Reflections & Lessons Learnt
I eliminated blind spots by asking for consults and inputs from my peers. I also sourced for additional resources to ensure I was reading widely and keeping up with best practices in the field. I used reflective deliberate practice to ensure I would build on and improve my skills.
It was fulfilling applying specific skills and tips I had learnt from my previous background in psychological research, counselling and behavioural interviewing.
Limitations - lengthy read but important to acknowledge!
• The choice to implement an inclusion criteria for recruitment of participants, where they had to play board games regularly (which I arbitrarily defined as >=4 hrs/mth) meant that my participants were all seasoned gamers and could elaborate on their experiences. However, it also limited my sample pool
• Consequently, sample sizes were small and lacked statistical power, especially for quantitative analyses. Thematic analysis was also difficult as I had disparate and contradictory data points which I could not reconcile.
• I also adopted convenience sampling and recruited from narrow channels, which means my research may not be representative of typical tabletop gamers
• I had to turn to interviewing personal friends, which introduced some challenges/biases. For instance, I went into the project thinking that a major problem gamers face would be social (e.g., how to form groups in a competitive game). However this did not come up at all during the interviews, perhaps because my own friends would be reluctant to reveal this information to me (social desirability bias)!
• My interactive prototype only had the bare functionality, and users were unable to truly explore and learn from the app like they would in a real-life scenario.
• The 2-week project covered more breadth than depth; I did not have the time to dig into and more importantly, validate my findings
Next Steps
If I wanted to bring Timeslot further, I would definitely wish to continue researching and iterating on the design of the app, and address the limitations outlined above. As my visual design and app development skills are also a work in progress, I would partner with people more experienced in these areas to bring Timeslot to fruition.
