UX Research - User Research
Topic Learning Outcomes
- At the end of this topic, you should be able to:
- Understand UX & User Research
- Differentiate UX & User Research
- Explore different types of research methods
- Synthesize the Research Process
- Apply the research insights.
Contents & Structure
- Introduction to UX and User Research
- Types of Research Methods
- Performing UX Research
- Applying Research Insights
Recap From Last Lesson
Introduction to UX and User Research
- User Research:
- Related to talking to people to know about their behaviors, motivation, pain points.
- Broad study of target users.
- Not necessarily done within the context of product design; it might relate to market research.
- UX Research:
- Knowing about users' experiences with a product or a service
- Firmly embedded in the UX design process.
- Carried out with the goal of improving a user’s experience with a specific product or service
- Definitions and differences between UX research and user research
Introduction to UX and User Research (cont…)
- Goals & benefits of conducting UX research and user research:
- Goals
- Understand user behaviors, needs, preferences
- Identify pain points and usability issues
- Assess perceptions of products and features
- Evaluate ease-of-use during key tasks
- Guide design and development decisions
- Support continual iteration and optimization
- Benefits
- Build user-centered products aligned to needs
- Uncover opportunities to solve real problems
- Provide data to inform prioritization
- Reduce guesswork and validate assumptions
- Improve user satisfaction and retention
- Enable fact-based design improvements
- Support faster innovation and disruption
Types of research methods
- Interviews
- One-on-one conversations to deeply probe perspectives and experiences.
- Often open-ended questions focused on behaviors, motivations, attitudes.
- Reveal detailed insights on thought processes, pain points
- Scenario: A university is redesigning its student portal. A UX researcher conducts one-on-one interviews with students to understand their pain points, such as difficulties in accessing course materials or scheduling classes.
- Usability Testing
- Direct observation of representative users working through key tasks.
- Identify obstacles, confusion, or friction during critical user flows.
- Assess whether designs and products work as intended
- Scenario: A company launches a new mobile banking app. Before release, they invite users to perform tasks like transferring money or checking balances while researchers observe their interactions to identify usability issues.
- Focus Groups
- Moderated discussion with small groups of potential target users.
- Allows observation of interactions between participants.
- Gauges initial reactions to early concepts or designs
- Scenario: A tech startup is developing an AI-powered writing assistant. They gather a group of content writers and marketers to discuss their needs, expectations, and concerns about using AI for content creation.
- Surveys
- Gather input from a large sample via online questionnaires.
- Can reach a dispersed demographic easily.
- Collect self-reported data on behaviors, preferences, and opinions
- Scenario: A retail store wants to improve its online shopping experience. They send a survey to customers asking about website navigation, checkout experience, and product recommendations.
- A/B Testing
- Show alternative versions of a design to divide test groups.
- Directly compare which performed best across variants.
- Provide evidence to guide iterative changes
- Scenario: An e-commerce website is testing two versions of its checkout page—one with a one-click purchase button and another with a multi-step process. They track which version leads to higher conversion rates.
- These reflect common qualitative and quantitative methods. They can be combined to leverage the strengths of each based on goals, questions, and needs. But all center on developing deeper user empathy and evidence-based insights to drive development and create better products.
- The key objectives are to guide designs and product development, evaluate solutions, validate strategic assumptions, support iteration and optimization, measure success, and fuel innovation.
Other UX Research Methods
- Clearly articulate what you want to learn or achieve through research. For example: understand checkout friction points. Ensure your objectives are specific and measurable.
- Make assumptions about what you might discover based on preliminary research and insights. For example: users are having issues with entering payment information. State hypotheses at the start to validate or invalidate through research.
- Choose the type and number of research sessions based on objectives. For example: 5 moderated usability test sessions. Use methods like interviews, observations, testing that can prove/disprove hypotheses.
- Design effective sessions whether in-person, remote moderated, or unmoderated. Create discussion guides and test scripts to keep sessions consistent and on track in revealing insights related to research objectives. Take detailed notes.
- Compile notes, recordings, and data across all sessions. Analyze findings to identify key issues and opportunities related to original research questions. Look for themes and patterns that emerge across research participants.
- Summarize insights, use data to confirm or reject your hypotheses initially set, and make actionable recommendations on next steps. Share findings internally with stakeholders in a report or presentation. The goal of outlining this process is to demonstrate how focused research goals guide design, execution, and synthesis to reveal insights that can drive product decisions.
Applying Research Insights
- 1. Using Personas
- Personas represent key user segments based on research into their goals, behaviors, pain points
- Help humanize target users throughout design and development
- Guide decisions on features, content, interactions to match user needs
- For example: Features tailored for a persona of a busy working mom based on research insights
Applying Research Insights (cont…)
- 2. Journey Mapping
- Illustrates the end-to-end user experience across touchpoints
- Uncovers pain points and experience gaps at different stages
- Opportunities emerge to simplify complex steps, reduce friction
- For example: Identifying and fixing drop-off points in an e-commerce checkout flow
Applying Research Insights (cont…)
- 3. Mental models
- Reflect how users expect a system or product to work based on inherent biases
- Designing interfaces and interactions aligned to mental models makes usage more intuitive
- Research helps articulate user expectations through surveys, testing
- For example: Ordering checkout form fields to match user preference
Applying Research Insights (cont…)
- 4. Iterating from Testing
- Issues discovered during usability testing signal areas for design iteration
- Research provides evidence on where and how to make improvements
- Testing optimized designs continues the feedback loop
- For example: Clarifying navigation labels shown to cause confusion during testing
UX Research
- UX research is critical in validating that a team's concepts are on the right track. It fosters alignment between an idea and the reality of what users actually want and need. UX research also allows teams to 'fail early' and adapt before large sums of time and money are spent.
- Andy Silvestri
- Director of Product Design, Hatchworks
Review Questions
- 1) What is the difference between UX research and user research?
- 2) What are some key goals of conducting UX and user research?
- 3) Name 2-3 UX research methods.
- 4) How can you apply the research findings/insights?
Summary / Recap of Main Points
- 1. Understand& Differentiate UX & User Research
- 2. Explore different types of research methods
- 3. Synthesize the Research Process/phases
- 4. Apply the research insights/findings
What To Expect Next Week
- In Class
- UX Research - User Journey Map Preparation for Class
- Discussion on Assignment Proposal