COLLEEN CARROLL
Who uses Next Generation
Communication apps, and why?
Project
In mid-2016, news surfaced concerning the European Union’s proposed Digital Single Market plan. The plan roped next generation online communication applications into regulations designed for traditional telephone operators.
The issue? The technology, services, and costs were extremely different between next generation online communication and traditional telephone services. Moreover, the regulation extended into communication applications built into online services not primarily designed for communication, like online marketplaces. Proposed regulation threatened costs that would push many next gen online communication apps and marketplaces out of the market.
More importantly, the potential impact on app users was unclear. This is where I came in: a small online next gen communication app developer sought to better understand how people decide how to communicate. Mobile communications took center stage. We wanted to know when a person decides to use traditional telephony versus a mobile application and if that choice varied based on location, the purpose of the communication, or the type of activity they wanted to accomplish via communication.
Plan
The overarching goal would be to craft a position paper. This document would include an impact assessment to help policy makers understand how changing regulations shape the communication mechanisms of citizens they represent.
To extend the reach of our research and results, we partnered with an industry association that represents innovative technology and communication companies. We planned a three-tiered research:
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We mapped the decision-making process people follow when choosing a means for communication
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We created personas to describe categories of people and the situations in which they chose either next gen communication services or traditional telephony.
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We connected personas to policy to understand how proposed regulation would impact citizens.
Some important questions we needed to answer included:
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What is the age range of a typical user?
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Where are users located (i.e. at work, home, in a social setting) when they open VoIP apps?
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How often do they use VoIP apps?
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With whom do they communicate via VoIP aps?
Process
Empathize
Synthesize
IDeate
A five-phase process guided our project.
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We started with data collection, empathizing with users to generate a set of criteria that shape the decision for when, where, and how they use a VoIP telecoms app.
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Synthesizing followed- here, we filtered the criteria established in the first phase to ID groups of users who shared similar patterns of decision making.
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The third phase, ideate, connected us back to the issue at hand: new EU regulations; we linked personas to the policy debate to identify a range of policy outcomes and the effect of each on the personas.
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Writing was a fourth phase, marrying results from research expressed as personas and the five policy scenarios into one clear statement.
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We refined the research process throughout as we learned more or identified knowledge gaps.
Here are the activities we used to reach our end goal:
Interviews
10 interviews helped us scope basic criteria that influenced when, where, and why users chose to use diverse means for mobile communication app. We interviewed individuals with varying ages, gender identities, incomes, nationalities, and occupations.
Personas
Our research created four key data categories on communications patterns. One category included users’ biographical information. Other categories dealt with factors that influence the choice between traditional telephony and next generation communication services . Responses indicated that timing, location, and the type of communication executed weighed heavy on a user's decision.
Together with our collaborators, we organized focus group and survey responses. Biographical data and our decision factors shaped four user personas. We established a hierarchy of factors and sub-factors connected to each persona type.
Policy Scenarios
What could the final version of this policy look like? Consideration for policy process, competing interests, overlapping policy areas, and citizens.
We envisioned 5 scenarios and the impact of each on our user personas:
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one described the status quo
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one explored the impact of full policy implementation
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one explored the impact of a slightly amended policy
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one explored the impact of a policy with adjustments proposed by the industry groups
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and one that blended the European Union and the industry’s policy proposals.
Write
Impact Analysis | Position Paper
Together with policy managers from the industry group, we drafted a position paper and an impact analysis. We mapped each envisioned scenario to the 5 user personas. We detailed how varying degrees of regulatory change would impact each type of user. Our position paper also incorporated the impact on the communications and technology industries. Both papers served as a discussion tool for conversations between policy makers and industry representatives.
Focus Groups
We recruited local participants for a focus group.
We facilitated four focus groups, each with a homogenous set of 10 participants. We presented 10 engagement, exploration and exit questions.
We used open-ended questions to prompt discussions about how they chose to communicate. We asked when, where, why and with whom they use one means of mobile communication over another.
The focus groups helped us generate a list of critical criteria influencing mobile communication choices.
Surveys
We wanted to see if Focus Group and Interview answers translated to a larger sample. We refined our research process and added a survey to vet criteria across a larger sample of users and non-users.
The survey contained 10 questions concerning communications patterns. Each question tried to flesh out the importance of factors identified in focus groups.
150 participants from more than 25 different countries filled in our short, 15-question survey.