MAJOR QUALIFYING PROJECT
IQP Data Collection Tool
Unite all data methods into one platform
The IQP Data Collection Tool is tailored for WPI undergrads to collect and analyze their data across the globe, competing against current industry applications.
In this PERN stack app, I led the design and development of the responsive UI and conducted user research and testing.
Product
Fullstack Web Application
Skills
Product Design
Interactive Prototyping
Front-End Development
User Research & Testing
Tech Stack
React, Node.js, Express.js, TypeORM, AssemblyAI, Docker, AWS, Figma, Shadcn, OpenLayersMap, PostgreSQL
My Role
UI/UX Designer/Researcher
Lead Front-End Developer
Timeline
May - October, 2024
Team
Hunter Poulin, James Walden, Nate Schneider, Gus Montana
What's IQP DCT?
A personalized data tool for WPI undergrads
Worcester Polytechnic Institute juniors participate in a humanitarian project known as the Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) in any part of the globe. Our tool serves as an application that helps students collect interviews and qualitative/quantitative data, along with services such as geotagging, transcriptions, and team management.
Some numbers for context
1,200
juniors travel per year
50+
project sites
8
weeks of community work
Context
"How do we get started?"
Depending on the project, usually teams must collect vast amounts of different types of data ranging from qualitative, quantitative, surveys, and interviews. With multiple platforms and applications tracking this data, it becomes easy to be disorganized and inefficient while putting together their comprehensive solutions.
The 2023 Iceland Team initially tried to tackle on this massive overhead cost but the app was confined to its project archive. We sought out to continue their vision and create a standardized flow for juniors so that they can focus on the analysis that is important.
Project Goal
Design and build a fullstack app that will methodically standardize data collection for efficient project workflow.
Key Features
IQP teams can create and manage a unique project dashboard for their needs and add in team members or faculty.
Every time a member logs data, it will be geotagged where it was taken onto the interactive map.
Many IQP data sites may not have service or wifi. Students can store data in local storage until syncing at a later time.
After collecting respective data, a student should be able to export the data onto a .csv for further analysis.
UXR
What do students need?
Three main research pillars
Prioritization
We analyzed 20 unique IQP project papers to find common metrics in the way students collected data. To minimize error, all team members took part in reviewing another peer's overview to check for any mistakes. We prioritized the highest percentages as our first sprints and progressed from there. Out of those 20, 90% had interviews, 90% qualitative data, 70% surveys, and 50% quantitative data.
Viability
Existing applications such as Fastfield and Jotfield allow form building, geotagging data, and exportation, but what disadvantages to they have? Not free, complicated UI, and is intended for the electrical industries. Our application will be tailored to WPI students as a university service for free and aim to have a simple UI.
Revitalization
With current WPI pages such as the university site, planner.wpi.edu, and courselistings.wpi.edu, we will revitalize the current color palette and component structures so users can recognize similar layouts. Using shadcn UI, our interface brings a new level to the frontier.
User Testing
What do students think?
Our user testing consisted of 3 weekly sessions, aiming to do 10 tests for the first 2 weeks each, and then finalize with 5 test in the last (25 total). Initially in the first beta version, we knew that we would have a lot of issues or UI tweaks, but in our findings as we got to the second week, those bugs diminished greatly. We tweaked features such as collapsible accordions for form categories, Form/Link Tile Navigation, and the addition of MCQs.
Students rated 8 or higher on these metrics on scale of 1-10
88%
Overall Satisfaction
100%
Aesthetics
87%
Navigation
81%
Performance
Final Design
Logging into your team dashboard
Create your own account and login to your team's dashboard. If you do not have a team, you can create/join one.
Create your own forms
Create data or interview forms with custom questions, along with attaching relevant links to your project. Using AssemblyAI, you can conduct your interviews, record, and transcribe your audio for further use.
Geotag your form data
With the power of OpenLayersMap and Nominatim API, you can locate your logged data entries, or search it up. You can also filter out data through a time frame slider.
Manage Your Team
View Project Details
Help Page for Ease of Access
Help Icon Dialog
Project management and ease of access
Manage your team and view their contributions, so you make sure everyone does their part. To help you out with this application, there is a help page and various help icon popup dialogs on specific pages needed.
Impact
Our overarching goal was to create a concept application backed by the use case needs of students and we have done exactly that. The WPI President Grace Wang & the Global Studies Dean have shown significant interest in our developments, and currently this project is hosted by WPI servers. Additionally, we were featured on the WPI Computer Science department in a newsletter for our efforts.
In April 2025, our team will present our application in our MQP showcase fo further expand the attention and needs of the IQP Data Collection Tool.
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