LONG LINES: WORTH THE WAIT?
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User research
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Interviews
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Coding + Thematic Analysis
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Affinity Mapping
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Storyboards + Personas
How can waiting in line feel less burdensome and more enjoyable?
Overview
As part of my research class at the University of Michigan, SI 422: Needs Assessment and Usability Evaluation, I was tasked with selecting an issue of my choice to research over the course of a semester (around 15 weeks). I chose to address the issue of waiting in long lines, following a ten week process of research, analysis, and deliverables. Almost every individual has waited in a long line at least once in their life and has almost immediately regretted that decision. Nowadays, with the returning demand of attractions, commodities, and public spaces in general after COVID, long lines are almost an expected inconvenience that we must put up with in order to get the things we want. In fact, about 69% of U.S. consumers, in a survey conducted by Waitwhile, associating waiting in lines with feelings of apathy, boredom, annoyance or frustration. Because this is such a widespread issue, there have been several attempts at solutions. Despite this research, long lines are still an issue that I and everyone else deal with daily with few real solutions, and I wanted to figure out how to address this issue by understanding it from a user's - or waiter's - perspective.
The Problem
Waiting in long lines often feels like a waste of time and can cause feelings of frustration, boredom, and apathy.
Objective
After a thorough exploration of the problem space and its major stakeholders, I decided to conduct this research project in order to identify the motivations behind waiting in long lines and to understand how one might leverage these motivations to improve the line experience.
Timeline
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Overall - 10 weeks
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Discovery + Research - 8 weeks
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Analysis + Deliverables - 2 weeks
Tools
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OtterAI - Interviews
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Miro - Affinity Diagram
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Figma - Persona
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Procreate - Storyboard
Research Process
1
2
3
Data Collection
Thematic Analysis
Deliverable Creation
Data Collection
Recruitment & Interviews
During the research and data collection phase of the project, I conducted user interviews to gain data and insights that would inform my intended deliverables. To ensure I would get the most relevant and rich data from participants, I prepared a semi-structured interview script with several categories of questions with increasing specificity, focusing on my target audiences’ priorities, motivations, and experiences with waiting in long lines.
In a week, I recruited and interviewed 5 participants in person for about 30 minutes each, with my inclusion criteria being individuals who had experienced waiting in longer than average lines (25+ minutes). Using a transcription site, OtterAI, I recorded and refined word-for-word transcripts of each interview so that I would be able to refer to them throughout the remainder of my project.
Each interview gave me insight about motivations, annoyances, and behaviors in line.
Thematic Analysis
Coding Interviews
While the interviews were the first step in collecting valuable data that can be used to generate solutions to the problem, the real magic happens in synthesizing the data, identifying themes and patterns, and making conclusions.
In order to make sense of the long transcripts I had recorded for each participant, I coded each of the 5 interviews. Coding involves going through a transcript and identifying any remotely important quotes from the participant that are relevant to the research. These quotes are then turned into more generalized first-person statements. For example, the participant quote, "Definitely when it felt like the line was just not even moving at a certain point. Like, you know, you might be moving inch by inch but if you were just staying still for longer than like, 10 minutes, then I was probably very frustrated and annoyed as to like, why like, why aren't we moving at this point?", could become the following code: I become frustrated when there is no indication that a line is moving after a certain amount of time and I cannot understand why. This process of coding helps to summarize and generalize key information so that it can be grouped into patterns and themes later on.
Codes help make sense of word-for-word transcripts and give an interview more focused data
Themes & Affinity Mapping
Identifying themes was the next important step in gaining insights from my collected interview data. Using the codes I had developed from my interview transcripts, I grouped the similar codes and their corresponding quotes into small clusters. I then gave these clusters an umbrella topic, or theme that aptly described the pattern I had found. In this manner, I grouped all of the codes into a theme that contained quotes from different participants.
After creating these themes, I mapped them out visually in an Affinity Diagram on a digital whiteboard tool called Miro using sticky notes. Each theme became a black outlined box, such as 'Movement in Line' or 'Desirable Company in Line', while each sticky note represented a quote from a specific participant relating to a code that fell under that theme. The affinity diagram allowed me to get a better idea visually of the most prevalent and important patterns according to my codes.
Affinity diagram made on Miro with several thematic groupings of data
3 Important Themes
Participants want to feel a sense of organization and order when in line
Participants prefer freedom and fluidity over rigidity in line structure
Participants value continuous movement when in line
Key Findings
After developing codes from the interview transcripts, these were some of the most important and repeated ones:
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I become frustrated when there is no indication that a line is moving after a certain amount of time and I can't understand why
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I like being aware of what is going on when I am in line (duration, destination, etc.)
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I will justify waiting in long lines if I think the end result was worthwhile and enjoyable
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I base my decision to wait in a line heavily on the value or importance of what is at the end, and how immediately I need that thing
From these codes, I developed several themes, the most important of them being:
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Visibility of the Line End
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Movement in Line
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Organization
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Comfort
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Extrinsic Motivations
These codes and themes tell me that users prioritize elements such as line structure and movement, the end result of a line, and the organization and information a line conveys.
Findings link together key data points and help create a more cohesive story
Creating Deliverables
Persona
In order to form a deeper understanding of my users' needs, experiences, and motivations based off of my interviews and data analysis, I developed a representative user persona. The persona is based on shared patterns and themes identified across my 5 participants in order to better understand what motivations and behaviors are characteristic of typical line waiters.
For my persona, I felt that it was important to include a value of organization and structure as well as a clearly delineated end destination, as those were two key motivations that I had identified in my affinity diagram process for nearly all participants.
User persona created on Figma based off of interview data and analysis.
Storyboard
The second deliverable I created based on the key findings and understandings from my research was a storyboard. Storyboards are a good way to ideate solutions to your problem in more specifically outlined scenarios that provide a contextualized understanding of what a solution could look like and achieve. The storyboard I chose to create depicts an envisioned future where a solution is already in place to improve the line waiting experience. The solution addresses several of the identified priorities from my interview participants, including beneficial interaction with others in line as well as information about line structure and time.
Storyboard made on Procreate outlining an envisioned future solution
Iterative Research Process
Reflections & Learnings
Next Steps
Given that this research was completed as part of a semester-long college course, there were some natural time constraints that shaped the structure and phases of the project. In the future, here are some steps I would like to take to further this project.
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Conduct further interviews specifically related to line structure and organization methods in order to get a better understanding of user preferences.
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Conduct a survey about existing solutions for waiting in long lines to gain a larger quantity of qualitative and quantitative data on effectiveness.
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Conduct usability testing on one of the current competitor line waiting interfaces to identify effective strategies and areas for improvement.
Design Recommendations
Based on the key findings and participant input, I think some important features to include in a line-waiting solution would be an interactive feature with the rest of the people waiting in line that makes people feel as if they are benefitting themselves and others in the process. For example, an option to recommend other rides to people in line for the same ride as you at an amusement park. Another feature that would address people's motivations in line would be a clearly marked indicator of how fast the line is moving, your position in line, how long it will take to reach the end, and other relevant information about line wait or structure such as areas to sit and rest or locations of kiosks in an airport.
Widget indicating important line info such as place in line and available amenities