Yin-Juei Chang, Ph.D.
BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST / UX
I'm Yin-Juei (pronounced "Ing Ray") - a PhD level researcher with 12+ years of experience from academia through nonprofit, and then to the tech industry, a story teller and a lifelong learner. I have worked with diverse-age populations - from babies, adolescents and young adults to adults. I embrace challenges and enjoy working on complicated problems. I help business distill user insights to set initial product directions in early stage discovery research and to identify early indicators of product impact. I am skilled at working with vulnerable populations (e.g. patients, young children, and parents) and medical professionals.
As a scientist and a ballroom dancer, I also work to utilize movement-based interpersonal activities to help people cultivate understanding and collaborative relationships. Talk to me to see what we could achieve together!
Experiences
UX RESEARCHER
AnswerLab
Lead generative and evaluative research (large-scale benchmarking, in-depth interviews, prototype testing) to distill user insights and make product recommendations in various spaces from transportation, e-commerce, SMB, to technology.
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Hopelab
Led various research projects to drive product decisions and scale impact. Started as a User Experience Consultant before promotion to in house Senior Researcher in R&D.
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Successfully completed a large-scale national survey study where findings supported the scaling of the product, a goal-coaching app, Goal Mama, from 5 testing sites to 275 sites.
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Designed and built the organization’s first mobile-based survey infrastructure that streamlined and automated study process from screening, enrollment, to the deliveries of surveys, mobile application, and compensation; the study collected data from 300 participants with survey completion rates above 70% across all 4 surveys.
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Built a theory of change model that mapped out the behavioral levers and target outcome for product to follow, taking the team past the first decision gate and led to the birth of Vivibot - an award-winning, interactive health bot.
USER RESEARCHER
Sharp NEC Display Solutions of America
Led research (interview, survey, competitive landscape) to uncover the needs of the target audience and market for a touch-screen display designed for the vacation rental business.
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Successfully aligned the cross-functional team around critical product decisions by facilitating group conversations, empowering the Managing Director to confidently move forward with product decisions.
PROJECT LEAD | Ph.D. RESEARCHER
Infant Cognition Laboratory, Northwestern University
Designed and conducted behavioral studies around the development of various cognitive abilities, including quantification, reasoning and language. Successfully collected data from 400+ young children and their parents.
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Designed, created, and tested the prototypes of 3D experimental stimuli that led to successful data collection.
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Presented research at conferences and prestigious universities to steer the development of research direction.
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Co-programmed with a software engineer to build a new coding software (Chang & Wang, 2014) that successfully improved data collection experience by removing user pain points.
LEAD EXPERIENCE RESEARCHER
Best Buy
Lead discovery research in health to identify opportunity areas and drive product directions in a cross-functional team.
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Brought alignment across stakeholders and leadership in a working session by utilizing user data, resulting in the product decision that reduced the cost by approximately 1 million dollars.
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Visualize data to support diversity and inclusion best practices in hiring.
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Mentor junior researchers on stakeholder management & research practices.