The LEGO Group | Full Case
Research Closing the Gender Gap with Kids & Play Trends
What if . . .
Lego could close the gender gap by being an all-inclusive toy brand for any gender ?
Project
Team Size: 1
Role: UX Researcher
Tools: Google Sheets, Google Forms, Canva
Time Frame: 3 Weeks, Part-Time
Overview
Skills
Observation & analysis
Survey design & analysis
Desk Research (Blogs, Vlogs, & Articles)
Ideation
Problem
HMW avoid gender biases to foster an environment of inclusion for boys & girls in Lego’s world of play?
Steps to Solution
Stakeholder interview
ID Research Methods to execute
Data Analysis & Visualization
Review Insights for suggestions
Present Findings for next steps
Background
I connected with the Head of Research at Lego who provided a list of open projects his team had in the pipeline. He allowed me to choose the project that aligned with my passion & desires as a researcher. He gave me autonomy to complete the project with methods I believed would best fit the team’s open-minded mentality in receiving guidance toward an outcome.
Being the passionate & dedicated researcher I am with a personal desire to aid in closing the gender gap for current & future generations, I planned the research process as follows . . .
Questions to Answer . . .
The research team at Lego wants to know if girls are interested in building block toys & if so, how do we foster an environment of inclusion for boys & girls in Lego’s world of play?
Do girls play less than boys?
Do girls seek different activities than boys?
Do parents give more resources to boys than to girls?
How might LEGO close the gap in play between boys & girls?
I want to be where the people are . . .
Thinking of where to find data within the scope of this project . . . 🤔
Our project constraints:
3 week, part-time timeframe
Volunteer, $0 budget
Research team of one (me 💁🏼♀️)
In-field
Why this method?
2 week completion
$0 cost
Observe real users
Survey
Why this method?
2 week completion
$0 cost
Survey real users
Desktop
Why this method?
1 week completion
$0 cost
Review POV of real users
As far as the eye can see . . .
In-field, behavioral data collection
Why this method?
See real interactions to gather both quant & qual data.
How did we do it?
I prepared a GoogleSheet with dropdown menus for easy, quick data collection using an iPad for real-time sheet editing & data collecting to answer key questions such as “Do parents give more resources to boys than to girls?” (answered in Purchase Price column) and “Do girls play less than boys?” (answered in Girls Level of Interest column).
What was the outcome?
119 total lines of data collected with 73 families observed:
Boys & girls showed significant differences in HOW they played
Boys & girls did not show significant differences in interest TO play
Prepared GoogleSheet for observation data collection
Let’s ask the real experts . . .
Survey
Why this method?
Get deeper insight from multiple perspectives with both quant & qual data
How did we do it?
I created two surveys—one for families and one for child-care professionals shared via social media & QR Code.
Why these recruits?: Caregivers in & out of the home observe kids in their natural state of play & can provide accurate insight into the key questions for this project.
What was the outcome?
28 useful responses
Boys prefer solo play vs. girls prefer social play in most areas of interest — confirms in-field observation
Boys show more interest in online activities vs. girls show more interest in hands-on activities
User takes survey in-person!
What’s currently out there?
Desktop Research
Why this method?
Learn from users’ POVs through different mediums to triangulate data & seek out previous research to prevent single researcher bias.
How did we do it?
I sought out blogs, vlogs, articles, & research papers and filtered through Lego vs Gender Bias results. I found many opinions about Lego as a toy & as a brand, especially as these relate to gender-bias. This made me dive deep into others’ points of views with passion for this subject.
What was the outcome?
I found three different mediums for insight:
the blog shared impact of building block toys on girls’ development
the vlog shared impact of “Friends” universe widening the gender gap
the article shared longstanding bias of parents purchasing “gender-typed” toys for kids
Screenshot of desk research slide from presentation
Screenshot of key exploration points slide from presentation given to The LEGO Group’s Research Team
Presentation
I created a presentation with all of my findings to deliver to The LEGO Group in a 30-minute presentation with Lego’s Research Team.
Outcome
Significant findings in research presented to Lego’s research team
Do girls play less than boys? | With toys? Yes. In general? N/A
Do girls seek different activities than boys? | Yes
Do parents give more resources to boys than to girls? | Yes
How might LEGO close the gap in play between boys & girls?
Correct marketing efforts to be all-inclusive
Use resources to bridge the gap in sets & universes
Be conscientious of bias-influence in purchase patterns
Team is currently reviewing findings in presentation to develop further research plans for this subject
Next Steps
Replicate research with team & Lego’s tools to avoid single-researcher bias and gather larger data sets
Continue research for inconclusive results found in survey
Develop further research of gender-, location-, socio-economic-, and other -biases’ impact on kids & play
What I would do different. . .
In-field behavioral observation
Add multiple researchers conducting research, preferably across cultures
Avoid single-researcher & location bias
Collect more data points for quantitative data
Spend more time at locations
Talk more with customers to ask questions for insights
Survey
Spend more time at locations
Ask more customers to take the survey in-person
Survey QR Code did not do well 🙈
I mistakenly deactivated the code, customers could not find the survey
keep QR Code active & ongoing until reviewing data in the final week of project
Some stores needed prior clearance through management before allowing the code to be given to customers, making timeline ineffective
make sure to call ahead at the beginning of project with expected in-field observation dates & confirm go-ahead for sharing surveys with customers
Desktop Research
Spend time in public research repositories doing data analysis
There’s a ton of data out there for free in online repositories that could shed light on this subject. I wish I would have had more time to devote to this method of data collection & analysis
Spend time in public forums searching for mentions of Lego and gender biases
Everyone has an opinion. Public forums like Reddit would be a great place to go post a question that users could answer or search for similar subreddits.
Project Snapshots
Graphs showing in-field & survey data comparing purchase patterns of families with boys vs girls
Having fun in the process
Me asking a passerby to complete a survey
Industry Takeaways
There is so much to learn about biases in business strategies
A lot can be accomplished by one researcher in three weeks, but there’s so much more to be explored when work is spread across a team or with a longer timeframe
Lego still has a a lot of work to do to close the gender gap for kids & play
Personal Takeaways
When doing research, it’s better to be a team rather than a single researcher to combat biases, gather larger data sets, and cover more ground over multi-location observations
Pay attention to the small details or you could miss out on receiving more data & feedback (in my case, the QR Code fail cost me a ton of potential survey participants!) 🤦♀️
Reflection
This project was entrusted to me by my contact at The LEGO Group, and I knew this project was extremely important in paving the way for brands to be conscious of the gender gap and inclusivity biases. I was drawn to this research project right away as I believe when I was a child, not as much time and energy and resources were devoted toward allowing little girls to play, take up space, be loud and rambunctious—and I hope this research and data I have presented will help impact the future of societal standards for little girls around the world to prioritize play and discover the fun this world has to offer. I look forward to completing more research projects for The LEGO Group for this reason and so many more.