ADDING A VOCABULARY FEATURE TO DUOLINGO.

UX RESEARCH PLAN.

BACKGROUND

Duolingo is a popular mobile platform for language learners that teaches languages in a fun and easy game-like way.

Duolingo keeps its vocabulary consistent and topic-related within every language course. However, it does not offer a separate, structured vocabulary feature, which would allow the user to look up any word they have learned in a Duolingo language course without having to practice lessons all over again in order to find that word.

PROBLEM

Absence of a feature, which would allow the user to access vocabulary related information for a Duolingo language course.

RESEARCH GOALS

·         Find out if a vocabulary feature can add enough value to Duolingo users’ experience to justify investing time, effort and finances into its creation and implementation

·         Get more specific information on what the users expect from the new feature

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

·         Gather data on how our competitors tackled the vocabulary issue

·         Find out how convenient gaining new vocabulary via Duolingo is to the users

·         Get information on what problems the users encounter when learning new words via Duolingo

·         Find out how important it would be to the users to have direct access to the vocabulary of their language course(s)

·         Get first-hand information on what the users’ expectations about the vocabulary feature would be

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

·         Do any of our major competitors already have a feature similar to the one we want to design?

·         If so, how did they implement it and what are the strong and weak sides to the way they did it?

·         If not, how can adding a vocabulary feature make our app more valuable in the eyes of the users?

·         How does the frequency of practicing influence the ability of the users to remember their vocabulary?

·         Do the users ever have any confusing or frustrating experiences gaining vocabulary while using the Duolingo app? What are the causes?

·         How could (if at all) storing the vocabulary of a language course in one place improve the level of satisfaction of the users with the Duolingo app?

METHODOLOGIES

·         Secondary Research – Competitive Analysis.

Run a competitive benchmark study to get information on if/how our direct competitors managed to tackle the vocabulary issue, what the strengths and weaknesses of their approach are, and use that data for the benefits of creating a more convenient and useful feature for our app.

·         Secondary Research – Provisional Personas.

Gather information about the major archetypes of our users and create provisional personas based on that.

·         Primary Research – User Survey.

Run a user survey via an online survey platform to better understand the pain points and needs the users face when it comes to learning, understanding, remembering and storing the vocabulary they gain during studying languages via Duolingo.

PARTICIPANTS

·         Any age, gender or ethnisity

·         Any income level

·         Use Duolingo frequently

ASSUMPTIONS/RISKS

·         Users might not find possible adding of a vocabulary feature helpful enough, meaning its creation and implementation might prove to be not worth investing in

TIMELINE

·         Determine our 2-3 major direct competitors and run a competitive benchmark study on if/how they solved the problem with user vocabulary storage within their app

·         Figure out what 3-5 major archetypes our users fall under and create provisional personas based on that

·         Write a user survey script

·         Recruit participants

·         Place the survey script on an online survey platform and share the link with the participants so that they can complete it

·         Analyze the data obtained from the user survey and synthesize a survey findings debrief based on it

·         Synthesize a UX research debrief based on all the data obtained