Our story / AP Research
It started with a question.
My AP Research project began with adolescent habit change. I wanted the work to become something useful, beyond a paper.
Follow the story
02 / The research
A question worth asking.
How can research-based habit-reduction methods be used to design a personalized habit-breaking app for adolescents?
This was an evidence-to-design project, not an experiment proving that HABIT works.
03 / The connections
Evidence became a design.
If-then planning. Self-monitoring. Timely support. I mapped the research to features that could help someone choose their next step.
04 / The principle
Built for the moment.
The strongest idea was timing: support should arrive before or during a difficult moment, not only after a habit has happened.
05 / The direction
A wider clearing.
Helping Adolescents Break Irresistible Tendencies became Helping Anyone Break Irresistible Tendencies. The name stayed. The audience grew.
HABIT is available for people ages 13 and older.
06 / What comes next
Still growing.
Research can guide a design. Testing tells us more about how people use it. Future work could include interviews, usability tests, pilot studies, and longer trials.
Behind the design
A closer look
at the process.
The paper connected the topic, gap, question, and method to a feature framework. Each choice needed a reason. These are the steps that shaped the work.
01Research process
- 01
Choosing a Topic
I chose habits because they affect school, health, confidence, discipline, and identity. I wanted a project that could become something useful, not only a paper.
- 02
Researching the Field
I studied habit cues, if-then planning, inhibitory control, rewards, self-monitoring, adolescent development, and just-in-time support.
- 03
Determining the Gap
The gap was between habit-reduction research and adolescent app design. Many apps track behavior, but fewer clearly connect features to evidence.
- 04
Honing the Question
My first topic was too broad, so I narrowed it to one question about how research could guide a personalized habit-breaking app for adolescents.
- 05
Aligning the Method
I used an evidence-to-design approach: review research, identify habit-reduction strategies, then map those strategies to app features.
- 06
Developing the Proposal
The proposal forced the project into a clear plan by connecting the topic, gap, question, method, and expected design output.
02Writing the paper
- 01
Literature Review
I organized sources by strategy: implementation intentions, inhibitory control training, contingency management, self-monitoring, and JITAIs.
- 02
Method Design
Each strategy was judged by evidence strength, app feasibility, and fit for the original adolescent audience.
- 03
Results
The results became the HABIT feature framework: If-Then Builder, Daily Log, prompts, rewards, streaks, milestones, insights, and pause activities.
- 04
Analysis
The strongest idea was timing. Support should arrive before or during the risk moment, not only after the habit already happened.
- 05
Conclusions
Research-based habit-reduction methods can guide app design. Future work could include interviews, usability tests, pilot studies, and longer trials.
- 06
Writing Growth
I learned to make careful claims, connect sources, revise for logic, and keep every paragraph tied to the research question.
03Presentation and oral defense
- 01
Designing the Slide Deck
The deck had to show the project quickly, so I used app screens, feature grids, and clean layouts to make the research-to-design path visible.
- 02
Preparing the Presentation
Preparing forced me to cut. I focused on the gap, method, design choices, and conclusion instead of trying to present the whole paper.
- 03
Preparing for Questions
The oral defense made me review every choice: research question, method, sources, limitations, conclusions, and future directions.
- 04
Presenting the Process
The final presentation showed how the app came from research, not just from a product idea.
04From evidence
to features
- If-then plans
- If-Then Builder
- Self-monitoring
- Daily Log and pattern tracking
- Timely support
- Personal prompts
- Rewards
- Streaks, badges, and milestones
- Pause before action
- Short support activities
Meet the creator / Chris Pruett
Research, made usable.
I learned to narrow a question, revise for evidence and clarity, and give each feature a purpose. HABIT grew from that process.