User Research Plan

Foodle had begun taking shape, and we wanted to create a platform where good recipes were presented in an easy and readable manner. This was especially important as the internet inundated with recipes that were too hard to follow, had little instruction, and required too many expensive ingredients and equipment. We had a problem that we had identified, but was this problem universal? For that, we had to conduct user interviews. We conducted 5 early user interviews, from Dartmouth student, to people who have graduated and are working now.

User Interviews

Interviewee #1, Eric Chen:

Eric Chen is a fifth-year undergraduate student at Dartmouth. Eric lives in Hanover in a fraternity and cooks breakfast every morning. Because Eric is a fifth-year student, he is not on a dining plan and cooks at home to save money. Eric lives in a fraternity house, which means all of his food preparation is done in a shared kitchen in the home. Depending on the day, Eric may cook lunch or dinner. For ingredients, Eric travels to the Co-Op. Eric usually cooks the same meals.

Say: “People use my stuff all the time and never clean it up or put it back.” “It is difficult making sure people aren’t using your ingredients or equipment without permission.” “I really like cooking when it’s quiet and the kitchen doesn’t smell like cigarettes.”

Do: Uses multiple pieces of equipment and multiple kitchen appliances in his food preparation. Prepares one portion of food each time he cooks and makes sure to use all of the ingredients he has.

Think: Thinks it would be nice to get less expensive groceries than what the Co-op offers. Thinks he would prepare food more often if people in his fraternity house treated the kitchen space better. Thinks he would not be cooking at all if he was still a student on a meal plan.

Feel: Frustrated when people use his equipment or eat his food. Nauseous when the kitchen isn’t kept up and has an impact on his food preparation. At peace when he finally finishes cleaning and is able to sit down and enjoy his breakfast.

Interviewee #2, Dylan Dalal:

Dylan Dalal is a third-year undergraduate student at Florida State University. Dylan lives off-campus in Tallahassee and is not on the school’s cooking plan. Dylan was interested in cooking before going to college, but only began cooking when he began living off-campus. Dylan consumes a lot of food-related and cooking content each day, but only spends around 45 minutes a day cooking. When possible, Dylan cooks breakfast, lunch, and dinner as a means of 1. Enjoyment and 2. Saving money.

Say: “I cook for two reasons: 1. I enjoy it and 2. It is a lot less expensive per meal.” “I try to prepare food items in advance so I can use it for multiple meals. For example, I can use chicken I prepared a few days ago for multiple lunches and dinners.” “I’ve learned recipes by watching the same videos hundreds of times.”

Do: Prepares ingredients slowly but efficiently. Takes his time cleaning up his space before enjoying his food. Takes good care of his cooking equipment and takes it out and puts it away between meals.

Think: Thinks about the cost of each meal and how current ingredient preparation could be applied to future meals. Thinks about new recipes he has yet to cook that he would like to cool in the near future. Thinks about how he enjoys the cooking process and his preference for cooking around other people, in a busy space (as long as it doesn’t detract from the food quality).

Feel: At ease when preparing meals for himself and others. Frustrated when individuals in his shared space do not take care of his equipment/appreciate his food preparation. Anxious when preparing meals that are taking too long to cook or end up costing more than originally anticipated.

Interviewee #3, Ruiqi Ma:

Ruiqi is a graduate student at Dartmouth. Ruiqi lives in Lebanon and drives to campus almost every weekday. She cooks almost every meal by herself and doesn’t eat at Dartmouth Dining options. Ruiqi didn’t cook before she came to Dartmouth. Before COVID, Ruiqi would eat in restaurants, but now she cooks more frequently. She has different types of cookers at home and enjoys food and cooking. Ruiqi is always eager to try something new and cooks almost exclusively Chinese food.

Say: She said that video recipes have more advantages than written traditional recipes. Because she thinks video recipes usually give more clear instructions or descriptions than written recipes, for example, how much salt is needed, what’s exactly the final look of the dish. The problem with video recipes is that she often needs to playback to the last step and watch it again because she usually cannot remember every detail in videos.

Do: She now cooks nearly every meal. And usually looking for different recipes online. She likes to practice the recipes she found worth trying.

Think: She wants to learn new dishes from recipes.

Feel: She feels enthusiastic about new recipes because she always looks for recipes online and summarizes video recipes into her notebook so that she can revise them during cooking.

Interviewee #4, Ximing Wang:

Ximing is a software engineer working in Boston. Ximing works from home about 3 to 4 days a week and is in person the remainder of the weekdays. When working from home, Ximing usually orders delivery online or orders take-out from nearby restaurants. When working in the office, he usually has sit-down meals at restaurants near his office. Ximing usually cooks simple and easy food. He doesn’t want to spend too much time cooking and has few kitchen utensils.

Say: For most times, he doesn’t like to use a recipe, because he is pretty time-sensitive and following recipes take too much time. For normal days he just wants to cook some fast food. He also said he already knows how to cook some common dishes and common principles of cooking, so now he usually doesn’t want to spend too much time on recipes.

Do: When he wants to cook something new to him, he just quickly views some recipes online but doesn't follow exactly every step on it. In the actual cooking process, except for some core steps, he will play the rest of the steps freely.

Think: The recipes are too complicated, he just simply learns some main steps from recipes.

Feel: He always feels bored with traditional recipes. Traditional recipes, no matter if it is written or video, are hard to follow and just tedious.

Interviewee #5, William Steadman:

William is an undergraduate engineering student at Dartmouth. As an undergraduate student living in a fraternity house, Will uses the kitchen space often. At home, he cooks every day but when at school he cooks only 3 times a week. Will is also responsible for organizing and cooking large “brotherhood meals” on Wednesdays, where he cooks for 50 or so people.

Say: He usually doesn’t use a recipe but when he does need one, he says it's often difficult to determine if a recipe is of high quality. Also, he finds that often there are equipment or ingredients hidden in the recipe that he doesn’t have.

Do: What he usually does is cook something familiar to him to avoid using recipes. At times when he does need to use one, he always finds himself wasting time due to clarity issues in the recipe.

Think: He thinks recipes can be stripped down so that it's quicker, easier, and more utilitarian.

Feel: He feels many of the recipes online create an unnecessary hassle and complicate the cooking process.

Will might want heightened functionality. Based on the interview, Will wants an app or website that lists out just the recipe without any preamble, has a checklist for all ingredients and equipment so that he is not surprised in the cooking process, and has a rating system so he can find high-quality ingredients easily.

Interview Analysis and Reflections

So, what have we learned from these user interviews? We learned that there was a problem and a significant need for college students in regards to finding good recipes online. For a more in depth analysis of the interviews, we came up with a "How might we" statements and other needs.

“How might we” statements

1. How might we more effectively categorize different types of recipes for discovery and retrieval purposes?

2. How might we make it easier for individuals who cook the same meals to source ingredients in a time and cost-effective manner?

3. How might we make it easier for individuals in shared living spaces to manage their cooking equipment and prevent misuse?

4. How might we streamline the preparation and cooking process for colleges in a non-cost-prohibitive and time-prohibitive manner?

5. How might we help individuals more effectively learn of and apply new recipes to their cooking routine?

6. How might we offer students a more accurate approximation of the time and cost needed to prepare online recipes?

7. How might we make it easier for users to interact with recipes and instructions while cooking?

8. How might we help users source seasonings and ingredients prepared in a cheaper and more convenient way?

9. How might we provide users a better way of determining whether a recipe matches their skill level and cost level?

10. How might we streamline the clean-up process for students who cook in a frequent manner?

Needs learned through the interviews

1. College students are in need of inexpensive cooking ingredients.

2. College students are in need of straightforward cooking recipes to minimize time wasted preparing food.

3. College students are in need of more convenient access to inexpensive cooking ingredients.

4. College students are in need of quality yet low-cost cooking materials, as pots and pans are often damaged or misplaced in social spaces.

5. College students are in need of a more effective way to consume learning material as it relates to cooking meals.

6. College students who cook for/in groups need a means of managing ingredient and preparation costs across the group.

7. College students are in need of recipes that don’t require having access to higher-end equipment that prevents them from making certain dishes.

8. College students are in need of a way to track what ingredients they do and don’t have.