Various industries benefit from user analytic studies, both with and without knowledge. E-Commerce, logistics and transportation, hospitality, web development, real estate, healthcare, public services, and even education. Many industries need user feedback to improve their services, so implementing user analytic studies in academia benefits students.
Here are five:
- Interdisciplinary Learning
In today’s fast-paced world, having some knowledge or understanding of multiple fields and how they can work together is important and increasingly essential. User analytics encompasses elements of psychology, sociology, marketing, and computer science, which can provide students with a diverse range of experiences and exposure to new fields.
- Interpersonal Skills
Developing a user analytics study involves a lot of consultation and teamwork. Outsourcing participants and conducting interviews are just a few ways students would have to interact with people outside of their usual social circles. This enhances their communication, adaptability, and networking skills, as well as their confidence. Working in teams prods them to learn to collaborate effectively, share responsibilities, and leverage each other’s strengths to analyze data and draw insights. Additionally, if in the position to take on the role of team leader, students can develop leadership skills by guiding a team, making decisions, and taking responsibility for outcomes.
- Hands-On Experience
Students can have practical experience in gathering, evaluating, and interpreting actual user data using online analytics tools to comprehend the theoretical ideas of user analytics better. They can work with real-time data to see how user behavior evolves over time. With tools like METRIC, students can conduct studies and receive real-time data in minutes, avoiding expensive and time-consuming traditional approaches that need actual locations and in-person meetings. Even for those not taking the data analysis or marketing research career path, all students need to have a minimal understanding of user studies as the industry they are going into probably uses them.
- Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving
Analyzing user data requires critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Students learn to identify patterns, draw insights, and make data-driven recommendations, crucial skills in any analytical role. Aside from professional development, critical thinking enhances a wide range of cognitive functions, promotes mental agility, and contributes to overall cognitive and psychological well-being. Studies have even shown that a higher cognitive reserve can delay the onset of symptoms of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.
- Understanding Ethical Considerations
Understanding user analytics will expose students to ethical concerns they need to consider regarding technological and online studies — a highly required skill in an increasingly digitized world. Ethical data collection, consent, privacy, biases, and implications of ethical failures are just some insights that can be gained from user analytic studies. Students can be taught to use data only for the purposes collected while learning to consider the perspectives of various stakeholders, including users, clients, regulators, and society at large when making ethical decisions about data use.
User study analytics are incredibly advantageous to students by equipping them with a robust set of skills and knowledge crucial for their academic and professional development. The integration of user analytics tools in educational settings allows students to engage deeply with the material and understand its practical applications.
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Read more research about user studies!
Salminen J., Jung S., and Jansen B.J. (2021) Suggestions for Online User Studies. In: Stephanidis C. et al. (eds) HCI International 2021 – Late Breaking Papers: Design and User Experience. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 13094. pp 127-146. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90238-4_11
Nielsen, L., Salminen, J., Jung, S.G., and Jansen, B. J. (2021) Think-Aloud Surveys – A Method for Eliciting Enhanced Insights During User Studies, INTERACT 2021 18th IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human–Computer Interaction. 30 Aug. – 3 Sept. Bari, Italy.
Salminen, J., Jung, S.G., An, J., Kwak, H., and Jansen, B. J. (2018) Findings of a User Study of Automatically Generated Personas. ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI2018) (Extended Abstract), Montréal, Canada, 21-26 April, LBW097.
Salminen, J., Jung, S.G., An, J., Kwak, H., and Jansen, B. J. (2018) Findings of a User Study of Automatically Generated Personas. ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI2018) (Extended Abstract), Montréal, Canada, 21-26 April, LBW097.