Data-driven UX: Balancing quantitative and qualitative insights for a better user experience in EFSA case-study
In user experience (UX) research, combining qualitative and quantitative methods is one of the most effective ways to uncover both key insights and understand more subtle usability issues. Combining both approaches in a single project strengthens an evaluation by allowing the strengths of one methodology to compensate the weaknesses of the other and vice versa.
Recently, we in Trinidad Wiseman conducted a UX research for The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) by using this combined methodology approach. The project explored how users navigate, search, and interact with various EFSA's web resources to access its scientific output, including research papers, scientific opinions, reports, guidance documents, and other publications.
Looking to design digital services that truly meet user needs through data-driven insights? At Trinidad Wiseman, we conduct user research, business and pre-analysis, and help design user-friendly solutions – just like in this EFSA project, where we combined quantitative and qualitative methods.
Problem statement and objectives of the EFSA project
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the European Union (EU) agency responsible for delivering independent scientific advice and communicating about current and emerging risks in the food chain.
EFSA contributes to protecting human life and health while considering animal health and welfare, plant health, and the environment. It provides independent and transparent scientific advice through numerous research activities, producing a large volume of scientific output relevant not only to industry players but also to academics, the press, and the general public.
Because of abundance of EFSA publications several platforms were created in effort to manage the important documentation and organize it in a logical and structured way:
- OpenEFSA - a portal developed by EFSA to provide stakeholders with a range of additional services and tools aimed at enhancing the transparency and accessibility of EFSA’s work. It serves as a centralized platform where all information related to EFSA’s risk assessments, including the data and studies used, is made available in one place for the first time. This initiative supports greater openness and usability for industry professionals, academics, and the public.
- EFSA Journal - an open-access, free-of-charge online scientific journal on external platform of Wiley Online Library that publishes the scientific outputs of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which is the keystone of European Union (EU) risk assessment regarding food and feed safety.
- EFSA Publications - EEFSA produces hundreds of publications every year, both scientific and corporate, and they are gathered and categorized on EFSA webpage under Publications menu item.
- EFSA Guidance - EU legislation and EFSA guidance documents detail how to compile dossiers for food contact material applications and what type of scientific data and other information must be included. Nested on EFSA webpage under the Guidance menu item.
However, with big volumes of data comes big level of complexity that can sometimes cause users experience confusion due to occasional duplication of information, reliance on imperfect search engines, and unclear distinctions between platforms with seemingly similar goals. This can lead to frustration and inefficiencies, slowing down users' ability to navigate and access EFSA’s publications effectively, ultimately hindering productivity.
This is why, in 2023, EFSA conducted a user mapping and a survey to identify opportunities for optimizing the user experience across various digital platforms under its management. The survey revealed several key issues and these insights, particularly focused on Scientific Publications and Guidance documents, became our exciting new research project.
Methodological approach
Convergent (Parallel) mixed methods design is a type of mixed methods research in which you collect quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously and analyze them separately. After the analysis, you then combine or compare the results to draw a conclusion. Convergent design is used when there is a need to compare statistical results with qualitative findings to understand the research problem better.
From the very beginning we realized that this is a perfect opportunity to apply this approach in EFSA study to ensure a well-rounded analysis. Quantitative methods would provide us measurable data, while qualitative approaches offered rich, contextual insights into user behavior and preferences.
