Hello All,
I am in my senior year of University, and I am just getting into UX Research. I am going to be in a Human Factors Lab this semester in which we are developing an exoskeleton. I will be assisting in creating questionnaires, conducting interviews, collecting data from potentional exoskeleton users targeting their movements and PREFERENCES in what they would appreciate to have in an assistive robot, how we can best support their needs (users of exoskeleton). I want my senior thesis to be more on the UX side, more than human factors. Any ideas on what I could make my thesis question/project focused on? Thank you!
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In my mind, human factors and user experience overlap. What are the differences as you define them? Or as anyone defines them? I think that would be your starting point.
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I agree. They overlap, when I look at it… Human factors is studying behaviors in response to services, products, etc… When I think of UX Research I think of uncovering a problem, insights through interviews, etc. But those insights come through studying behaviors…
So I really am looking for idea topics for a thesis in my project.
Why don’t you start us off with some ideas of your own first?
Post 10 ideas here, doesn’t matter how ridiculous they sound, and then we can build from that?
More reading here on how to work your ideas muscle
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Could I email my ideas to your email? It’s in a document.
Would you be willing to share them publicly? I think that will help us help you better.
It’s a word document 
You can upload it. 
how about starting with ideas for the title of your thesis?
some interesting examples here
http://www.heartsofvision.com/24-winning-samples-of-thesis-titles-related-to-education/
It won’t let me upload a word document, so I just copied the important info.
Title : Identifying pain points and needs of individuals with limited mobility to improve the design of exoskeleton technology
What I will be doing : Arsema will be working amongst a team of researchers consisting of undergraduate students, graduate students, post docs, and professors. She will be collecting data with Professor Tamara Lorenz targeting the movements of potential exoskeleton users, and their preferences in having an assistive robot. Arsema will also be involved in the Psychology lab collecting data from the Motion Capture research that she can then analyze the movements of the potential exoskeleton users.
Research Questions: How can technology best be built to support the needs of potential exoskeleton users?
What would the elderly appreciate to have in an assistive robot?
What are the movements of potential exoskeleton users that can help predict changes to make with the assistive robot?
Do the preferences of potential exoskeleton users match their needs?
Title : Identifying pain points and needs of individuals with limited mobility to improve the design of exoskeleton technology
What I will be doing : Arsema will be working amongst a team of researchers consisting of undergraduate students, graduate students, post docs, and professors. She will be collecting data with Professor Tamara Lorenz targeting the movements of potential exoskeleton users, and their preferences in having an assistive robot. Arsema will also be involved in the Psychology lab collecting data from the Motion Capture research that she can then analyze the movements of the potential exoskeleton users.
Research Questions: How can technology best be built to support the needs of potential exoskeleton users?
What would the elderly appreciate to have in an assistive robot?
What are the movements of potential exoskeleton users that can help predict changes to make with the assistive robot?
Do the preferences of potential exoskeleton users match their needs?
I have my information copied in reply to others. It wouldn’t let me send it to you because it’s the same reply
Never to fear, when you reply in this thread to someone, everyone can read it. That way everyone can jump in.
Now, are the Research Questions you listed ideas that you’ve come up with or are they assigned to you? I want to make sure I’m brainstorming with the right material.
Thank you! I came up with everything.
Thank you Piper!
Remember: start with the end in mind. What do you see as the most useful outputs from this research?
A major consideration is the categorization of individual usage ranges. They might not be entirely capable of describing their needs, so how are you going to measure the distinction between preference vs. needs?
Also, are you at a point where you’ve accomplished any scoping review over what sort of background research has been done in defining those sort of needs?
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