Need Finding

Methodology

Two methods were used in the Need Finding process: an online survey and 3 face-to-face interviews. The online survey was meant to get a general but broader idea about what factors people think are crucial to professional communications, and the interviews were conducted in order to know more detailed information about how professional people think that students can improve on regarding their level of politeness in professional interactions.

Survey

The survey was distributed through Facebook and Messenger, with a total of 40 responses from students with different cultural backgrounds, school years, and career goals. There are 10 questions in the survey, of which 9 of them are required, and 1 is open-ended and not required. Reduction questions were introduced in order to reduce biases. The survey questions were tested among the group members in order to make sure that there was no leading question.

Interview

3 interviews were conducted. The interviewees are Ellen, a Career Center advisor that offers professional feedback and does mock interviews with students, Professor Hoque, the instructor for HCI course and has experiences recruiting phD students, and Monica, a Speaking fellow that helps students improve their speaking and presentation skills. For Ellen and Monica, the interview took place at their workplace/office, and for Professor Hoque, it was a Google Hangouts interview. The interviews with Professor Hoque and Ellen were recorded. About ten questions were asked during each interview, and questions varied when discovered an interesting point in order to get more in-depth and accurate feedback. Sometimes questions were asked for further clarifications.

Results

Survey

The survey questions were viewed by all group members and our mentor Samiha before being published. Some changes were made on the draft just to make sure that there were no leading questions. The survey first asks students how often they participate in professional communication, and then asks how important they think politeness is, the purpose of the questions is to get a general idea of how much of potential influence that our product will make. Then the survey moves on to more detailed questions such as what factors (in terms of audio) students think will contribute to a polite communication, and what aspects they find most difficult to balance their attitudes and politeness. Finally, there is an open-ended question at the end of the survey that asks them what other factors they think will determine a person’s level of politeness in professional communication.

Results show that among 40 people, only 3 (7.5%) people never participate in professional communication, while the rest of the students participate in professional interactions with frequency in either 1-2 times per month (32.5%), 1-2 times per semester (47.5%), or 1-2 times per year (12.5%). 95% of students think that politeness is (very) important in professional interactions and is a crucial factor for first impression. In order to measure how important politeness is, the survey asks students whether they would want to work with someone who is 90% polite and 60% smart, or someone who is 50% polite but 90% smart, and 65% people think that it is better to work with the former (the more polite one), which means that more people actually think that politeness outweighs smartness, to some extent.

Overall, the problems that students are facing are 1) balancing their attitudes and politeness in different situations (especially when saying no); 2) use of words are sometimes casual, which is not good in a professional setting; 3) hard to balance the scale of their pitch.

Interview

All three interviewees witnessed/participated in students’ professional interactions. All of them think that politeness is a very crucial factor in professional communication. According to Monica, “In the professional speech, it is very important to show respect and dignity to others.” Ellen also thinks that “Your adaptability, your resistance, being nice, being able to communicate with others, they are important components. ”

They believe that students behave politely enough in professional interactions, however, Professor Hoque raised a possibility that this is because students are now in an academic environment. When asked what counts a polite conversation, Ellen told us a story about a student who used to come to her for career advice: “He was applying for a job. But in his interview, he was very stoic, he didn’t have enthusiasm… And they came to me, and told me that they wanted somebody who is able to communicate with their customers, sell their products. ‘We have known him for so long, he’s such an amazing… but he had no energy, no enthusiasm.’ ” Then she says that “Remember, your personality is an important component of this job as well, if you want this job, you also need to, because many times, the interviewers are not just interviewing you for your technical abilities, but your personalities as well. ” In the other interviews, both interviewees also mentioned that showing enthusiasm is very important in professional communication. According to Professor Hoque, excitement is “just the intonation itself, being able to vary your volume, that means you’re kinda excited about it. Those are the things I look at - your excitement, asking questions, and listening.”

Two interviewees think that softness in voice counts as a factor of being polite, because soft voice often makes people feel better. Like the feedback we got from the survey, Professor Hoque also thinks that “speak[ing] properly, pausing appropriately, while asking a question waiting for me to speak.” is a sign of politeness.

Interview results also show that the use of words is really important, and it is inappropriate for students to use casual words in a professional setting. In this interview, Ellen also pointed out a very important but subtle point: when students speak, “They might not realize that this is how they’re projecting it. ” This is also why we want to design this application: the same sentence can be interpreted in different ways. Sometimes we think that we are talking politely enough, but other people might not feel the same. We do not always recognize that “this is how we are projecting it”.

What We Will Try to Solve

1. Allow users to visualize their pitch, tone, and volume as they speak so that they do not communicate in a loud way.
   • Make suggestions on the intonation, show excitement and confidence.
2. Remind them when casual words are detected.
3. Offer them different scenarios to practice their speaking based on their current needs.