ESPIET RESEARCH PROPOSAL MEMO

Date: October 1, 2016To: Bill Moos

Director of AthleticsWashington State University

From: Amilia Espiet Subject: Proposal for Research Study in Increasing Student Support at Female Sporting Events

Purpose

The purpose of my research project is to encourage Washington State University students to support female athletics by going to the games and realizing that with enough students, it will be as fun as the football games. I want to learn why female sports are forgotten about year after year. If students went to more sports besides football, WSU as a whole would have even better and more incredible school spirit. On top of that, more fans usually result in better performance against their opponents. Another part of my research is to find out what will make students care about attending the female games. Students have a sense of yearning to go to the football games and even men’s basketball games because attending is of high importance. I want to bring that same intensity of being present during games to female sports, too.

Summary

I want to research why WSU students don’t go to support female sports. Nationally, female sports have less spectators than male sports. However, it is an issue that needs to be addressed.

The audience for this problem would be the Athletic Department as well as the female sports teams of Washington State University. Effort from both groups need to be prominent in order for the problem to be resolved. Female sport teams should fund this research because it would ultimately benefit them if no one else. If female sports were advertised as much as football, there would most likely be more of a turnout of fans. More fans will result in a fun environment for the fans and more support for the athletes. If the Athletic Department helped fund the research with female athletics, or even solely on their own, it would only bring more money into the school for everyone. Currently, the highest revenue-making sports, such as football, are forced to carry the rest of the sports at this school on their back financially. If each sport organization was capable of getting a high amount of fans to each their games, more revenue would be going to each sport and their associated facilities.

I want to survey classrooms on three main subjects:

i) if they know when female sports are

ii) why they don’t go to the games iii) what would make them go to the games

These questions will allow me to really understand why students do not attend female matches of any kind and to find out what incentives need to be put in place in order for them to attend. Once people explicitly inform me what things would encourage them to support female athletics, I will be one step closer to implementing those wants and needs of the fans to earn their presence.

I am currently a sports management major and I have a passion for athletics, especially at the collegiate level. I have volunteered with event management to help run baseball and soccer games here. Some of the duties I had were to welcome and greet fans while I scanned their cougar cards or tickets as they entered the game. I had the opportunity to intern for the WSU Women’s Volleyball Team this semester and worked closely with the general manager in charge or all volleyball operations.

The budget associated with this research is minimal to none and I would be combatting the expenses myself. I would be beginning to start my research by surveying students on October 13th and carrying out the surveys the following five to six days. Hopefully, I will have enough responses by the 20th of October.

Introduction

The problem here is that WSU female athletes are not getting the support and fans that they deserve. WSU female athletes and students will ultimately benefit from addressing this problem. Female athletes will gain confidence in seeing the stands fill up with Washington State University fans. The rush an athlete gets when looking up and realizing a full stadium or coliseum is about to watch them perform is empowering. The more confidence a team has, the better they are able to perform during a match. With female athletes performing better, this will lead to a better reputation and standing within the Pac-12 rankings. These higher rankings will, in turn, result in more publicity leading to more high school students applying to Washington State University. If more students apply to this school, we will only get bigger and better. The students that are currently enrolled here at WSU will also be benefitting for the same reasons on top of getting a great experience and sense of community while watching more female athletic events.

The third group of people that are involved with my research project is the Athletic Department because they are in charge of all WSU athletics. Because football is the biggest money-generating sport at our school, the revenue from that organization alone has to be shared among the other sports at Washington State University. The Athletic Department will also be benefitting from this research as well as the football team. The more profit that female sports earn on their own through the support of fans during games, the less money football has to share with different sports. Studying how we can get more support at female sporting events will be beneficial to Washington State University as a whole in many aspects.

Literature Review

From the USA Today article Viewpoint: Why people watch more men’s sports than women’s, I’ve come to find that there is a direct correlation throughout the nation that people in general (male or female) watch more male sports on average than female sports. Both genders and any sport show the same commitment and dedication to their respective sport, however male athletes are deemed more talented than females. Nationally, female sports do not get the same amount of broadcast time as men sports do. This coincides with my research because I have found that a lot of Washington State University students have no idea when women sporting events even are. They are not broadcasted or advertised through any form of media really. Most of the football game times are spread through word of mouth. Female athletes don’t always get this luxury here at this school. This article also covers the fact that female athlete accomplishments are also (apparently) incomparable to male athlete accomplishments. A head coach for a male football team will get the recognition he deserves from having the most wins that season, however a head coach for a female sport won’t get any mention of being undefeated two seasons in a row. The question is, why are female coaches or coaches of female sports less deserving of their amazing feats? Women sports need more media coverage and a bigger fan base in order to compete with men sports.

Methodology

To research this problem, surveying students in classrooms and people who appreciate sports will take place. I’d like to interview female and male coaches in asking them what they think the reasons are why WSU students choose not to support female athletics and only football. Interviewing a select few of female athletes will also be an integral part of my research because I want to know how more fan support would make them feel. After discussing with the people mentioned above, I plan on going to the Athletic Department in hopes to collaborate on ideas to make this problem less of one. I want to start my research process as soon as possible to get as much information as I can. I will be going to various classrooms and different sports to speak with players and coaches from a wide variety of athletic organizations.

The participants I will be selecting will range from random students in classrooms, my sorority (about 170 women), female athletes (volleyball team), and coaching staff. The diversity of participants will only lead to more of a variety of solutions to this research problem. These people have a difference in sex, age, and status. All of which experience sporting events at some point in their Washington State University careers.

The survey for my sorority sisters will be conducted on Facebook. We have a Facebook page for all the members in our house for the academic school year. Girls post surveys for their classes throughout the year quite often and Alpha Phi women are always looking to support a sister. The classroom surveys will be taken in person and on campus. I will be asking teachers that I know before-hand if I can take a few minutes of their class-time at the beginning of the class period. I will be asking them three questions: 1) if they know when female sports are. 2) why they don’t

go to the games. And 3) what would make them attend and stay at the games. Then for the volleyball participants, I will be interviewing a few players and three people on the coaching staff on what they or WSU as a whole could do to encourage students to come watch female sports.

After the research is all collected, I hope to find a new idea for getting people to come to female sporting events. The most important answer to look for is why people do not come to the female games in the first place. After I have this answer and am able to consolidate all the answers into one main argument, I can find a way to combat the response.

Qualifications/Experience

I have been a female athlete almost my entire life. In high school, I was able to rally my friends to come support me in my volleyball and soccer games. Because so many people were talking about going, word spread and the majority of the school was at almost all of the sporting events, female or male.

Being a sport management student, I have also had experience in numerous sporting events dealing with people, tickets, and event management. I have volunteered with event management to help run baseball and soccer games here. Some of the duties I had were to welcome and greet fans while I scanned their cougar cards or tickets as they entered the game. Along with that, I helped set up and take down the Pac-12 flags, ensure the umpires got to and from their corresponding locker rooms, as well as guarded the fences to make sure no unruly fans stormed the field during a game.

Currently, I am interning for the Washington State University Women’s Volleyball team. I work with the General Manager in helping her with spreadsheets, auditing, and statistics for the players. She and I also work on the funding and awareness for the camps/clinics that the WSU women’s volleyball team puts on for the youth. Relating to supporting female athletics, I was able to be the right hand in putting together a meet and greet for the sponsors of the WSU volleyball team. During this meet and greet, I talked with the people answering any questions they had about volleyball which led them to have more of an interest in the game. Directly after the early dinner was a game which they all attended.

This summer, I took Sport Finance 374 which focuses on maneuvering through Excel and understanding how much money gets put into one season of a sport organization. I also learned the importance of fan support and sponsorship revenue that are directly correlated to a team’s budget and how much each player is allotted for per diem, how much can be spent on renewal of facilities and equipment, and how much can be spent on expenses associated with travel. During this course, I learned how to gather information and budget the expenses related to the volleyball team last year.

Budgeting and Timeline

The expenses I would need in order to complete my research would be very minimal. I am going to be conducting the surveys in person and compiling the results electronically. Any costs associated with this research, I should be able to fund by myself. I may be printing out a few pages, but the cost per page here at Washington State University is about seven to ten cents. Any online survey that I could potentially create will also be free of charge for me to develop and free of charge for anyone to take.

The time that I will begin going around to classrooms to survey will start on October 13th 2016. Hopefully all of my surveys will be complete in a week’s time, scheduling the finish time to be about October 20th or so. I am also going to include my sorority sisters in this survey because that is about 170 more people that I can get feedback from. The more responses I am able to get, the more creative and/or diverse answers I will receive in terms of ideas on how to get more female sport supporters here at Washington State University. There are a few female athletes in my sorority, Alpha Phi, so I believe the responses could have the potential to be more personal. I still plan on trying to meet with other female athletes, like on the volleyball team, since I already spend so much time in the volleyball office, including the coaching staff.

The key to this research is to figure out how to make watching female sports and staying during each event as a spectator more enjoyable. This will lead to a more extensive student section and more school spirit for the greatest school in the state.

References Hartman, M. (n.d.). Viewpoint: Why people watch more men’s sports than women’s. Retrieved October 1, 2016, from http://college.usatoday.com/2012/02/11/opinion-why-people-watch-more-mens-sports-than-womens/

ESPIET RESEARCH RECOMMENDATION MEMO

Date: October 1, 2016To: Bill Moos

Director of AthleticsWashington State University

From: Amilia Espiet Subject: Proposal for Research Study in Increasing Student Support at Female Sporting Events

Purpose

The purpose of my research project is to encourage Washington State University students to support female athletics by going to the games and realizing that with enough students, it will be as fun as the football games. I want to learn why female sports are forgotten about year after year. If students went to more sports besides football, WSU as a whole would have even better and more incredible school spirit. On top of that, more fans usually result in better performance against their opponents. Another part of my research is to find out what will make students care about attending the female games. Students have a sense of yearning to go to the football games and even men’s basketball games because attending is of high importance. I want to bring that same intensity of being present during games to female sports, too.

Summary

I want to research why WSU students don’t go to support female sports. Nationally, female sports have less spectators than male sports. However, it is an issue that needs to be addressed.

The audience for this problem would be the Athletic Department. Effort from both groups need to be prominent in order for the problem to be resolved. Female sport teams should fund this research because it would ultimately benefit them if no one else. If female sports were advertised as much as football, there would most likely be more of a turnout of fans. More fans will result in a fun environment for the fans and more support for the athletes. I want to survey classrooms on three main subjects:

i) if they know when female sports are ii) why they don’t go to the games iii) what would make them go to the games

These questions will allow me to really understand why students do not attend female matches of any kind and to find out what incentives need to be put in place in order for them to attend. Once

people explicitly inform me what things would encourage them to support female athletics, I will be one step closer to implementing those wants and needs of the fans to earn their presence.

I am currently a sports management major and I have a passion for athletics, especially at the collegiate level. I have volunteered with event management to help run baseball and soccer games here. Some of the duties I had were to welcome and greet fans while I scanned their cougar cards or tickets as they entered the game. I had the opportunity to intern for the WSU Women’s Volleyball Team this semester and worked closely with the general manager in charge or all volleyball operations.

The budget associated with this research is minimal to none and I would be combatting the expenses myself. I would be beginning to start my research by surveying students on October 13th and carrying out the surveys the following five to six days. Hopefully, I will have enough responses by the 20th of October.

Introduction

The problem here is that WSU female athletes are not getting the support and fans that they deserve. WSU female athletes and students will ultimately benefit from addressing this problem. Female athletes will gain confidence in seeing the stands fill up with Washington State University fans. The rush an athlete gets when looking up and realizing a full stadium or coliseum is about to watch them perform is empowering. The more confidence a team has, the better they are able to perform during a match. With female athletes performing better, this will lead to a better reputation and standing within the Pac-12 rankings. These higher rankings will, in turn, result in more publicity leading to more high school students applying to Washington State University. If more students apply to this school, we will only get bigger and better. The students that are currently enrolled here at WSU will also be benefitting for the same reasons on top of getting a great experience and sense of community while watching more female athletic events.

The third group of people that are involved with my research project is the Athletic Department because they are in charge of all WSU athletics. Because football is the biggest money-generating sport at our school, the revenue from that organization alone has to be shared among the other sports at Washington State University. The Athletic Department will also be benefitting from this research as well as the football team. The more profit that female sports earn on their own through the support of fans during games, the less money football has to share with different sports. Studying how we can get more support at female sporting events will be beneficial to Washington State University as a whole in many aspects.

Literature Review

From the USA Today article Viewpoint: Why people watch more men’s sports than women’s, I’ve come to find that there is a direct correlation throughout the nation that people in general (male or female) watch more male sports on average than female sports. Both genders and any sport show the same commitment and dedication to their respective sport, however male athletes are deemed more talented than females. Nationally, female sports do not get the same amount of broadcast time as men sports do. This coincides with my research because I have found that a lot of Washington State University students have no idea when women sporting events even are. They are not broadcasted or advertised through any form of media really. Most of the football game times are spread through word of mouth. Female athletes don’t always get this luxury here at this school. This article also covers the fact that female athlete accomplishments are also (apparently) incomparable to male athlete accomplishments. A head coach for a male football team will get the recognition he deserves from having the most wins that season, however a head coach for a female sport won’t get any mention of being undefeated two seasons in a row. The question is, why are female coaches or coaches of female sports less deserving of their amazing feats? Women sports need more media coverage and a bigger fan base in order to compete with men sports.

Methodology

To research this problem, surveying students in classrooms and people who appreciate sports will take place. I’d like to interview female and male coaches in asking them what they think the reasons are why WSU students choose not to support female athletics and only football. Interviewing a select few of female athletes will also be an integral part of my research because I want to know how more fan support would make them feel. After discussing with the people mentioned above, I plan on going to the Athletic Department in hopes to collaborate on ideas to make this problem less of one. I want to start my research process as soon as possible to get as much information as I can. I will be going to various classrooms and different sports to speak with players and coaches from a wide variety of athletic organizations.

The participants I will be selecting will range from random students in classrooms, my sorority (about 170 women), female athletes (volleyball team), and coaching staff. The diversity of participants will only lead to more of a variety of solutions to this research problem. These people have a difference in sex, age, and status. All of which experience sporting events at some point in their Washington State University careers.

The survey for my sorority sisters will be conducted on Facebook. We have a Facebook page for all the members in our house for the academic school year. Girls post surveys for their classes throughout the year quite often and Alpha Phi women are always looking to support a sister. The classroom surveys will be taken in person and on campus. I will be asking teachers that I know before-hand if I can take a few minutes of their class-time at the beginning of the class period. I will be asking them three questions: 1) if they know when female sports are. 2) why they don’t

go to the games. And 3) what would make them attend and stay at the games. Then for the volleyball participants, I will be interviewing a few players and three people on the coaching staff on what they or WSU as a whole could do to encourage students to come watch female sports.

The most important answer to look for is why people do not come to the female games in the first place. After I have this answer and am able to consolidate all the answers into one main argument, I can find a way to combat the response.

Results

I learned that my assumption of Washington State University students not knowing when female sporting events are was correct. The majority of each classroom I was able to survey answered with how they never hear about female athletic events or know when they are. Female sports are not getting enough media coverage. A lot of people admitted to not being as interested in female sports as they are in men sports. This was a sad truth that I reluctantly foresaw. History and today has shown that people do not care as much about female sports as they do male sports. This is an opinion of people that isn’t so easily changeable. Others voiced that the amount of people at an event makes the game more fun. People answered, “none of my friends attend, so I don’t either.” Although that is a valid excuse, the prospect they fail to understand is that they could all make a pact to go together. Because female sports don’t have many spectators, it leaves the remainder of the crowd dissatisfied with the experience. I got a lot of feedback regarding “free stuff” when asked what would be some incentives for them attending female games. What they didn’t know is that at many of the female athletic events, free t-shirts, towels, lanyards, and other miscellaneous goodies are given out before, during, and after games. They were surprised to hear the news. After leaving a lot of the classrooms, I slipped in the question, “would you be more willing to go to female games now that you know they give things away and if you knew the time and place of a match?” Thankfully, many students replied with yes.

Conclusions

Female sports need to be broadcasted on a bigger level because it is minute compared to the way male sports are broadcasted. It should also be considered that female sporting events need to make the games more exciting and interactive for the spectators. There are special cheers associated with the football games that the student section yells during certain plays. Female sports are being shown significantly less than men’s sports. This is reinforcing the theory that people don’t care enough about women sporting events because of the lack of exposure. With the female sport organizations making an effort to make the matches more enjoyable and exciting for the fans, the athletic department making more of an effort to get the media to coverage of when and where female sporting events will be, and the students actually showing up to the games to support our fellow female Cougs, Washington State University as a whole will benefit in the long run and continue to make this school the greatest school in the state.

Recommendations

People who want to research why more students do not attend female sporting events need to understand the audience they are surveying. My biggest challenge going into this research project was my avenue of conducting the research. I chose to do a survey in person and on paper in different classrooms which was difficult because I had to get permission from different professors in order to conduct surveys during class time. Also, it seemed as though many of the students did not have that much care for the subject at hand that I was asking them questions about. I believe that I could have gotten more meaningful answers and feedback had this been a survey available to be taken online for anyone who had the time to do so. Also, this would have been more for me, the researcher, because I wouldn’t have had to print out any documents which had the survey on them. Although the expenses for conducting the research was minimal, it could have been completely avoided had I chosen to do an online version of the survey. It would have also saved a lot of paper! It is good to genuinely care about the female athletic organization. Female sports have a history of not getting the media coverage and monetary support they deserve. As a college, however, I think it’s important to see past the difference in sex and come together to support each other no matter what sport or who is playing it.

References Hartman, M. (n.d.). Viewpoint: Why people watch more men’s sports than women’s. Retrieved October 1, 2016, from http://college.usatoday.com/2012/02/11/opinion-why-people-watch-more-mens-sports-than-womens/

ESPIET PROGRESS MEMO

To: Tomie Gowdy-BurkeEnglish DepartmentWashington State University

From: Amilia EspietDate: November 14, 2016Subject: Technical Writing Design Project Progress Memo

Introduction

Group #5 is creating a guidebook with spring break vacation ideas and information for

Washington State University students. The problem we are going to be solving is how WSU

students aren’t willing to put in the work of investigating different destinations for spring break.

Our group has yet to start on the technical writing design project, however, we have started

planning on November 1st, 2016. In the past two weeks, our group has equally worked on the

assignments due on Blackboard that help us better understand our topic and the purpose of our

research.

Work Completed

The only work we have completed before November 14th was planning out our timeline of tasks

and exchanging each other’s school and work schedules. This is important to know when we are

trying to plan meeting times to discuss our project and work on the tasks with the input of our

team members.

Work Scheduled

Celestina, our group manager, has assigned different tasks to each of us to complete our

technical writing design project. My task is the researcher. I will be researching budget-friendly

spring break destinations, in and out of the United States. For each destination, I will be

providing activities and any other information related to that specific destination, such as nearby

hotels to stay in, what types of events will be available, nearby restaurants and shopping centers

to visit, any beaches/pools/lakes, etc. Abby’s task is the financer. She is researching all of the

costs associated with the destinations that I will be researching and providing for WSU students.

If there are any expenses to us associated with developing our technical writing design project,

these will also be recorded by Abby. Her and I will be doing our research this Thanksgiving

break. Celestina’s task is the quiz creator, organizer, and scheduler. She will be putting together

the survey for WSU students that we are including in our social media page. She will be working

on putting this quiz together the week after we come back from break. As our group leader,

Celestina will be organizing when we need to meet up in person, sending out emails reminding

us of deadlines, and making sure we are keeping up with our individual research. Mary’s task is

developing social media promotions. She will also be working on her portion the week we get

back from Thanksgiving break, November 28th through December 2nd. She is responsible for

monitoring and creating our social media page, which will include a quiz, pictures that

correspond to different spring break locations, and keeping up with any malfunctions of the

social media page. The week of December 4th through 10th is where each of us will be fine tuning

everything in our product to make sure it is running smoothly. This is also where we will be

creating posts on our Facebook page stating, “Please like this post if this page has been useful

and/or you have decided on a destination for spring break.” This will test the usability and

whether or not our technical communication product has solved the problem.

Problems

Honestly, I am very pleased with my group members. I also think that our ability to “fire”

someone from our group if they are not putting in an equal amount of work has scared the whole

class into participating in the group project as much as they can. So far, all of us have been able

to hold each other accountable for completing our own divided up portions of work. Some

problem areas that may arise once we start our planned work is putting our quiz onto the social

media page and making sure it works easily for our viewers. None of us are super tech-savvy.

However, I have friends certified in the computer science/engineering majors that would be more

than willing to help us. Coug Tech is also another party we could ask for help when we run into

problems making our social media page as easily accessible as possible.

Conclusion

Although we haven’t made the most progress in developing our actual technical communication

product, all of my group members and I are ready to hit the ground running this week. Abby and

I will probably be planning to do our research together or at least partially together first since our

information is essential to our social media page. Celestina can also start putting together a quiz

which describes what type of traveler a person is, outlining what they want out of the experience,

what type of weather they are most interested in, what activities are they looking forward to the

most, etc.

ESPIET PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION REPORT

Determining which Spring Break DestinationsCollege Students Should Travel to Based on

Their Travel Types: A Recommendation Report

Prepared for: Tomie Gowdy-Burke, Professor Washington State University. English 402, Section 9.

Prepared by: Celestina Hendrickson, Washington State University, English BA Abby Herro, Amilia Espiet, Mary Jahns,

December 4, 2016

Washington State University Pullman, WA, 99163

December 04, 2016

Ms. Tomie Gowdy-Burke Professor Department of English Washington State University

Subject: Letter of Transmittal

Dear Tomie,

Group 5, is currently carrying out the process of fulfilling the research project requirements for Unit 4. Attached is the report for our study titled, “Determining which Spring Break Travel Destinations College Students Should Travel to Based on their Travel Types: A recommendation report.” Throughout this report, we address the problem of college students not knowing where to travel to for Spring Break by providing them with an interactive quiz that allows students to find out which types of traveler they are. This report is carried out by teammates, Abby Herro, Amilia Espiet, Mary Jahns and Celestina Hendrickson. Each team member has been responsible for various tasks in this project as well as various sections in the report.

To carry out the study our team members started by diving out tasks among various team members. We provided inside of the report the basic understanding of the visual our group chose and was students can access it. We created a usability test and analyzed the results from the usability survey. Lastly, we determined the errors from the usability testing and figured out the elements that needed to be modified and changed for the future.

We recommend that the best way to reach out to an audience of travel-minded college students to determine Spring Break travel behavior is to reach them from social media because of their familiarity with it.

Thank you for overseeing all of our tasks and provided us with guidance throughout the stages of our process. We appreciate your recommendations for improvement and we hope to work with you in the future further. If you’d be interested in following up with our group, the best way to reach us is by contacting team leader: Celestina Hendrickson at (206) 310-4584 or by email c.hendrickson@wsu.edu as she is the one who responds and communicates for the group.

Table of Contents Executive Summary………………………………………………………………..........................3Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………...3Research Methods………………………………………………………………………………..3-6

Task 1: Determining which team members should perform the tasksTask 2: Provide a basic understanding of the visual and how students can access it.Task 3: Analyzing the usability testingTask 4: Determining the errors and the changes needed to be made for future

Results………………………………………………………………………………………...……6-7Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………………..7References……………………………………………………………………………………………8Appendices:....................................................................................................................................8-15

Executive Summary The purpose of this written report is to account for the results of an investigation into whether students at Washington State University (WSU) would benefit from having a website available to helping them set travel plans for Spring Break. WSU students who wish to travel during time off from class lack the resources they need to choose a destination that fits the student’s travel personality and budget. The primary research consisted of Celestina’s survey of WSU student’s, in which she asked what their plans are for Spring Break. Another primary resource was an interview of Bailey Nelson, a local travel agent in Pullman, WA (Nelson, B. Local Travel Agent). Our goal was to create a website in which WSU students can take a quick personality test to see what their travel personality is, and to then inform them of locations and travel plans that would fit their budget. We choose to use Facebook has our technical communication due to it being easy to access and spread to students. Abby and Amilia did research on locations and budgets, Mary put together the Facebook page and usability post-survey, and Celestina put together the travel personality quiz and managed the team.

IntroductionMany college students strive to have the most memorable spring break vacation with all of their closest friends, however struggle to find the perfect destination that is affordable in price and suits their wants and needs for travel. The biggest issue for students is not knowing how and where to find such information. People are either too busy or too lazy to research different vacation ideas and end up being completely unsatisfied with their last-minute decision. Our group decided the best way to solve this problem is to create an online quiz that will represent the type of traveler a person is and a document with vacation ideas and information associated with each destination. There are four different personality types as answers on the quiz. The options are leisure, adventure, off the beaten path, and spring break group traveler. Some of the different destinations we found, along with prices and activities for each, are Rosarito, Cabo, Disneyland, Lake Havasu, Maui, Puerto Vallarta, Las Vegas, Cancun, Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic. Creating this Facebook page and quiz is an easy and accessible way to help Washington State University students have the best spring break vacation.

Research Methods This visual portion of this research project began by understanding who the audience was and determining how to make the visual easy to access to the audience. A Facebook page, became Group 5’s decided medium. Group 5, concluded that would be the best option for college students considering that social media is a huge component of many WSU student’s lives. WSU students (college students in general) spend a lot of time on the internet; this seemed like the best option for the groups visual to engage with its audience.

As we performed the various tasks, there were specific breakdowns of what needed to occur. The breakdowns are as followed:

1. Determine which team members would perform the following tasks 2. Provide a basic understanding of the visual and how students can be able to access it 3. Analyzing the usability testing results 4. Determining the errors and concerns of the project 5. Analyzing the resources implemented in the visual component of the project

Task 1. Determine which team members would perform the following tasks: Each team member of Group 5 was responsible for various tasks.Amilia was responsible for researching destinations. She researched destinations that fit the circumstances for each of the traveler types. She looked at the destinations and analyzed the elements within the destination, by researching the activities, restaurants, festivities, etc. Each event or activity would relate back to one of the four given traveler types: adventure, off the beaten path, leisure or Spring Break group travel.

Abby, was responsible for ensuring that the destinations were affordable. Referencing back to the survey performed in Unit 3, a huge barrier that often impeded students from traveling was due to the affordability and time. Abby researched the average costs spectrum of college students, with this in mind; she went through Amilia’s destinations to ensure that they were budget friendly and would find the most affordable packages for each of the destinations.

Mary was the social media corresponder. She was in charge of communicating with anyone in regards to social media errors. This included making sure the Facebook page was up and running, communicating with team members regarding the status of the page, making sure the Facebook page looked aesthetically pleasing, and ensuring that the Facebook page was functioning correctly and had the proper filters. This made it so only WSU students would have access. She made sure to name the Facebook page to ensure that there was clarity amongst the audience.

As team leader, I (Celestina) was responsible with delegating tasks and communicating with the group regarding status’ of the tasks and scheduling deadlines and meet ups. I also delegated myself with the task of creating the visual. I created a Buzzfeed quiz, with pictures. I divided the destinations onto separate pages, along with pictures, making them “aesthetically” pleasing to the eye and provided the link for each of the traveler type pages onto each of the results.

Task 2. Provide a basic understanding of the visual and how students will be able to access itThe visual component of the project is an interactive Buzzfeed quiz that was created by Group 5. The purpose of this quiz was to gather information about the audience; to determine which type of travel group they belong too. In doing this, the quiz had to be determined based on questions that directly connected back to the initial survey done before Unit 4, where students talked about the types of things they look for in a travel destinations, understanding these ideas helped the questions in the Buzzfeed quiz come to life. Every choice for an answer in the quiz had

corresponded to a picture. We sorted, named, and placed pictures into the quiz with proper credit to the author who took the photo. The reason we choose to use Buzzfeed quiz for this project was because it is well known, easy to use and many students share the results they got from these types of quizzes on their social media accounts. Group 5 wanted to make the visual feel natural and relatable, and thus used this route to create that familiar process for students. Each member of Group 5 is an admin of the Facebook page. It was set to include the direct link to the Buzzfeed quiz along with a link to the usability survey to include after the taking the quiz. The Group invited students to like the Facebook Page and tried to communicate effectively with the students taking the quiz. Students would be able to access the quiz simply by pressing the link on the Facebook page.

Task 3: Analyzing the usability test

The usability test was an important part in the project because it helped determined areas in which Group 5’s project could improve and points out specific areas that need changed or do not necessarily work. Group 5 drafted five questions that corresponded back to Mike Markel’s elements of usability featured in the English 402.09’s assigned reading text. Markel talks about the five components of usability, which are Learnability, Efficiency, Memorability, Errors and Satisfaction. Group 5, used a balance of both quantitative and qualitative questions to perform the usability test to get responses from readers. For Learnability, the group decided to make the question quantitative, by measuring the degree to which it was easy for students to access the content of the quiz on Facebook. The reason the group chose to use quantitative research for accessing learnability was because allowing it to be on a spectrum gave an easy to analyze one of five options that can be interpreted through data analysis. The group asked, “On a scale of 1 to 5 how easy was it to access the quiz on Facebook?”For Efficiency, the group decided to take a qualitative approach when asking the question, by wanting personal answers from the audience, this provided Group 5 with diverse and meaningful answers. Group 5 asked, “How quickly were you able to complete the quiz and see which travel options were available after figuring out your traveler type?” For Memorability, the group used qualitative measurement to analyze data. The group asked, “What are some elements that stood out to you while taking the quiz.” For Errors, the group asked, “Did you encounter any technical errors? If so, what were they?” This is important because each student may have experienced a different technical project so the specifies of asking what it is will help the project. For Satisfaction, the group asked a quantitative research question of, “On a scale of 1 to 5 how satisfied are you with results.”

Task 4: Determining the errors and the changes needed to be made for the futureWhen asking these questions, Mary compiled them into a survey and posted them on the Facebook page. The comments Group 5, received from the usability test was helpful in regards

to the future of this project. The errors, that were realized after the usability test was that the link from the quiz to the page destinations was not visible and people sometimes did not notice it existed there. This is something to consider for future. Another error encountered is that the links do not lead the students to four different websites; rather it leads them to separate google documents that serve as a sort of website, so it may not have all of the aesthetic features that a website entails and looks simple. While, the simplistic form is intended, it could be improved somewhat to create a more interactive and visually appealing space for students to read about their destinations.

ResultsTo collect all the needed information, the project consisted of two quizzes. The first quiz was to have the user determine what type of traveler they were. There were four answers they can get are leisure traveler, adventure traveler, off the beaten path traveler, and spring break group travel. At the end of the quiz, there was a link provided to see the best locations to go and things to do at each one with prices.

To create the quiz that finds what type of traveler the user are, the project was split up among four members. The positions are social media promotional, the quiz creator, organizer, and scheduler, the researcher, and the financier. The social media promotional person, Mary Jahns, is responsible for monitoring the Facebook page that promotes the quiz, the group creates and maintaining the appearance of it. They will also be responsible for finding pictures for the quiz as well. The quiz creator, organizer and scheduler will be the one who makes the quiz. This will be Celestina Hendrickson, who is the team leader since this was her idea. She will pick four destinations that can be matched to the ones who take this quiz. She will also organize when we meet up, send out emails, and make sure all group members are aware of what is going on. Lastly, she will oversee the final written report and visual. The next job is the researcher, Amilia Espiet, who will research the budget friendly spring break destinations and everything about each one. For each destination, the researcher will find fun activities to do at each one and popular attractions. The last job is the financer, Abby Herro. She will be the person in charge of looking over the researcher’s destinations and activities and recording the budgets to see if it can fit within the budget. She will be the one who figures out an estimate of each vacation to provide to the students and the activities involved. The quiz has the three questions and they are what is your weather preference when traveling, what is the main thing you look forward to doing when traveling, what is your dream travel story? After the users took the first quiz, they were asked to take another quiz about the usability of the type of traveler are you quiz. This usability quiz consisted of five quizzes to determine how easy was it to access the quiz on Facebook on a scale of 1 through 5. It also determined how quickly the user was able to complete the quiz (in minutes), what elements stood out to user, and if there were any technical errors. Lasted the usability quiz asked how satisfied are the user is with their results on a scale of 1 through 5. (Appendix, Usability) Per researcher Jakob Nielsen’s January 4, 2012 article

“Usability 101: Introduction to Usability,” “usability is quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word "usability" also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.” Usability is defined by five components and those are learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction. The questions picked for the quiz represent each of these components in the same order. The information from this quiz provided the group with the usability of the final product. Looking at the results from the usability, the group learned how to make improve the quiz if decided. The first question was how easy was it to access the quiz on Facebook on a scale of zero, hard to access, to five, very easy to access. Five people answered with a five and one answered with a four. The next question asked how quickly were you able to complete the quiz and see what travel options are available for you after finding out your traveler type (minutes) and the answers ranged one minute to 5 minutes. The next question is what are some elements that stood out to you while taking the quiz and four answered with pictures, one said “ocean and water” and the last one was it was the shortest quiz on Buzzfeed. The following question was where there any technical errors, if yes please explain and all the answered consisted of no. The last question was another range from one, not satisfied at all, to five, very satisfied with the question how satisfied are you with your results. One answer was two, one for four and four for five.

ConclusionWe came together as a team and made a Facebook page that had both a Buzzfeed survey on travel personalities and a usability post-survey. Our goal was to motivate WSU students to travel over spring break by providing the information that they would need to make travel plans. By providing not only destinations that would fit the student’s personality, but also budgets and travel packages, we are hoping to boost the number of students who cheaply travel on time off from classes. Our usability survey came back with positive results; WSU students were satisfied with the results of the Buzzfeed survey.

References

C. What Type Of Traveler Are You? Retrieved December, 2016, from https://www.buzzfeed.com

Facebook. Retrieved December, 2016, from https://www.facebook.com/WSUSpringBreak/

Feedback Survey. Retrieved December, 2016, from https://www.surveymonkey.com

Jakob Nielsen’s January 4, 2012 article “Usability 101: Introduction to Usability

MA: Bedford/St. Martins. Print.

Markel, M. (2016). Technical Communication:Washington State University Edition. Boston,

Nelson, B. Local Travel Agent [Interview by C. Hendrickson].

Appendices

Survey Monkey; FeedbackQuestion 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

 

Buzzfeed Quiz Question 1

Question 2

Question 3