Conducting a Survey
I have found that, with little time and access to do interviews, surveys on Google Forms has been able to supply me with both qualitative and quantitative data.
This is why I decided to conduct my user research using this platform.
I sent it out to a few different people, and asked them to share with friends or family members that may have IBS. Most of the responses I got were in the 18-26 age group, but I got one from someone in the 36-42 age group as well. I did want to focus, however on people in these younger age groups, as those are the people that tend to feel a bit more shame around their condition. So I’m glad I got the data that I wanted from these groups.
The Results
Here are some screen-grabs of the responses I got from the survey:
Most people appeared to have IBS-M, where patients can experience both loose stools, as well as ones that are hard to pass. I thought this would then be a good opportunity to add a bowel movement tacker to the app. This way, users could compare this to what they had consumed that day, long with their stress levels, and see what it is that’s causing the irregularity of their bowel movements.
Most of the people surveyed, said that they experience abdominal pain, abdominal bloating, stomach cramps, and flatulence/gassiness. Because of this, I will be sure to add all of these to my symptoms tracker page.
I realised, in my research, that most people surveyed don’t actually know what causes their symptoms. I think that having a page that compares your symptoms with your food intake, and stress levels, would be a useful addition to the product.
Everyone surveyed said that stress directly affects their IBS symptoms. I wasn’t too sure about adding a mood tacker, per se, but I think that adding an option to add stress levels within the symptoms page could be a good way to keep track of that as well. Although it’s not necessarily a symptom, as much as it is a cause of the symptoms, experiencing an IBS flare-up can also result in stress – so doing it this way works out alright.
Not everyone had heard of a low FODMAP diet, so I think adding an article in the tips and advice page could be a good way to introduce them to it. In my research about IBS, I found that it is one of the number one ways to combat IBS for many people.
Because one of the people didn’t get any useful results from the low FODMAP diet, it’s not something I want to focus my app on – but rather, have it as an option for people to read about and try out.
Everyone thought the tracking idea seemed like a good way to go, so this is what I am planning to base my app on.
Only one person, out of the five that responded, said that they don’t feel anxiety around speaking to professionals about their IBS. This helps me know that the other main premise of my app idea (digital chat with a Doctor or dietician) is going to help people.
Everyone thought that being able to speak to a professional via text within a chat-box would be less anxiety-inducing for them. This was great to hear, as I am now a lot more confident that this feature would be helpful.
Four of those surveyed said that they haven’t been given good resources to look at in order to help their IBS. Because of this, I definitely want to have resources available within the app.
Someone suggested adding interactive forums. A community page was an idea I was hm’ing and ha’ing about in my head, but having someone suggest it to me as well has made me more inclined to actually include it.