
Owners
Directors/Managers
Legal Representatives
To ensure unbiased insights, we conducted two focus groups per participant category, totaling six sessions.
This approach allowed us to eliminate the variable of the participant's role and facilitated the discovery of universal themes.
Each session was comprised of:
Five and twelve participants
One communications expert as moderator and two facilitators, including myself
The sessions funneled the conversation from discovering the tribunal to the platform-specific issues.
The moderator skillfully guided the discussions using prepared questions and ensured every participant had an opportunity to contribute. Additionally, we utilized Teams for intra-session communication to identify quieter participants and to signal the moderator if the discussion veered off-topic.
What I’ve learned…
This project provided an exciting opportunity to actively engage with the condo community while strategically planning for a larger-scale research study. It allowed me to seamlessly integrate my analytical skills with my expertise in user experience, resulting in the creation of a comprehensive focus group.
This also demonstrated the positive impact of providing an outlet where users can express their frustrations to a listening team. Our participant satisfaction with the focus groups and the resulting conversations was 94% positive.
This project reaffirmed my interest in user experience research and left me eager to take on more similar projects. I am excited by the upcoming projects within the CAO that will allow me to continue to delve into research studies and analysis.