The opportunity hiding in a frustration
In early February 2020, I finished co-interviewing over a dozen Facebook internal participants for an unrelated study. Recruiting had been challenging — stratified persona-based targeting combined with low response rates from employees, largely driven by incentive policies, made internal research frustratingly difficult.
As COVID-19 escalated and labs faced imminent closure, I anticipated an even greater reliance on internal participants. I identified this as a research opportunity and teamed up with a fellow Research Assistant. We reframed the problem: insofar as low engagement was a matter of user experience, how might we improve the internal recruiting and research process to provide a richer, more engaging experience for FRL employees?
A two-phase mixed-methods approach
Phase 1
- Semi-structured interviews (n=8)
- Embedded usability test
- Thematic analysis
Phase 2
- Large-scale survey
- Quantitative analysis
- Card sorting
- Affinity mapping
Participants were stratified across 5 job types to ensure a diverse sample, recruited via proprietary Facebook platforms. A discussion guide was piloted with an independent FRL employee before the full study launched. Each interview was followed by a debrief between both researchers to align on notes and impressions.
What we learned from Phase 1
Specific findings are covered by NDA. However, our preliminary insights identified clear user needs and pain points in the internal recruitment experience that were previously unaddressed. These were synthesized into a high-level summary and presented to FRL stakeholders.
Immediate stakeholder impact
Phase 1 findings changed the conversation
Insights from Phase 1 were presented to FRL stakeholders and made immediate impact on how internal teams thought about the research process. The study shifted how leadership understood and prioritized internal participant experience — a problem that had previously gone unexamined.
Phase 2 — a large-scale mixed-methods survey targeting the broader research org — was initiated to substantiate Phase 1 findings and provide actionable direction for stakeholder teams. Methods deployed or planned included interviews, surveys, usability tests, card sorting, affinity mapping, thematic analysis, and concept testing.
- Scoped and co-designed the full study
- Recruited participants across 5 stratified personas
- Conducted 4 interviews and 4 usability tests
- Analyzed data via thematic analysis
- Co-created and co-presented final deliverable to stakeholders