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Miriam Lopes

Senior UX Researcher

7+ Years · Behavioral Research · AI-Augmented Operations

Qualtrics Dscout JTBD Octalysis Custom GenAI

[email protected] · Remote, Tampa, FL · +1 617-605-5262

Who I Am

Connecting behavioral science
to product decisions that ship.

Experience

7+ years in B2B & B2C e-commerce, delivering 15+ research projects/year at a global travel experiences platform. Formerly Blueport Commerce and City of Boston.

Education

M.S. User-Centered Design, Brandeis University. B.A. Social Work + Spanish + Psychology Minor, Gordon College.

Research Scope

Foundational, generative, tactical & evaluative. Quant + qual. Moderated interviews, surveys, diary studies, benchmarking, JTBD, usability.

Languages

English (native), Portuguese (fluent), Spanish (fluent). Cross-cultural research competency applied to international traveler segments.

Portfolio Highlights

Three stories. One research identity.

Case Study 01

What Drives Deep Divers?

Octalysis + JTBD survey of 1,041 travelers. Opportunity scoring to guide merchandising strategy. Directly activated A/B tests.

+$7.8M revenue impact

Case Study 02

Democratizing Research at Scale

Built a PM/UXD-led unmoderated research framework with AI-embedded review gates, triage logic, and governance guardrails.

Org-wide velocity uplift

Signature Capability

AI-Augmented Research Ops

Custom Gems, NotebookLM repository, Dscout AI synthesis — embedded at decision points across the full research lifecycle.

AI-first UXR operations

Case Study 01 · Behavioral Motivation Research

What Drives Deep Divers?
Leveraging the Octalysis Framework

The Problem

The merchandising team needed to understand what motivates Deep Diver travelers to book — beyond what they want (JTBD) to why they want it (behavioral psychology).

The Framework Choice

Integrated Yu-Kai Chou's Octalysis Framework (8 core human drives) with existing JTBD research to create a compound motivation-to-opportunity model.

The Method

Qualtrics survey of 1,041 US-based Deep Diver travelers. 24 statements across all 8 drives. Importance × Satisfaction → Opportunity Score.

1,041

Survey Respondents

24

Motivational Statements

8

Octalysis Core Drives

Case Study 01 · Findings

Core Drive Hierarchy — Opportunity Scores

Loss & Avoidance

9.34

Empowerment & Creativity

8.24

Ownership & Possession

7.36

Scarcity & Impatience

7.06

Development & Accomplishment

6.90

Social Influence

4.93

Unpredictability & Curiosity

4.32

Epic Meaning & Calling

4.02

Formula: Importance − Satisfaction = Gap · Gap + Importance = Opportunity Score · n=1,041

Case Study 01 · From Insights to Activation

Research findings shipped to product — measurably.

+$7.8M

"Holding Your Spot" feature released from Loss & Avoidance insights

3

Active A/B tests launched directly from opportunity score findings

91%

of Deep Divers rated "Secure your spot ahead of time" as important

Opportunity 1

Optimize for Comfort. Surface booking cut-off times, crowd levels, and queue context. Minimize pain-point decision friction.

Opportunity 2

Highlight Co-Creation. Surface customizable experiences (add-on meals, stops). Deepen emotional connection via personalization.

Opportunity 3

Capitalize on FOMO. Leverage genuine scarcity — seasonality, "Rare find" badges, sold-out signals — with ethical transparency.

Key insight: internal employees ranked Epic Meaning & Calling #1; Deep Divers ranked it last. Never design for yourself.

Case Study 02 · Research Operations

Democratizing Research:
A PM/UXD-Led Unmoderated Pilot

The Problem

UXR bandwidth was a bottleneck. Low-risk evaluative questions stalled in the queue while high-impact studies went under-resourced.

The Solution

Designed a two-route framework enabling PMs and UXDs to own low-risk unmoderated research — with clear triage logic, coaching, and AI-embedded review checkpoints.

The Scope

Pilot launched Q2 2025 (Route 1 with UXR coaching); scaled to Q1 2026 (Route 2 with Dscout). Retrospective: did studies de-risk A/B tests faster?

Route 1

PM-Led + UXR Support

UXR triages, assigns resource, builds Dscout test. PM owns kick-off, research plan, and 1-pager write-up. Custom Gem for first-pass review.

Route 2

PM-Led + Dscout Rep

PM fully owns. Dscout reviews test build. UXR flags risks. Auto-uploaded to Asana via Slack. AI synthesis on session completion.

Case Study 02 · System Design

Rigor by design — not by accident.

🎯

Triage Decision Matrix

Low complexity + low risk + solution space → PM/UXD leads.
High complexity OR high risk OR problem space → UXR leads. 24-hour triage SLA.

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AI at Decision Points

Custom Gem for research plan first-pass review. Dscout AI for session synthesis. NotebookLM as the institutional knowledge repository. AI hallucination flagged as named risk with mitigation.

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Minimum Viable Rigor

"Lightweight rigor" framing: directional language ("we saw indications that X...") vs. definitive claims.
Prevents proxy decision-making while preserving team autonomy.

Outcome: built-in retrospective at Q1 2026 — measuring whether PM-led studies led to faster, more confident A/B test decisions.

Signature Capability · AI-Augmented Research Ops

Not just using AI — architecting how
research teams use AI responsibly.

🏛️

Layer 1 · Repository

AI-First UXR Knowledge Base

Launched Confluence + NotebookLM as a queryable institutional memory. Research findings become retrievable assets, not siloed PDFs. Reduces re-work and enables cross-pod learning.

⚙️

Layer 2 · Custom Tooling

Bespoke GenAI Solutions

Developed Custom Gems embedded at precise workflow decision points: research plan peer review, write-up synthesis, and participant screening.

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Layer 3 · Democratization

AI-Enabled Scale for All

PM/UXD-led research pilot uses Dscout AI for session analysis, reducing synthesis time. Democratization multiplies UXR impact without eroding quality or researcher expertise.

Tools: Custom Gems (Gemini) · NotebookLM · Dscout AI · Qualtrics

Craft & Toolkit

Research methods across the full spectrum.

Quantitative

Opportunity scoring & gap analysis Benchmarking studies A/B test de-risking SQL / R (learning)

Qualitative

In-depth moderated interviews Unmoderated usability testing Diary & ethnographic studies JTBD framework research Card sorting · Focus groups

Strategic

Octalysis behavioral framework Research democratization design Stakeholder workshop facilitation Junior researcher mentoring Cross-functional alignment

Platforms & Tools

Qualtrics · Dscout · UserTesting · Optimal Workshop · Figma/FigJam · Miro/Mural · Jira/Asana · NotebookLM · Custom Gems

Languages

English (native) · Portuguese (fluent) · Spanish (fluent) · Cultural competency applied to international traveler research

✉️

Let's connect.

I design research systems that scale — connecting behavioral science to product strategy through AI-augmented velocity. Open to senior UXR and research operations roles.

Email

[email protected]

Phone

+1 617-605-5262

Location

Remote · Tampa, FL

M.S. User-Centered Design · Brandeis University