CARBON CALCULATORS

 Project Overview

Our team conducted a mixed-methods user research study assessing the impact of individual lifestyles and behaviors on climate change and evaluated how current technology mediated solutions help reduce personal carbon footprints. Additionally, our research assessed how participants search for information regarding climate change and the motivations and challenges involved in reducing personal carbon footprints. Lastly, we determine the necessary user and device requirements for an effective and user-friendly personal carbon calculator. The following sections are a high level overview of an in-depth three month research project. To view the full project report please download the report here.

Methods

User Interviews, Contextual Inquiry, Survey Design, Deductive and Inductive Interview Coding, Thematic Analysis, Affinity Diagramming, Statistical Analysis, Hypothesis Testing

Tools

SPSS, Atlas.ti, Mural, Stormboard, Flow.io

Research Questions

• How can a technology-based product help reduce individual contribution to climate change?

• What motivates people to take steps to reduce their own personal carbon footprint?

My Role

My role was Project Manager and UX researcher. My main contributions were developing our research approach and strategy, recruiting and screening participants, creating research protocols for all primary research methods, survey design and implementation, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and moderating participant observations and interviews.

Research Process & Results

Our team conducted exploratory research, interviews, observations, and an online survey to assess how participants search for information regarding climate change, the motivations behind reducing personal carbon footprints, and the challenges they face when reducing carbon footprints.

We used these findings to inform our potential design solutions and recommendations for a persuasive technology that would help individuals limit their personal carbon footprints.

Observation Analysis & Results

We conducted observations where we gave participants a specific scenario, asking them to describe what they saw and read while searching for climate change information. The main goals of these observations were to understand the methods, tools, and strategies that users employ to search and find information about climate change and how to reduce their own personal carbon footprints.

Throughout the observations, each researcher took notes using the AEIOU framework, identifying actions, environments, interactions, objects and users involved in observation session. View the observation analysis and theme development below.

We grouped the observation responses from the warm-up and wrap-up questions using Trello. Using the AEIOU framework, those responses were used in conjunction with the observation data to create an affinity diagram using the online tool ‘Stormboard’. We then compiled a list of all the activities, environments, interactions, objects and users involved in the observations.

Our main objective was to uncover important patterns and themes regarding user’s search habits, tools used, and willingness to search for more information. Lastly, our team created a task flow visualization to depict the common search trends and processes that were observed.

We discovered a total of 3 major themes from our observation data analysis and synthesis:

1. Search Habits

   • Participants independently formulated similar Google search queries. All searches were comprised of 21 unique words total. Six of which were used by all four participants: (1) environment, (2) climate, (3) reduce, (4) footprint, (5) lifestyle, and (6) change. This suggests that individuals may take similar paths to arrive at climate change related resources.

2. Credibility

   • Participants indicated that they preferred ‘credible’ websites. Participants seemed to identify ‘credible’ by the top-level domain of the website, these include: .org, .edu, and .gov.

3. Carbon Calculator Issues

   • Two participants used online carbon footprint calculators that required the input of data to return personalized results. Calculation required that participants provide information (such as gas bill, water consumption, use of electricity, miles driven per week, etc.) about their personal habits and energy consumption. Both participants who used interactive resources abandoned the calculators due to the amount of required information and poor usability.

Interview Analysis & Results

We conducted interviews where we asked participants to describe and explain climate change, share their current ‘green’ interests or hobbies, describe personal motivations to take action against climate change, and what methods they had used for addressing climate change.

We inquired about the tools and resources that participants used to learn about carbon footprints and climate change and asked them to assess potential design features that may be useful in an app or on a website aimed at reducing personal carbon footprints. Lastly, we asked experiential questions having to do with participants’ community, social pressures and challenges, and choices they have made about their own carbon footprints. View the interview coding analysis and theme development below.

Our team used inductive coding methods to analyze our interview data. Our team used Atlas.ti to code for structure, attributes, and attitudes. Our team chose to use open and systematic coding methods with a focus on language and content. We grouped our codes and categories and made a list of the most common themes that demonstrated their understanding of climate change, factors that inhibit them from taking action, and motivations regarding reducing their carbon footprints.

These themes served as a starting point for persona spectrums; we developed a total of five spectrums which highlight issues of frequency of action, depth of knowledge, impact, and sense of urgency. We created two personas based on the patterns we discovered within those five spectrums.

We categorized our interview findings into four major themes: (1) motivation for personal action, (2) Importance of convenience, (3) similarity of perceived challenges and obstacles, and (4) common features in to-be designed technology. Each theme was then split into its individual sub themes.

1. Motivations for Taking Personal Action

   • Long Term Impact on Future Generations. The most common motivation behind actively reducing one's carbon footprint was the long-term impact that their actions and climate change in general will have on future generations.

   • All four participants stated that they felt social pressure when either acting positively or negatively to limit their carbon footprints. Similarly, participants noted that social pressure from peers helped them limit their carbon footprints.

   • All four participants commented that one of the main reasons that they enjoy helping the environment and reducing their carbon footprints is because it left them feeling better and more positive.

2. Importance or Convenience & Expedience

   • Convenience of Devices. All four participants stated that they used their smartphones as their main device; two also used their computers to search for information about climate change. When asked why, all four participants noted the convenience and the ease of access to information when using smartphones and computers.

   • Accessibility and Convenience of Informative Resource Types. The most common resources used to search for information about climate change and carbon footprints were documentaries and social media. Participants noted that convenience and expediency were the main reason for using their preferred informative resource.

   • Convenience when taking action to reducing personal carbon footprint. The most common activities they choose to help reduce (recycling, public transportation use, limit plastic waste) and locations (home and work); all were related to convenience. Furthermore, convenience was a key factor in whether people decide to actively reduce their carbon footprint and participants were least likely to consider their carbon footprint when they felt out of their comfort zones (e.g. in a hurry/out of town/very stressed) and convenience becomes their main priority.

3. Similarity of Perceived Challenges & Obstacles

   • Overwhelmed by climate change/reducing carbon footprint. A common obstacle participants mentioned, was being overwhelmed by climate change and the prospect of reducing their carbon footprint.

   • Indifference/Apathy. All four participants mentioned that indifference and apathy were the main obstacles to motivating and persuading themselves and others to actively reduce their personal carbon footprints.

4. Common Features in To-Be Designed Technology

   • Comparative analysis of different actions/activities. Participants desired a feature that compared personal activities & choices that you make throughout the day and evaluated how those decisions affect your total footprint with visual data.

   • Goal & Task Orientation. Two participants (Christina and Viollet ) believed that an important feature would be goal and task orientation to provide clear ways for users to reduce their carbon footprints.

   • Gamification. Participants mentioned features that allowed users to compete against others and believed that people would enjoy earning achievements when trying to limit their carbon footprint. They believed that this would motivate others and make the experience more enjoyable, while also helping others reduce carbon footprints.

PERSONA DEVELOPMENT

The major observation and interview themes served as a starting point for persona spectrum development; our team developed a total of five spectrums which highlight issues related to frequency of action, depth of knowledge, impact, and sense of urgency. We created two personas based on the patterns we discovered in both our observations and interviews.

Survey Analysis & Results

Our team created an online survey which analyzed overall interest level and search habits related to climate change in over 54 participants. Our goal for the survey was to assess participants levels of urgency and advocacy regarding climate change, their motivations to limit climate change, and their levels of carbon reducing activity.

We performed statistical analysis which included a Kruskal Wallis comparing activity level and importance features, a Mann Whitney U measuring age groups and importance to features and activity level, and a final Mann Whitney U measuring climate change news encounters and activity level. View the Hypothesis Testing Results and Analysis Below.

We tested a total of four hypothesis:

1. Participants with lower overall levels of carbon reduction activity would prefer gamification and money saving features in a to-be-designed product over medium and high-level activity groups.

2. Participants who were 18-29 years old would have different feature preferences than participants who were 30+ years of age.

3. Participants who are 30+ years of age will have lower levels of overall carbon reduction activity than 18 to 29 year-olds.

4. Participants who had encountered news-related material more often would have higher levels of carbon reducing activity.

HYPOTHESIS 1 RESULTS

• We conducted a Kruskal Wallis test to investigate the differences in the three activity groups and their measure of the importance of gamification and money saving features.

• The group differences were not significant for the importance of a money saving feature, H(2)= .74, p=.69, n2=.03 , with a mean rank of 27.82 for low activity, 23.83 for medium activity, and 26.47 for high activity. The effect size of .03 is considered small.

• The group differences were also not significant for the importance of gamification features, H(2)=.06, p=.96, n2=.04, with a mean rank of 26.32 for low activity, 25.04 for medium activity, and 25.63 for high activity. The effect size of .04 is considered small.

HYPOTHESIS 2 RESULTS

• We conducted a Mann-Whitney U test to investigate the differences of two age groups, 18-29 year olds (n=31) and 30 years and older (n=14), and their measure of the importance of all the features for a future product.

• There was a significant difference between groups on the personalized information and tips feature (U(43)=297.5, Z=2.17, p=.03), where the 30 years and older group (mean rank = 28.75) rated it as a more important feature to include than the 18-29 year olds (mean rank=20.40).

• There was also a significant difference between age groups for the location based information feature (U(43)=305, Z=2.33, p=.02), where the 30 year and older group (mean rank = 20.29) rated the it as a more important feature to include than the 18-29 year olds (mean rank=20.16).

HYPOTHESIS 3 RESULTS

• We conducted a Mann-Whitney U test to compare two age groups, 18-29 year olds (n = 31) and 30 years and older (n=14), and their average level of carbon reduction activity.

• To determine the average activity level, we averaged participant likert score results on the 13 statements that rated overall carbon reducing activities. The results showed that difference of activity level between age groups was not significant, U(43)=235.5, Z=, p <.05, with a mean rank of 22.40 for 18-29 year olds and 24.32 for 30 years or older.

HYPOTHESIS 4 RESULTS

• We placed participants into four groups based on their reported encounters; 0 times (n=3), 1 - 2 times (n=21), 3 - 4 times (n=8), and 5 or more times (n=14).

• We conducted a Kruskal Wallis test to investigate the differences in activity levels between these four groups. The results showed that the difference in activity level was not significant, H(2)= .857, p=.84, n2=, with a mean rank of 17.67 for 0 times, 25.57 for 1-2 times, 25.05 for 3-4 times, and 25.68 for 5 or more times.

Features Matrix

Based on our interview data, persona development, and survey results, our team created a feature matrix that displays the several different features that we deemed important in a to-be designed product that helps individuals reduce their carbon footprints.

We assigned a high to low rating scale based the priority and importance of each feature, the potential impact that feature has for reducing carbon footprints, and the feasibility of incorporating such a feature into a web-based technology.

 Design Implications

Design Implications

The data, major insights, and results derived from the observations, interviews, and online survey provided insight into the several design implications that we found to be critical for the creation and implementation of a to-be designed product that effectively, efficiently, and conveniently helps individuals limit their personal carbon footprints. The major design implications include:

1. Creation of a responsive web application for both desktop and mobile interfaces

2. Optimizing the responsive web application for search engine visibility

3. Creation of an eye catching website/web application that is considered credible and trusthworthy (.org/.edu/.gov)

4. Inclusion of an accessible carbon calculator for casual users with options for an advanced settings and options features to further analyze and reduce personal carbon footprints

5. Visualization of data to demonstrate how one’s personal carbon footprint and daily activities affect climate change and the environment

6. Inclusion of information and resources regarding how to save money through activities, appliances, and actions that lower your carbon footprint

7. Inclusion of gamification features such as competition, achievements, and daily/weekly/monthly tasks and goals that help users lower their personal carbon footprints

Future Work & Limitations

The limitations of both the observation and interviews were small sample size (n=4) and limited participant diversity. Additionally, observations were not the best method for understanding how participants search for information or evaluate their carbon footprints. Similarly, forcing each participant into a scenario could have led to unreliable observations about their typical search and evaluation habits. We addressed these issues in our interviews by inquiring about lived experiences. As for the survey, almost all participants were recruited from the DePaul University CDM research pool and live in the Chicago area. A larger, more diverse participant pool would have provided more insight into different levels of activity, search habits, and feature preferences.

Another limitation of our survey was choosing to only include participants who believed in climate change. Including participants who do not believe in climate change could provide further knowledge regarding their reasoning behind their attitudes and defection of current climate change publicity, as well as possible motivational features that could improve the impact of this type of persuasive technology. This would further increase the amount of potential users of our application and website.

Further research can be conducted on future user-experiences interacting with the to-be-designed product. Such studies may include usability studies, A/B testing, observations, interviews, or surveys. It would also be interesting to conduct longitudinal studies of users tracking and lowering their carbon footprint. If enough people use this technology, data from the product could potentially be used to measure its net impact on climate change in terms of reduced carbon output.