User Research portfolio of Elka Mao

1. RESEARCH
PORTFOLIO
ELKA MAO

2. ▸ Systematic training in research
methodologies
▸ Rich field research experiences
▸ Relevant industry exposure
FOR A SATISFYING USER EXPERIENCE
YOU NEED SOMEONE WHO HAS
Y
I AM THAT SOMEONE

3. FOR A SATISFYING USER EXPERIENCE
YOU NEED SOMEONE WHO HAS
Y
▸ Systematic training in research
methodologies
▸ Rich field research experiences
▸ Relevant industry exposure

4. WHY USER RESEARCHER?
▸ Perfect combination of my interest (UX design), my trainings (quantitative methodology) and my
past experiences (research)
▸ Fan of designers

5. MOBILE PAY USER
SEGMENTATION
CASE STUDY 1

6. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
▸ Understand mobile pay user’s payment behaviors
▸ Improve user experiences by determining different service needs
Research questions
▸ Is there significant segmentation among mobile pay users?
If so,
▸ How are users similar within each group?
▸ How are users different among groups?

7. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
Survey
▸ Mobile Pay Tracker (longitudinal quarterly survey)
▸ Sample: 2000 mobile pay users
▸ Online survey with screener
K-means Clustering
▸ 94 variables input
▸ Cluster plot
▸ Determining clusters

8. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
Shiny AppPlot each each variable and explore differences among groups

9. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
▸ There are two key drivers of the segmentation: age
(demographical) and activeness (behavioral)
▸ The most active mobile pay user groups are relatively younger,
are enthusiastic about new technologies and any “cool” stuffs
▸ The least active mobile pay users are relatively older, more
conscious of budget and put more emphasis on security
▸ Benefits such as the convenience of no need to carry physical
wallet are universally appreciated among groups
Using the same dataset —- NPS score exploration

10. VIDEO WEBSITE VIP
MEMBERSHIP DESIGN
CASE STUDY 2

11. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
▸ Determine benefits included in the VIP membership package
▸ Determine pricing of VIP subscription

12. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
Choice Based Conjoint Analysis
If you were considering subscribe to the iQIY VIP membership and these were the
only alternatives, which would you choose?
1080P high
definition video
Ads-Free
VIP-only video
resources
Price: ¥20/month
720P definition
video
Ads-Free
VIP-only video
resources
Price: ¥15/month
1080P high
definition video
Ads-Free
Cross platform
display
Price: ¥20/month
None: I wouldn’t
choose any of
these
SELECT SELECTSELECTSELECT
My role:
‣ Help with the design of conjoint survey
‣ Test logical consistency of the online survey
‣ Summarize and visualize the conjoint data

13. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
37%
14%
5%
22%
21%
Ads-free VIP-only vedios VIP marker Price Video definition
Attribute Importance

14. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
▸ Ads-free, access to high definition video are the most highly valued
features
▸ Come up with the VIP package that has the highest possible
market share

15. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
Quantitative
▸ Help with survey design and evaluation
▸ Input and clean survey data
▸ Create charts and graphs based on data analysis results
Qualitative
‣ Notetaker during workshops and interviews
‣ Make posters and props for workshops
‣ Conduct telephone screening for interviewees
‣ Collect and analyze informations from dairy studies
My other roles during internship in the market research company

16. CREATING A CREDIT
SCORING MODEL FOR
RURAL CHINA
CASE STUDY 3

17. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
▸ Enabling rural development with easier access to financial support
▸ Creating a special credit scoring model that fits into the financial
context of rural China
▸ Improving the efficiency and accuracy of loan decision making

18. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
Filed Research
▸ Case study of a rural financial cooperative in Hebei, China
▸ In-depth interview with 9 rural credit loan officers
▸ Delphi method: invite officers to fill out a survey concerning the
relative importance of credit indicators
Literature Review
▸ Relationship lending and credit scoring
▸ Method of building credit scoring model
▸ Selection of indicators: 21 indicators within 4 groups: family
background, willingness to repay, ability to repay, relationship with
the rural financial institution

19. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
▸ Step1: Construct decision hierarchy (based on group discussion and
in-depth interview)
▸ Step2: Construct pairwise comparison matrix
▸ Step 3: Weight and recalculate the matrix
▸ Step 4: Evaluate the weights by calculating the consistency ratio
Finally, use the calculated weights to construct a formula, i.e. the credit
scoring model.
Analytical Hierarchy Process

20. Research Process
1
Project Goal
Methodology
Analysis
Insights
2
3
4
▸ For rural loan officers, relative importance of credit indicators
when assessing a loan application is as follow:
Ability to repay > Willingness to repay > Relationship with the
cooperative > Family background
▸ Using real loan application records as testing data set, the credit
scoring model reaches prediction accuracy of 92%.

21. Data Visualization Project
‣ NYC Yellow Cab Analysis
‣ NYC Real Estate Price Prediction