UX research / Telematics / 2019
Understanding how drivers think about distraction.
I led two phases of interviews to understand how drivers felt about distraction and what would make an app useful to them. I used the findings to help the team consider possible features.
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Executive brief
What would drivers find useful in distraction support?
- My contribution
- I led the study design, interviews, analysis, personas, and readouts, with recruiting, scheduling, and note-taking support.
- Product contribution
- I describe this study as one contribution to the phone-distraction direction, alongside earlier SmartRide research and wider product discussions.
- Outcome and evidence
- Product adoption and safety effects are outside the scope of this case.
Follow the evidence
How the evidence fits.
Select a step to inspect its source and what it supports.
Research question
What would make distraction support useful to drivers?
- Source basis
- The two-phase research reports.
- What to inspect
- Follow the study map from driving attitudes to possible features.
01 / The question
What would drivers find useful in distraction support?
A telematics team was considering an app or features to help with distracted driving. We needed to understand how people viewed their own driving and what they might want from that support. I explored everyday driving habits and reactions to feedback, privacy, personalization, and incentives.
Leadership & practice
I led the study and did the research.
I planned the study, developed the screener and interview guides, and conducted the interviews. I also handled the qualitative analysis, personas, reports, and final readouts. A vendor helped with some recruiting, and I had scheduling support and an intern taking notes during sessions. I was responsible for carrying the research through to the final report and helping the team understand the findings.
Plan the research
I turned the product question into a two-phase study and designed the screening and interview materials.
Lead the interviews
I coordinated the support around the sessions and moderated the interviews so we could hear participants describe their own perspectives.
Help the team use the findings
I brought the interview material together in themes, personas, and reports, then explained what the findings could mean for the product.
02 / The approach
How I approached the work.
- 01
Plan
I defined the research questions, screening criteria, recruiting plan, and discussion guides.
- 02
Interview
I led both phases, with activities about daily driving and reactions to possible features.
- 03
Analyze
I worked with session transcripts and notes, coded by hand, and used NVivo to support the analysis and review.
- 04
Share
I developed personas, reports, and readouts to help the team discuss the product direction.
Watch the process
How I led the research.
See how I planned the interviews, worked with the findings, and prepared the readout. I rebuilt this workflow for the portfolio.
A closer look · 32 seconds
How I led the distracted driving study
The research I led, including the study plan, interviews, analysis, and readout.
Loading the motion demo…
What would drivers find useful? I explored driving attitudes and what would make distraction support useful to people.
I rebuilt this workflow from the study structure to show how I used transcripts, hand coding, and NVivo to examine the findings.
Read the complete story
- 01 / Frame the question
What would drivers find useful?
I explored driving attitudes and what would make distraction support useful to people.
- 02 / Lead the interviews
Listen across two phases.
I led interviews about driving attitudes, then possible features and what would make them useful.
- 03 / Analyze the interviews
Code the material. Review the themes.
I hand-coded session transcripts, used NVivo, and checked its summaries against my coding.
- 04 / Share the findings
Help the team consider the features.
I used themes about privacy, self-perception, and motivation in personas, reports, and readouts for the team.
The themes are paraphrased. Participant material and original software exports are excluded. Safety outcomes were outside the study scope.
03 / Selected work
Look at the work more closely.
Each example includes a caption explaining what it shows and how I prepared it. Select a visual to enlarge it.
Two-phase study map
How the two phases fit together
The first phase explored driving attitudes. The second looked at possible features and what would make the support useful to drivers.
How the two phases connected attitudes and possible features.Analysis workflow
How I worked with the interview material
I used hand coding and NVivo, then reviewed the summaries against my coding and the source material. The workflow shows where I made those interpretation and review decisions.
The Phase 2 report names NVivo. I also coded by hand and checked the summaries against the source material.Research themes
What the team needed to consider
How drivers saw themselves, their privacy concerns, and their reasons for engaging with an app gave the team questions to consider in design and further research.
The themes helped the team consider privacy, incentives, and reasons to use an app.Personas from the study
The personas I created for the study
A rebuilt summary of the three personas I created from the interview research. Each card includes a few paraphrased goals from the personas.
Chris, Susan, and Marcia, based on the personas I created from the interviews.04 / What the findings support
How the research informed the product discussion.
Study findings
Understand what drivers might value
The interviews showed interest in feedback and incentives. They also raised questions about privacy and whether people would use the features.
Product direction
Contribute to the feature direction
The team considered this study alongside earlier SmartRide research and broader product discussions when developing the phone-distraction direction.
Later public context
Phone-distraction feedback in SmartRide
Nationwide announced phone-distraction feedback in SmartRide in 2020. The announcement documents the later feature. My account explains how this study contributed to the earlier work.
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