Resume
Work
Experience
2022 - Present
Design Researcher @
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Multi-functional Team Collaboration for Desirability-Driven Innovation: Collaboratively engaged with a multidisciplinary team of designers, play inventors, and PMs to hone in on pivotal research question and audience insights, crafting desirability-driven innovations. My contribution infused each phase of the innovative journey with critical insights, guiding the creation of desirable and innovative play experiences.
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Methodological Expertise: Wide-ranging expertise in research methodologies, including in-lab and remote play testing, in-home immersions, focus groups, co-creation workshops, and surveys.
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Tailored Research Design: Strategic deployment of methodologies tailored to specific research questions and hypotheses, considering timelines and resource allocations for optimised outcomes.
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End-to-End Research Leadership: Spearheaded end-to-end research activities, encompassing planning, execution, analysis, presentation of insights, and formulation of recommendations.
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Empathy-Driven Team Engagement and Audience Connection: Fostered a culture of empathy and team inclusion by orchestrating in-depth immersion studies and co-creation workshops, ensuring the entire project team grew closer to end audiences and built empathy.
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Team Capability Enhancement: Enhanced the research team’s capabilities by authoring a best practices handbook for conducting research with children, laying a pedagogical foundation for training newcomers and aiding peers in their independent study initiatives.
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Impactful Research Presentation through Storytelling and Creative Media: Adept at delivering research outcomes through engaging storytelling, utilising creative media to illustrate insights with actionable impact.
2021 - 2022
Researcher @
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Led Research Activities: As the Lead Researcher, I was responsible for planning, designing, and executing research activities for a variety of applications within the Digital Services team; collaborated extensively with designers and aligned closely with Product and Tech teams, all aimed at crafting customer-grade experiences for employees.
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Evaluative Research Initiatives for Insightful Product Development: Led evaluative studies to measure and track the impact of app changes on user behaviors and attitudes, integrating analytics, surveys, and user interviews. This strategic approach began with an analysis of existing research, facilitating a deep dive into user needs and pain points. It informed concept testing and the creation of detailed research roadmaps, ensuring product evolution was grounded in solid data rationale and aligned with user expectations across various geographies.
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Foundational Research Insight: Initiated foundational research and gathered insights through competitor benchmarking to identify opportunities. Proposed strategies to enhance product engagement and adoption, ensuring a balance between desirability, feasibility, and viability. This empowered stakeholders to explore viable solutions for challenging long-term product questions.
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Research Planning and Navigating Ambiguities: Expertly planned research studies tailored to specific scenarios. Made strategic decisions amidst ambiguities, ensuring user perspectives were prioritised and their interactions with products were facilitated effectively, considering organisational complexities.
Education
2016 - 2021
University of Cambridge
PhD in Sociology
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Dissertation: Mixed-method exploration combining statistical analyses with qualitative interviewing. Investigated the influence of family background, high school type, and college entrance scores on tertiary education access in Beijing, China.
2015-2016
University of Cambridge
Master of Philosophy in
Educational Research
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Thesis recognised as exemplary by the Education Faculty Library
2015-2016
University of Pennsylvania
Master of Science in
International Educational Development
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GPA: 3.85/4.0
2008-2012
University of Minnesota
Bachelor of Science in
Human Resources
Development
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GPA: 3.98/4.0
Skills
& Expertise
Research Methods:
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Qualitative
Contextual Inquiries, Guerrilla Testing, Usability Testing, Ethnography, Focus Groups, Co-creation Workshops, In-home Visits
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Quantative
Survey Design, Descriptive Statistics, Multivariate Testing, EyeTracking Testing
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Statistics
Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, ANCOVA, Regression, Correlation, Data Visualisation
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Software
SPSS, STATA, Figma, Toluna, Miro, Dovetail, nVivo, Optimal Workshop
* While I may not be familiar with every research method or software your company utilises, my broad range of transferable skills allows for quick adaptation to different software packages. I am a fast learner, eager to bridge any gaps in my expertise🤗.