UX researcher
By conducting quantitative and qualitative research, UX Researchers help other designers (UX, Visual) to understand their users better. They continuously test the designs, at every stage, to suggest design improvements to make sure the users’ needs are met.
Types of research
As a UX researcher, you generally work with two types of research, qualitative and quantitative. We’ll take a brief look at each type (and when it might be useful).
Quantitative research focuses on numbers and statistics. In terms of usability, this might mean measuring how long it takes an average user to complete a task, what percentage of users successfully completed the task, and how many errors or bugs they encountered along the way. These numbers tend to be most useful when you have something to compare them to — either a previous design or a competitor’s product.
Qualitative research examines non-numerical insights, such as why users had trouble completing a task or how they felt while using a product. If quantitative research gives us the “what,” qualitative research gives us the “why.”
Another distinction made between types of research is that between behavioral and attitudinal research.
Behavioral research methods examine what users do. Where do they click on a page? What navigational path do they take through an app?
Attitudinal research looks at a user’s feelings and attitudes toward an experience.
UX research methods template research + expecting what
One aspect of your role as a UX designer will be deciding which research method is appropriate for answering which questions. The UX research tool chest contains a variety of options to help you glean information from your users.
Music sorting: Study participants organize topics into groups that make the most sense to them and create labels for these groups. With this information, designers can create apps and websites that are more intuitive and easy to navigate.
Usability testing and user observation: Participants try to complete a task with a product while they observe. This lets you measure how successful users are at completing a task, how quickly they complete it, what problems they encounter, and how satisfied they felt with the process.
A/B testing search bar/input + output: This tests two versions of a product against each other to see which the target audience prefers. This can be done with a live product by showing different versions of a webpage to different visitors or sending two different versions of a mailing to different recipient lists.
User interviews: Interviews conducted face to face (either online or in-person) offer a quick and easy way to get insight into what a user wants from a potential product or collect qualitative data regarding an existing product. When these interviews are conducted with more than one person at a time, they’re often called focus groups.
Surveys and questionnaires: You can design a survey or questionnaire to return both qualitative and quantitative data. By using the same questions and conducting multiple surveys, you can track the improvement of a product throughout its development and lifecycle.
Diary studies: Target users keep a log of their day-to-day activities over a defined (usually extended) period of time. This gives you insight into behaviors and experiences in the real world. You could learn when during the day a user typically engages with your product or how often they use it over the course of a day, a week, or a month.
1/Sketch: challenge assumptions and generate ideas
Contextual observation: Instead of interviewing users in a lab, you’ll observe them in their natural context — at home or at work maybe — while asking questions to better understand how and why they do what they do.
2. Decide: choose the idea to elaborate
First click testing: This type of user testing examines what a target user clicks on first on a website or app interface when trying to complete a task. You can do a first-click test on a live site, prototype, or wireframe.
What does a UX researcher do?
Now that we have a better understanding of what user experience research is, let’s take a closer look at what you might do in your day-to-day role as a UX researcher, as well as what skills and tools you might use to get the job done.
Tasks and responsibilities
A day on the job as a UX researcher will likely vary based on the project you’re working on or the company you’re working for. These are a few of the tasks you may perform on the job:
Collaborating with designers and stakeholders to understand research needs
Defining research questions and selecting appropriate methods of data collection
Developing budgets and timelines for research projects
Recruiting participants for research studies
Conducting design research studies and analyzing the data collected
Transforming your findings into easily understandable insights
Communication skills: Much of the job involves working with a design team and communicating with research participants to answer research questions.
Empathy: Understanding a user’s expectations,
frustrations, goals, and reasoning processes can help you develop solutions to real user needs.
Design thinking: Each stage of the design thinking process — empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test — offers opportunities to learn more about our target users.
Problem-solving: Thinking critically about what questions you’re trying to answer with your research can help you select the appropriate methodology.
Curiosity: A sense of curiosity can prompt you to ask insightful questions and discover meaningful insights.
Collaboration: As a UX researcher, you’ll often be working alongside developers, designers, product managers, and other stakeholders to bring the best possible product to market.
Other roles in UI/UX
Research is just one aspect of UI/UX design. If you’re interested in the field, there are some other positions to consider.
UX designers are responsible for making products usable, useful, and enjoyable for users.
UI designers create the visual elements of computer and electronic interfaces.
Information architects organize and manage information to make it intuitive, accessible, and understandable.
UX engineers, more commonly known as developers, translate designs into usable code.
Interaction designers focus on the moment of interaction between the user and a product. This can be its own role or part of a UX/UI designer’s job.