Realizing that I wanted to make a career out of asking "How?" and "Why?" started with a social psychology class in my undergrad. The final project was to conduct a mini-study on the social behavior of others using observational data collection methods.
The most interesting topic for me was to observe the activity of others on Instagram. Attending school in Hawaii gave me lots of material to work with. My hypothesis was that people received more likes on their posts from members of the opposite sex if they were dressed in a swimsuit as opposed to posts with more clothing. As I started collecting the data, I made an observation I had not previously considered. Why were the comments and likes on both male and females’ posts overwhelmingly more female?
I had never realized how much more women were involved with Instagram. I suddenly had to talk about this with everyone I knew. Without even realizing it, I started conducting my own qualitative interviews with friends and family, curious to hear and understand their thoughts and insights on the subject. After finishing this study, I knew what my senior project had to be about: What is the relationship between women and Instagram and how does it influence them?
Conducting my senior project from start to finish was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I will walk you through it if you click here. It was so easy for me because it didn’t even feel like work. I was genuinely so excited and interested to learn everything I could about this subject. I read all the background research and lit reviews available, recruited participants, composed the interview questions, conducted a focus group and individual follow-up interviews, transcribed, coded and analyzed the data using the Grounded Theory method, and wrote a final paper on all my findings. And I loved all of it (except transcribing. Transcribing is the literal worst).
After the completion of my project, I received overwhelmingly positive feedback from my advisor, my professors, and peers. Having the opportunity to present my findings at other universities and participating in research conferences was exciting and affirming that I loved what I did. I went on to win the first-place prize at the BYUH Undergrad Research Conference in 2017. At that moment, I didn’t really understand how I could make a career of studying people and their behaviors with technology. All I knew was that I wanted to be a part of a world where I could learn everything there is to know about it.
Which finds us here and now, the present. Incredible opportunities and personal preparation have led to me stumbling upon the magical field that is UX, a world that has simply been waiting for me to find it. And I am absolutely hooked. It is my greatest desire to be on the front lines of innovation, driving accessibility for everyone and helping people positively change and contribute to the world. I know that UX research is my purpose and my passion and I am so excited to see what I will accomplish with it.
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