Week 8: Turning Data into Direction

This week, the project really started picking up momentum. I’ve got 18 people actively working through the survey. Watching the numbers grow is exciting, but it’s also making me think about the bigger picture.

The feedback is starting to come in, and I’m already seeing trends I didn’t expect. Some people are breezing through questions I thought would be tricky, while others are stuck on things I assumed were simple.

Watching People Struggle (In a Good Way)

One of the most interesting things this week has been seeing where people get stuck. A bunch of people had trouble with the credit card question. I added a “I’m just guessing” option in the multiple choice section as an honesty check -and a surprising number of people clicked it. That’s super helpful. It tells me they’re not just picking random answers to get it over with. It also shows me where the knowledge gaps actually are.

Final Product Goals

The project’s heading toward two major deliverables:

1. Final Report – This is going to break down the survey results, pull out trends, and figure out what they actually mean. I want to go beyond the usual “x% got this right” and start digging into why. Why are some questions harder? Why do some users guess more often? .
2. Final Platform – The end version of the site will let users do more than just chat with predetermined bot. They’ll be able to upload things like their own budget or credit card statement and get custom feedback. It’s a way to shift from “learning in theory” to “learning from your actual life.”

What I’m Learning

• The guessing option was one of the best additions. It gives me way more honest data.
• People don’t know as much about credit cards as I assumed.
• Real feedback beats any amount of solo debugging.

Next week, I’ll start mapping out how to turn this raw data into lessons that feel relevant and helpful. I’m also working on building the upload feature for the platform. That’s going to be a bit of a stretch, but it’ll be worth it if it means people can actually use this thing to improve their real financial habits.

Small steps, but it’s coming together.