HEAL Initiative®
Role and Activities
As the primary researcher on this project, I:
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Developed the user research plan, moderator’s guides, and managed participant outreach;
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Conducted usability testing and user interviews in two phases (in person and remote) with three participant groups;
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Analyzed data, identified insights, developed recommendations and presented to stakeholders.
Additional team members included another researcher who also conducted in-person testing and two notetakers.
Background
The National Institutes of Health’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®, is an effort to accelerate research to improve treatments for opioid misuse and addiction and enhance pain management. The HEAL Initiative® coordinates funding opportunities from across the National Institutes of Health and fosters data sharing among researchers, health care providers, community leaders, and policymakers.
Shortly after the website launched, I was charged with conducting user research to assess the usability of the site’s funding database and to assess the importance of presumed top tasks among three main user audiences (researchers, advocacy groups and policy specialists).
Research Questions
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What pain points do users experience with the funding database?
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Do participants’ interests and top tasks align with our assumptions? Would new features, including an interactive map displaying funded projects and stories highlighting research impact, support those top tasks?
Presumed Top Tasks
Researchers
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Explore funded projects and opportunities (using database)
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review research programs
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Find news/updates on research and grantees
Advocacy Groups
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Learn about active research and funding
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Get updates on research progress and news
Researchers
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Find state or regional funding information
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Find summaries, examples of research impact and talking points
Find news/updates on research and grantees
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Find program resources and guidance
Methods
We used a hybrid qualitative usability testing format, including both interview questions and task-based testing. This hybrid format allowed for qualitative attitudinal feedback from users as well as testing the usability of specific website features.
In Phase One, we conducted in-person testing with nine participants representing the Researcher group at the HEAL Investigators Meeting. Given time restrictions at the meeting, participants in this group were asked to complete tasks in the funding database, but not the map prototype.
During Phase Two, which was conducted remotely, policy and advocacy participants were asked to complete tasks in the funding database and the map prototype. All participants were asked open-ended interview questions and were asked to think aloud while performing tasks to solicit feedback about website usage, interests, opportunities, and pain points.
HEAL Funded Projects database at the time of testing
Selected Insights and Recommendations
Findings
Interests and Top Tasks
User interests and top tasks were aligned as expected by audience group:
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Researchers expressed interest in the "Research," "Funding," and "About" sections. Their top tasks consisted of searching for new funding opportunities, reviewing existing research projects, and looking for collaboration opportunities.
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Policy specialists expressed interest in the "About" and "Funding" sections. Their top tasks consisted of finding funding and research project information (in the funding database) by congressional district and IC, as well as talking points about the HEAL Initiative for their stakeholders.
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Advocacy group participants expressed interest in the "About" and "Resources" pages. Top tasks included learning about the program and finding resources, as well as news about research findings and impact.
Feature Stories
All Phase Two participants expressed strong interest in feature stories and said they would share these with their stakeholders. We recommended developing "Research Spotlights" stories that would showcase the impact of HEAL Initiative® research projects.
Interactive Map
All Phase Two participants found the map prototype interesting and easy to use. Policy specialists in particular said it would be useful in providing information to their stakeholders. We recommended developing a map on the website that would show the breadth of HEAL Initiative® projects across the United States.
Funding Database
Users thought that the database was useful, particularly for researcher and policy groups. However, participants noted several points of confusion and opportunities for improvement. Recommendations to improve usability of the database are outlined below.
Link Labels
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Change the “CSV” label to “Export Results” or “Download Results.”
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Change the “+” expander label to “+ Show Summary.”
Functionality
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Add a “Clear Filters” button. Google Analytics show that database users execute an average of 2 searches per visit, supporting this recommendation.
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Related to the “Export Results” or “Download Results” label change, correct the export functionality to export specific results rather than the full database.
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Open NIH RePORTER links in a new tab or window.
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Address the issue with change blindness and understanding why certain results appear by highlighting search terms within the results.
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To address the issue with long-tail and related keywords not producing relevant search results, pull “Project Terms” from NIH RePORTER to support search results.
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Replace the "Email Results" option with a "Save Results" option that copies the URL for the search result to the clipboard for easy re-use and sharing.
Layout
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To address users’ confusion about the "Research Focus Areas," "Research Programs," and other filters, create an “Advanced Search” section to hide these options until they are manually selected by the user.
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Move the “Show X per page” filter and consider increasing the default quantity.
Outcomes
Feature Stories
Our team developed a monthly series of "Research Spotlights" to showcase the impact of HEAL Initiative®. The latest content from this series is consistently the most shared content on the site and among the most visited pages, along with the homepage and funding database.
Example of a Research Spotlight
Interactive Map
Our team developed a monthly series of Research Spotlights to showcase the impact of HEAL Initiative®. The latest content from this series is consistently the most shared content on the site and among the most visited pages, along with the homepage and funding database.
Funding Database
All recommended usability enhancements were made to the funding database. Following the enhancements, search results exports from the database increased by 238% and one of the policy group participants responded with the statement below.
“I see you’ve made improvements to the Funded Projects and Funding Opportunities webpages—thank you!
The options to download results and save my search are so useful. I appreciate the opportunity to offer feedback.”
HEAL Funded Projects database after implementing enhancements