Capstone Project
Data cleaning and dashboard UI user testing
The Challenge
My team’s task was to create a final dashboard using Tableau that would host our data cleaning work. Our project was divided into different stages, including creating a Python script to unify and clean datasets, designing personas for user testing and influencing our design, and conducting research on our first dashboard design.
The Team
My randomly-assigned team consisted of myself, a good friend of mine, and a nurse working night shifts. That last team member proved to be a bit of a hurdle, as she was unable to meet at reasonable times in person and tended to get back to us at odd hours. My other team member and I spent good amounts of time collaborating in person and found ways to divide up tasks in a way that work accommodated each person’s schedule and ability.
Design Process
Once done with data cleaning and the process of importing the sets into Tableau, our goal was to design an interface of visualizations that provided us with the necessary data for task completion. I sketched a rough layout of what visuals would compliment our data sets best and replicated this in a Tableau dashboard.
First Design Testing
This stage of the project was meant to put user research methods to the test. Our class invited in half a dozen grad students to sit down and run through tasks given to them. We asked our participants to narrate what they were doing as well as fill out a survey at the end of our tasks. This gave us valuable input on our layout and design, along with screen and audio recordings, highlighting where we needed to make changes.
The Results
Our final Tableau dashboard is hosted here. My team and I presented our final findings and design for our final grade, and it was received well. I’m very happy with what we accomplished, including our testing methods and improvements on feedback. I learned a lot in how to conduct user testing, how to present data in a user-friendly manner, and public speaking skills.
As mentioned before, one of our biggest hurdles was our third team member. Though overall I feel like things were accomplished smoothly, we had many issues with her ability to contribute. My partner and I even raised concerns to our professor in an email about how much of her grade would be riding on our work. I got a greater understanding how best to work with the team I am given rather than blame quality of work on under-performing members. Our method of task distribution ensured that our quality of work would be higher than if we had just assigned tasks at random.