Research Activities Library

Pilot Study

My internship began with the handover of five ‘research activity cards’, each outlining an activity—such as observing behaviours or prompting specific questions—for YouTube employees to use during events with creators. These cards were intended to help non-researchers gather meaningful insights in the field.

Objective:

• 🎯 Evaluate the effectiveness of the research activity cards in helping YouTube employees connect with creators.
• 🎯 Gather user research insights during the pilot.
• 🎯 Identify opportunities to improve and expand the research kit.

Process:

• ⚙️ Collaborated with my mentor to assemble a complete research kit—including activity cards, tote bag, pens, and a button—for YouTube employees.
• ⚙️ Distributed kits to all attending staff at VidCon, a major creator conference, and briefed them on objectives and usage via email in coordination with senior managers
• ⚙️ Acted as the main point of contact during the event, supporting late arrivals, answering questions, and encouraging participation throughout the conference.

Challenges:

• 🧩 Worked under tight deadlines to meet strict branding requirements and prepare the kit ahead of VidCon, which took place in my second week.
• 🧩 Faced challenges in securing timely submission of completed kits from employees post-event.

Outcomes:

After the conference, employees submitted their activity results and feedback through an internal Google form. I analysed the submissions to identify key user pain points, positive experiences, and employee feedback on the kit itself. These findings informed the next phase of the project: conducting focus groups to delve deeper into the themes uncovered during the pilot.

Follow-Up Focus Groups & Card Sorting

Following the pilot study and analysis, I conducted a series of follow-up focus groups with YouTube employees to further explore the insights gathered and evaluate the effectiveness of the research kit.

Objective:

• 🎯 Deepen understanding of pilot study results and highlight key user concerns and improvement areas.
• 🎯 Assess which elements of the research kit were effective, and identify components needing refinement or replacement.

Process:

• ⚙️ Coded pilot study results to identify key themes related to YouTube’s users and services.
• ⚙️ Recruited employees who completed the kit and ran focus groups of four participants each.
• ⚙️ Designed a worksheet exercise using post-its and prompts to surface observations and user stories from their research activities.
• ⚙️ Used card sorting techniques to group insights, then gathered feedback on the kit’s strengths and weaknesses.

Challenges:

• 🧩 Coordinating schedules and recruiting volunteers from a limited pool of kit respondents.
• 🧩 Designing an activity to maximise useful input, with guidance from a UX Strategist before and after development.
• 🧩 Distilling a large volume of rich focus group data into clear, actionable insights for reporting.

Outcomes:

After completing the focus groups, I combined their findings with pilot study data to produce an internal report highlighting key issues for creators, users, and YouTube employees. The report was well received by colleagues and informed the next phase of my project: iterating and improving the research kit based on collected feedback.

Iterative Redesign

The final phase of my summer project was the iterative re-design and testing of the research activities, and the formation of a research activity library.

Objective:

• 🎯 Remove ineffective or unpopular activities from the original kit.
• 🎯 Refine and enhance activities that showed strong engagement and value.
• 🎯 Develop and test a new set of activities at an upcoming creator event.

Process:

• ⚙️ Reviewed feedback from pilot submissions and focus groups to identify strengths and weaknesses in the original research kit.
• ⚙️ Removed one consistently unpopular activity and revised the remaining four based on user input.
• ⚙️ Created 15+ new research activities, resulting in a set of around 20, which I tested with YouTube employees over two design iterations.
• ⚙️ Completed a full visual redesign of the kit and built an internal website to house the updated activities and usage guidelines for deployment at creator events.

Challenges:

• 🧩 Expanding the kit to 20 diverse, practical activities that employees could realistically deploy was a major challenge.
• 🧩 The visual redesign required careful planning, but I overcame this by consulting UX Designers and using internal design assets.
• 🧩 Creating a clear, self-guided research library that any employee could use independently was complex but highly rewarding.

Outcomes:

I completed a fully redesigned and deployable research activity library featuring over 20 activities. To support its use, I built an internal Google site containing clear instructions on how to deploy each activity across different contexts. The project was successfully delivered as my intern project and was well received by my mentor and other YouTube employees.

Summary

Overall, I successfully delivered my summer project to a high standard while managing multiple other initiatives during my internship at YouTube. I gained valuable experience conducting user research in fast-paced, unpredictable environments—far beyond the controlled lab settings I was used to. Distributing research kits in the field, supporting employees in using them, and encouraging their return pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me how to adapt research practices in real-world contexts. Even the more formal aspects of the project, such as designing focus group activities and leading a full visual redesign of the kit, gave me the opportunity to develop new skills and apply them effectively.