Why do we associate so much value with researching UX? User research is an indispensable part of the data-driven decision-making process: it drives designers to create the best possible products founded on user experience, as the design process would merely be guesswork without it.
So today, we’re going to talk about what the role of a UX researcher looks like. But before we do, there are a few points we’re going to touch on that, as UX research specialists, we believe should be made clear to anyone engaging with a UX researcher, a research project, or is interested in user research as a career.
Why you should choose a UX research specialist
Why should you choose any specialist? Would you trust just anyone with the financial operation of your business? Of course not; you’d choose a qualified and experienced accountant, just like you wouldn’t let a nurse carry out your heart surgery or let a hobbyist or budding DIY mechanic strip down your car’s engine.
It’s the same with UX design. A qualified or experienced UX researcher is always the best option to conduct the exploration that guides the design, build, and success of your product, business, and financial return.
Their research strategy (and knowledge of the vast array of UX research methods) will impact the thousands of users interacting with your product and business. Their work will likely impact millions of people—the very people who decide whether your business succeeds or fails. Do you really want to put that responsibility in the hands of a budding amateur or someone without the key skills or knowledge to ensure your success?
What about ‘democratization’? And the latest industry term, ‘People Who Do Research’?
According to the Nielsen Norman Group:
Democratization of user research means making it acceptable and possible for anyone, no matter their role, to do user research.
The term ‘people who do research’ covers various operatives working within UX design, from seasoned professionals to unqualified enthusiasts.
While ‘many hands make light work’—often allowing the professionals to do more of what they’re best at—conducting user research requires those who understand the design thinking process to the nth degree to deliver the results UX designers and businesses need. We’re not saying there isn’t a place for those extra helping hands, but they shouldn’t be running the show. Their work should be low-risk or led and monitored by experienced team leaders. The decision-making should still be safely left to your lead UX researchers.
If you want to know more about the benefits and dangers of democratization and how it can significantly devalue UX research, the Nielsen Norman Group have laid it all out in a great article.
So, with those points neatly wrapped up, let’s get into what UX researchers do and why their role is so important.
An Introduction to User Experience (UX) Research
As technology races forward, data-driven decision-making has become more important than ever. While many consider UX research unnecessary and expensive, it’s proving to be more essential to users, designers, businesses, and their bottom line than ever before. Why? Because it works. It reduces risk and offers massive value in return.
What is UX research?
UX research focuses on user behaviours, needs, and motivations of real people. There is a diverse abundance of UX research methods and techniques, and choosing the right tool for each situation is paramount. The goal of the UX researcher is to impact the design process to satisfy the user, business, and ROI.
Knowing what to do and when is only part of the UX researcher’s role. The other key part of UX research is organising and analysing the data to gather insights that drive the design process.
The importance of UX research in product development
The key word in that sentence is development. You rarely build a digital product once. Each website, app, or element is a continually evolving entity. At each stage or with every new addition and iteration, the only views that can accurately guide the product development process are those of your users. If you want a product that is easy to operate, delivers seamless transactions, is interesting, enjoyable, and keeps users coming back for more, you need to take assumptions and guesswork off the table; we ensure all that by conducting user research.
The role of UX research in improving user satisfaction and engagement
Usability testing is an ideal method to locate pain points and areas of disinterest during user interaction. So, we use various qualitative research methods and testing to understand how users feel about products; whether monitoring behaviours or surveying attitudes, the data comes directly from user research.
What skills are relevant to becoming a UX researcher?
Each aspiring UX researcher (alternatively known as a design researcher or user researcher) will require specific skills to carry out their role but can enter the field from various channels.
A typical UX research role will cover:
- Defining research plans with clear objectives
- Recruiting target users based on project demographics
- Data collection through various means: for example, they’ll define the research strategy, conduct usability testing, design qualitative research interviews while accessing quantitative methods and delivering appropriate UX research methods
- Analysing and organising data into valuable insights
- Presenting research findings
Of course, our product users are central to the user experience, so those hoping for a career in UX often come from human behaviour backgrounds. For example, students of cognitive sciences, behavioural economics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Having a good understanding and empathy for user needs, each UX researcher needs self-awareness to remain neutral against biases.
Then, working with diverse data pools, they also need to be organised and able to engage with various different software tools.
Finally, they need an understanding of the design process.
Key Steps in Conducting User Experience (UX) Research
Depending on your research strategy, following a proven system or creating a bespoke methodology for unusual or complex projects is essential.
Each strategy will include creating objectives, understanding users, choosing and performing appropriate UX methods, gathering data, and finally analysing it to present findings.
- Defining research goals and objectives
- Identifying target users and creating user personas
- Selecting appropriate research methods and tools
- Conducting user interviews and surveys
- Collecting and analysing qualitative and quantitative data
Some of the Most Common User Experience Research Methods
The list of user research methods is almost endless; the following list includes a selection of proven practices UX researchers regularly depend on.
- Usability testing: Evaluating a product’s usability through user interaction testing.
- Card sorting: Organizing information architecture based on user preferences.
- Eye tracking and first-click testing: Understanding visual attention patterns and usability issues.
- A/B testing: Comparing different designs or features for user preference evaluation.
- User or focus groups: Structured group interviews and discussions that quickly deliver critical feedback.
- User interviews: Gathering qualitative research to understand the why behind pain points.
- User surveys: Similar to user interviews, but casting a far wider net online.
- Diary studies: Ongoing user research to show differences in behaviours over time.
- User personas: Creating a profile of the ideal user helps to understand their needs and behaviours more accurately.
- Prototyping: Creating paper prototypes or working mockups for user testing before the final product build.
- Task analysis: Understanding how users interact with products and what they expect from them.
Qualitative versus Quantitative research methods
UX researchers split data into two categories: quantitative and qualitative.
Quantitative research methods produce data we can measure in figures. For example, site visitors, page visits, new signups, sales figures, etc.
Qualitative research methods explore the reasons and motivations for user behaviours. Instead of numerical values, the data is descriptive, including long-form answers. For example, we gather qualitative data through interviews, monitoring, diary studies, etc.
Within qualitative research methodology, we cater to behavioural and attitudinal research; the difference here is that what people say and do can be quite different. We can gather data about what they think with interviews and surveys, but for what they actually do, monitoring, prototype or A/B testing, and task analysis deliver the most accurate data.
Best Practices for Conducting User Experience Research
Again, much like there are myriad testing methods, there’s an almost bottomless pot of best practices that would fill a lengthy page of their own. However, these three simple rules help keep UX researchers on target.
- Ensuring research validity and reliability through standardised protocols
- Involving representative users from the target audience
- Balancing qualitative insights with quantitative data analysis for comprehensive findings
Challenges and Limitations in User Experience Research
Two UX research challenges that practitioners regularly face are the limited resources and budgets for extensive research studies and the difficulties in maintaining objectivity without biases during data collection and analysis.
Despite its value and proven ROI, many common UX research methods are, sadly, seen as an unnecessary stage of the product design process. Convincing business owners to conduct user research can be frustrating.
And as far as human psychology goes, we’re subject to hundreds of cognitive biases. Without knowing it, we’re subconsciously motivated to match results to expectations, so it’s essential to remain impartial while conducting UX research and throughout all testing methods, data analysis, and presentations.
The Future of User Experience (UX) Research
As an essential part of user-centred design, the most talked about changes in the UX research landscape regularly include merging technologies for user-testing and data-collection and integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning into UX research.
That said, it’s not only the technology we should be adapting to but our users. As Gen Z users interact with our products, we learn how this far more digitally-led generation behaves differently to those who came before them, and it’s our job to ensure our products succeed by meeting the new challenges they bring.
Conclusion
UX researchers play a huge part in product design. They have an in-depth understanding of UX methodologies and the personal skills to get everything they need from their research participants. Finally, they deliver a well-crafted research plan to ensure UX designers can deliver the best products to satisfy their target users.
It’s crucial that we have qualified and experienced professionals leading the charge into more advanced and effective product design, just as you would expect in any other specialist field.
Our user research experts are available to help you get closer to your customers. If you would like to arrange a no obligation call, get in touch by emailing us at hello@ux247.com or share your requirement using the form below.
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