type of ux research

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You’re on a business trip in Oakland, CA. You've been working late in downtown and now you're looking for a place nearby to grab a late dinner. You decided to check Zomato to try and find somewhere to eat. (Don't begin searching yet).

• Look around on the home page. Does anything seem interesting to you?
• How would you go about finding a place to eat near you in Downtown Oakland? You want something kind of quick, open late, not too expensive, and with a good rating.
• What do the reviews say about the restaurant you've chosen?
• What was the most important factor for you in choosing this spot?
• You're currently close to the 19th St Bart station, and it's 9PM. How would you get to this restaurant? Do you think you'll be able to make it before closing time?
• Your friend recommended you to check out a place called Belly while you're in Oakland. Try to find where it is, when it's open, and what kind of food options they have.
• Now go to any restaurant's page and try to leave a review (don't actually submit it).

What was the worst thing about your experience?

It was hard to find the bart station. The collections not being able to be sorted was a bit of a bummer

What other aspects of the experience could be improved?

Feedback from the owners would be nice

What did you like about the website?

The flow was good, lots of bright photos

What other comments do you have for the owner of the website?

I like that you can sort by what you are looking for and i like the idea of collections

You're going on a vacation to Italy next month, and you want to learn some basic Italian for getting around while there. You decided to try Duolingo.

• Please begin by downloading the app to your device.
• Choose Italian and get started with the first lesson (stop once you reach the first question).
• Now go all the way through the rest of the first lesson, describing your thoughts as you go.
• Get your profile set up, then view your account page. What information and options are there? Do you feel that these are useful? Why or why not?
• After a week in Italy, you're going to spend a few days in Austria. How would you take German lessons on Duolingo?
• What other languages does the app offer? Do any of them interest you?

I felt like there could have been a little more of an instructional component to the lesson.

It would be cool if there were some feature that could allow two learners studying the same language to take lessons together. I imagine that their screens would be synced and they could go through lessons together and chat along the way.

Overall, the app was very intuitive to use and visually appealing. I also liked the option to connect with others.

Overall, the app seemed very helpful and easy to use. I feel like it makes learning a new language fun and almost like a game. It would be nice, however, if it contained more of an instructional portion.

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Top UX Research Methods for Effective Usability Testing

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User experience (UX) research methods are crucial in product development because they help ensure that products are intuitive, efficient, and meet user needs. Usability testing is a central part of this process, where different research methods are employed to assess the ease with which users can accomplish tasks within a system.

In this article, we will dive into various UX research methods for usability testing, examine types of UX research , explore when to use them, and provide a guide on choosing the right method for your project.

What are UX Research Methods?

UX research methods are systematic approaches to understanding users, their behaviors, and their product interaction. These methods aim to gather insights that lead to better product design, improved usability, and enhanced user satisfaction .

In the context of usability testing , UX research methods focus specifically on:

• Identifying usability problems.
• Understanding how users interact with a product.
• Improving the overall user experience by addressing pain points.

Each method offers a different approach, and selecting the right method depends on factors like the stage of development, the goals of the research, and the resources available. 

Types of UX Research and When to Use Them

UX research can be divided into two main types: generative and evaluative.

Generative UX Research

Generative research is conducted early in the product development cycle. It focuses on understanding user needs, behaviors, and pain points, helping generate new design ideas. This type of research is critical for defining the scope of a project and identifying opportunities for innovation.

• When to use it: Early stages of development, before the design process begins.
• Examples of methods: User interviews, ethnographic studies, and surveys.

Evaluative UX Research

On the other hand, evaluative research assesses the usability and effectiveness of a product that already exists or is in development. The goal is to evaluate the user interface and identify usability issues that need improvement.

• When to use it: During or after the design process to test usability.
• Examples of methods: Usability testing, A/B testing , heuristic evaluation.

Now, let’s focus on the best UX research methods for usability testing and how to apply them.

Best UX Research Methods

UX research methods are critical to understanding how users interact with products, websites, or applications. The best methods for UX research vary depending on your goals, resources, and the stage of product development. 

Below are some of the top UX research methods commonly used in usability testing, along with their key benefits and considerations.

1. Moderated Usability Testing

Moderated usability testing involves a facilitator guiding users through tasks while observing their interactions. The facilitator can ask clarifying questions and probe deeper into specific issues that arise during the test. This method can be done either in person or remotely via videoconferencing tools.

• Best for: Gaining detailed insights, understanding users’ thought processes, and adjusting questions based on users’ behaviors.
• Limitations: It can be time-consuming and costly due to the need for a moderator.

2. Unmoderated Usability Testing

Unmoderated usability testing allows participants to complete tasks independently without a facilitator. These tests are often conducted remotely using software that tracks users’ behaviors, time to complete tasks, and any areas of difficulty. Since it doesn’t require real-time interaction with a facilitator, it can be quicker and more scalable than moderated testing.

• Best for: Quick feedback from many users, especially in remote settings.
• Limitations: Less depth in feedback and limited ability to probe users for more information.

3. Card Sorting

Card sorting is a method for improving information architecture. Participants are given a set of topics or features and asked to organize them meaningfully. This method helps understand users’ mental models and how they expect information to be structured.

• Best for: Optimizing navigation, categorization, and user flows in digital products.
• Limitations: It does not provide direct insight into task-based usability.

4. Tree Testing

Tree testing is the inverse of card sorting. Users are asked to find specific information in a proposed navigation structure (tree) without the visual design elements. This helps UX researchers evaluate how intuitive a product’s structure is before it is fully developed.

• Best for: Testing site architecture and validating navigation logic.
• Limitations: Focuses only on information hierarchy and not on broader usability.

5. A/B Testing

A/B testing, or split testing , compares two product versions to see which performs better regarding user behavior or other metrics. Users are randomly assigned to one of the two versions, and their interactions are analyzed to determine which design or feature leads to better usability.

• Best for: Validating design decisions by comparing options in real-world use.
• Limitations: Only provides comparative insights; does not explain why one version performs better.

6. Eye Tracking

Eye tracking technology allows researchers to understand where users focus their attention on a screen. It reveals which parts of the interface are the most engaging or confusing and can be used to optimize layout and design elements for better usability.

• Best for: Assessing visual hierarchy and optimizing design layouts for user attention.
• Limitations: It requires specialized equipment and analysis, making implementation expensive and complex.

7. Think-Aloud Protocol

In a think-aloud usability test, users are asked to verbalize their thoughts as they interact with the product. This provides rich qualitative data about the users’ thought processes, helping researchers understand where users encounter issues and how they interpret the design.

• Best for: Gathering deep qualitative insights into user behavior and expectations.
• Limitations: Some users may find it difficult to think aloud while performing tasks, affecting their behavior.

8. First-Click Testing

First-click testing assesses the effectiveness of a user’s first step when interacting with a product or page. The goal is to see whether the user’s first action is aligned with the intended user path, as this often determines whether they will complete a task successfully.

• Best for: Improving navigation, call-to-action buttons, and initial user flow.
• Limitations: It only assesses the first interaction and doesn’t capture the entire user journey.

9. Session Recording

Session recording tools capture user interactions with a website or app, showing where users click, scroll, and spend time. Analyzing these recordings helps identify usability issues by highlighting areas where users get stuck, click repeatedly, or fail to achieve their goals.

• Best for: Detecting usability issues at scale without direct user intervention.
• Limitations: Does not provide insights into user intentions or motivations without further analysis.

10. Surveys and Questionnaires

Surveys can complement usability testing by capturing users’ opinions about their experience. They can be used pre-test to gather demographic or attitudinal information or post-test to collect feedback on ease of use, satisfaction, and areas for improvement.

• Best for: Quantifying user satisfaction and gathering user feedback on specific features or tasks.
• Limitations: Subject to user bias and may not reflect actual usability issues without behavioral observation.

How to Choose the Right User Experience Research Method

Selecting the appropriate UX research method depends on several factors, including project goals, timeline, budget, and the specific insights you seek. Here are key considerations to guide your decision-making process:

• Define Your Research Goals: Clearly outline what you want to achieve with your research. Are you looking to understand user needs, evaluate usability, or test a new feature?
• Consider the Stage of Product Development: Different stages of development may require different methods. Early in the design phase, qualitative methods like interviews or contextual inquiries can provide insights into user needs. Later stages may benefit from usability testing and A/B testing.
• Identify Your Target Audience: Understand your users and the effective methods to reach them. For instance, if your audience is tech-savvy, online surveys or unmoderated usability tests may be suitable.
• Evaluate Resources and Budget: Consider the resources available for your research, including time, budget, and personnel. Some methods, like usability testing or focus groups, may require more resources than surveys or heuristic evaluations.
• Combine Methods for Comprehensive Insights: A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods often provides a fuller understanding of user experience. For instance, pairing usability testing with surveys can uncover deeper insights.
• Analyze and Iterate: After conducting your research, analyze the results to draw conclusions and make informed decisions. Iterative testing helps refine your product based on user research feedback. 

Choosing the suitable UX research method is key to improving usability and ensuring your product meets users’ needs. Each method has strengths and limitations, and often, the best approach is to combine multiple methods to get a holistic understanding of user behavior. 

Whether working on a website, app, or software, carefully selecting the appropriate usability testing methods will help you make data-driven decisions that enhance the user experience.

By understanding UX research methods, when to use them, and how to choose the right one, you’ll be better equipped to create products that function well and are also a pleasure to use.

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What is UX Research: The Ultimate Guide for UX Researchers

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User experience research is a crucial component of the human-centered design process and an essential part of creating solutions that meet user expectations and deliver value to customers. This comprehensive guide to UX research dives into the fundamentals of research and its various methods and includes tips and best practices from leading industry experts.

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UX research: Your ultimate guide to nailing user experience and exceeding expectation

User experience research, or UX research , is the process of gathering insights about users' behaviors, needs, and pain points through observation techniques and feedback methodologies. It’s a form of user research that looks at how users interact with your product, helping bridge the gaps between what you think users need, what users say they need—and what they actually need.

The goal of UX research is to understand your users and gain context and perspectives to help make informed decisions and build user-centered products. It’s an essential part of designing, developing, and launching a product that will be an instant hit—but it should also be used throughout the product’s lifecycle post-launch to keep updated, and ensure new features are relevant to your audience.

As Sinéad Davis Cochrane , UX Manager at Workday, explains: “UX research represents insights gathered directly from users and customers, that helps you make product decisions at every stage of the development process.”

Is UX research the same as user research?

The terms ‘user research’ and ‘UX research’ are often used interchangeably, but they do differ. User research is the parent of UX research; it’s a broader research effort that aims to understand the demographics, behaviors, and sentiments of your users and personas.

UX research, on the other hand, is a type of user research that’s specific to your product or platform. Where user research focuses on the user as a whole, UX research considers how they interact with, respond to, and feel about your product or concept itself.

In both cases, the overarching goal is to get to know your users, understand what they need from your product, gain context to help make informed decisions, and build human-centered experiences.

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Why is conducting UX research important?

In an ideal world, users would find your product easy to navigate, your net promoter score (NPS) would be off the charts, and you’d see adoption and activation rates skyrocket. In reality, however, this can be a challenging dream to achieve—but it is possible. The only way to build a product that users really resonate with is by involving them throughout the development process and building with them.

UX research is more than just a single ‘step’ in the development process: it should happen continuously, throughout the product lifecycle—so whether you’re building new products or iterating on existing ones, every decision is informed by user insights.

Here’s what you can achieve with continuous UX research:

Make informed decisions based on data

Our 2023 Continuous Research Report shows that 74% of people who do research (PWDR) believe research is crucial to guiding product decisions. Plus, 60% of respondents find that user recommendations inspire new product ideas.

Getting stakeholder buy-in to product decisions can be challenging, but when you suggest changes based on UX research, you have data to back up your suggestions. Your users inform your product, becoming the decision-makers as well as the customer.

UX research helps reduce and mitigate the risk of building the wrong thing—or building the right thing in the wrong way.

Sinéad Davis Cochrane , UX Manager at Workday

Reduce bias in the UX design process

There are hundreds of cognitive biases identified by psychologists, many of which unknowingly influence our decisions and the products we build. But a key principle of great UX design is to put aside existing beliefs, and learn from your users.

“You have to be humble, optimistic, and open-minded,” says Bertrand Berlureau , Senior Product Designer at iMSA. Using effective UX research, you can root out bias or assumptions, and follow real human behavior to inform product decisions.

According to Sinéad, you should consider these questions early in the design process:

• “What are your assumptions?”
• “What are some of the assumptions you’ve been making about your end-users and product without any evidence?”
• “What are the anecdotes or coincidental pieces of information that you hold, and how can you challenge them?”

Biases can subconsciously affect research and UX design, and it can be tricky to identify them. The first step to overcoming cognitive biases is by being aware of them. Head to chapter three of our cognitive biases guide to discover how.

Test and validate concepts

The power of UX research is that it can prove you right or wrong—but either way, you’ll end up knowing more and creating a product that provides a better user experience. For Bertrand, an idea without a test is just an idea. So, before the design process, his team starts with these user research methods:

• Face-to-face and remote user interviews
• Focus groups
• Co-creativity sessions through design sprints, quick prototyping, and hypothesis concepts
• User testing

UX research is the only way to unequivocally confirm your product is solving the right problem, in the right way. By speaking directly to real users, you can pinpoint what ideas to focus on, then validate your proposed solution, before investing too much time or money into the wrong concept.

Work on solutions that bring real value to customers

Another main benefit of UX research is that it allows product teams to mitigate risk and come up with products users want to use. “One of the main risks we need to control is whether users actually want to use a solution we've implemented,” explains Luke Vella , Group Product Manager at Maze. “UX research helps us reduce this risk, allowing us to build solutions that our customers see as valuable and make sure that they know how to unlock that value.”

Luke works on pricing and packaging, an area that requires constant user research. On one hand, he and his team want to understand which problems their users are facing and come up with plans to satisfy those different needs. On the other hand, they need to make sure they can monetize in a sustainable way to further invest in the product. You can only get this perfect balance by speaking to users to inform each step of the decision.

Market your product internally and externally

UX research also plays a crucial role in helping product marketers understand the customer and effectively communicate a product's value to the market—after all, a product can only help those who know about it.

For example, Naomi Francis , Senior Product Marketing Manager at Maze, uses different research methods to inform marketing strategy. Naomi conducts user interviews to build personas, using user research to collect insights on messaging drafts, product naming, and running surveys to gather user feedback on beta products and onboarding.

Understanding how and why customers need and use our product pushes marketing launches to the next level—you can get a steer on everything from messaging to language and approach.

Naomi Francis , Senior Product Marketing Manager at Maze

Types of UX research

All UX research methods fit into broader UX research techniques that drive different goals, and provide different types of insight. You can skip to chapter seven for a rundown of the top 9 UX research methods , or keep reading for a deep dive on the main types of UX research:

• Moderated and unmoderated
• Remote and in-person
• Generate and evaluate
• Qualitative and quantitative
• Behavioral and attitudinal

Where moderated/unmoderated and remote/in-person refer to the way research is conducted , the other types of UX research reflect the type of data they gather.

The most powerful insights come from a mixture of testing types—e.g. attitudinal and behavioral, generative and evaluative, and quantitative and qualitative. You don’t need to run all types of research at all times, but you’ll benefit from gathering multiple types of data throughout different stages of product development.

Moderated research

Moderated research is any research conducted with a facilitator or researcher present. A moderator may observe research sessions and take notes, ask questions, or provide instruction to participants where needed.

Like all research, it’s crucial a moderator doesn’t overly guide participants or influence results. Due to certain types of cognitive biases , people may behave differently while being observed, so researchers often opt for unmoderated methods to avoid results being impacted.

UX research methods for moderated research

• User interviews to speak directly with your target user face-to-face
• Focus groups to gather feedback on a variety of topics
• Moderated usability testing to hear the thought process behind the actions

Unmoderated research

As the name suggests, unmoderated research refers to the lack of a moderator. Often used in tandem with remote research , users complete tasks independently, guided by pre-written instructions.

Unmoderated research is helpful to ensure users are acting entirely of their own volition, and it has a lower cost and quicker turnaround than moderated research—however it does require efficient planning and preparation, to ensure users can navigate the tasks unaided.

UX research methods for unmoderated research

• Unmoderated usability testing to see how easily users navigate your product
• Live website testing to witness users interacting with your product in real time
• Surveys to have users answer specific questions and rate design elements

Remote research

An incredibly flexible approach, remote research is often favored due to its time-to-results and cost savings. Remote research can be moderated or unmoderated, and is conducted using UX research tools which record user behavior, feedback, and screen recordings.

Another key benefit is its reach and accessibility—by moving research to a virtual platform, you can access users from anywhere in the world, and ensure research is inclusive of those with different abilities or requirements, who may otherwise be unable to take part in traditional in-person research.

UX research methods for remote research

• Usability testing to evaluate how accessible your product is
• Card sorting to understand how users categorize and group topics
• Concept testing to assess what ideas users are drawn to
• Wireframe or prototype testing to invite users to test a rough version of the design

In-person research

Research conducted in-person is typically more expensive, as it may require travel, accommodation, or equipment. Many traditionally in-person research methods can easily be performed remotely, so in-person research is often reserved for if there’s additional needs for accessibility, or if your product requires physical testing, safety considerations or supervision while being tested.

UX research methods for in-person research

• Guerrilla research to speak to random users and gather feedback
• User interviews to connect with users and read body language
• Field studies to gauge how your product fits into a real world environment

Generative research

Generative research provides a deep understanding of your target audience’s motivations, challenges, and behaviors. Broadly speaking, it pinpoints a problem statement, identifies the problem to be solved, and collects enough data to move forward.

It should happen before you even begin designing, as it helps you identify what to build, the types of problems your user is facing, and how you can solve them with your product or service.

UX research methods for generative research

• Field studies to get familiar with users in their authentic environment
• User interviews to ask open-ended questions about pain points
• Diary research to keep a log of users’ behaviors, activities, and beliefs over time
• Open card sorting to have users define and name their own categories

Evaluative research

Evaluative research focuses on evaluating a product or concept in order to collect data that will improve the solution. Evaluative research usually happens early on and is used in a continuous, iterative way throughout the design process and following launch. You can use this type of UX research to assess an idea, check navigation, or see if your prototype meets your user’s needs.

UX research methods for evaluative research

• Usability testing to see if your platform is easy and intuitive to use
• A/B testing two versions of a design to see which one works best
• Tree testing to assess if your website’s information architecture (IA) makes sense
• Five-second tests to collect first impressions

Behavioral research

This type of research refers to observation—it’s human nature that sometimes what we say, or what we think we’ll do doesn’t match up to what we actually do in a situation. Behavioral research is about observing how users interact with your product or how they behave in certain situations, without any intervention.

UX research methods for behavioral research

• Observation in labs or real environments to witness behavior in real time
• Tree testing to view which paths users take on a website
• Diary research to see how users interact with your product in real life

Attitudinal research

Attitudinal research is the companion to behavioral research—it’s about what people say, and how they feel. In attitudinal research, you ask users to share their own experiences and opinions; this may be about your product, a concept, or specific design element. With a mix of attitudinal and behavioral research, you can get a broader picture of what your user truly needs.

UX research methods for attitudinal research

• Focus groups to understand users’ perspectives on your product
• User interviews to ask people questions about your product directly
• Surveys to gather insights on user preferences and opinions

Quantitative research

Quantitative and qualitative research methods are two types of research that can be used in unison or separately. Quantitative research comes from data and statistics, and results in numerical data.

It allows you to identify patterns, make predictions, and generalize findings about a target audience or topic. “[At iMSA] We analyze a lot of metrics and specific data like traffic analytics, chatbot feedback, user surveys, user testing, etc. to make decisions,” explains Bertrand. “The convergence of all the data, our user’s needs, governs the choices we make.”

Types of quantitative results you can find through UX research include:

• Time spent on tasks
• Net promoter score (NPS)
• System usability score (SUS)
• Number of clicks taken to complete a task
• Preference percentage on A/B tests

UX research methods for quantitative research

• A/B testing to see which option your users likes best
• Tree testing to get data on which paths users follow on your website
• Usability testing to get a score on system usability
• Heatmaps to spot where users spend most of their session time

Qualitative research

Qualitative research is about understanding the why behind the data. It comes from comments, opinions, and observations—this type of research answers why and how users think or act in a certain way. Qualitative data helps you understand the underlying motivations, thoughts, and attitudes of target users. For this reason, attitudinal research is often qualitative (though not always).

UX research methods for qualitative research

• Interviews to discover your users’ motivations and frustrations
• Open question surveys to learn users’ pain points in their own words
• Focus groups to observe users’ interacting with your product
• Think aloud usability tests to hear commentary behind each user decision

💡 Product tip:

Maze allows you to record your participants' screen, audio, and video with Clips, so you can collect qualitative and quantitative insights simultaneously.

When should you conduct UX research?

The truth is, you should always be researching. When NASA wants to send a new shuttle into space, they don't build a rocket and launch it right away. They develop a design, test it in simulations and lab environments, and iterate between each stage. Only once they’ve run all the foreseeable scenarios do they put a person on the ship. Why should your product be any different?

With an overwhelming 83% of product professionals surveyed in our 2023 Continuous Research Report believing research should happen at all stages, it’s surprising that just 36% run tests after launch. While time and budget can make continuous research a challenge, testing at different stages gives you access to unique insights about your users and how they interact with your product.

That being said, if you can only afford to research a few times throughout the development process , here are some key moments to focus on:

Before developing the product

This is when you need to conduct the most extensive and detailed part of your research. During this phase, you’ll want to conduct generative research to get to know exactly:

• Who your user is
• The types of problems they’re facing (and what kind of product they want to solve them)
• What their expectations on a product or service like yours are
• What they like or dislike about your competitors
• Where they currently go to solve the mentioned problems
• What needs to happen for them to change companies (if they’re using a different product)

You can use a variety of UX research methods like focus groups and surveys to gather insights during this stage.

Remember: This step applies even if your product is already live, if you’re thinking of introducing a new feature. Validate your idea and investigate potential alternatives before you spend time and money developing and designing new functionality.

When you want to validate your decisions

This is the point where you’ll run through a few cycles of researching, building, and iterating, before launching your product. The Maze Product team does this through continuous product discovery, via a dual-track habit:

Conduct research regularly while developing and building your product to see if you’re headed in the right direction. Let the research findings feed your deliverables.

Gather qualitative insights on user sentiment through surveys or focus groups. Test your wireframe or sketches to get quantitative answers in the form of clicks, heatmaps, or SUS. Use card sorting to generate ideas, tree testing to assess IA, or prototype testing to assess the usability of a beta version. The options are endless, so there’s no reason to miss maximizing your research at this stage and gather insights to power product decisions.

To evaluate product accessibility

Your product will be used by a multitude of diverse, unique users. Your research participants should be representative of your real audience, which means including all usage scenarios and user personas. Usability testing is one form of UX research that can be used here to ensure your product works for all its users, regardless of ability or need.

There are many ways to ensure your design is inclusive and accessible , including:

• Testing alt-texts, screen-reading capabilities, and color combinations
• Avoiding screen flashes or sudden pop-ups that may be triggering for certain conditions
• Being intentional in what language and imagery is used

Once your product is live

Research doesn’t end once you push your platform to production. Conduct Live Website Testing to evaluate how well your product is meeting your users' expectations and needs. This type of research invites you to answer the question: did we nail it?

Testing your live website also allows you to see how your users interact with your design in a real environment, so you can identify and solve mistakes fast. Pay close attention to loading times, error messages, and other quantitative data that may indicate bugs. You can also conduct regular sentiment checks by embedding feedback surveys into your product itself, to assess user satisfaction and NPS in a few clicks.

TL;DR: Why, how, and when to conduct UX research

The more you understand your customers, the better you can create products that meet expectations, tailor your strategy to their specific needs, and increase your chances for success. Plus, UX research allows you to create unbiased products that put your customers at the center of your business.

To conduct UX research, you’ll need to mix the stage of your product lifecycle with the right research type and methods. Meaning, while you need to conduct UX research continuously, you should look for different types of insights depending on the development stage you’re at and what your current objective is.

For example, if you want to test your live product, you should conduct a mix of quantitative and qualitative evaluative research. That means you might want to perform:

• Usability tests
• Feedback surveys
• Five-second tests
• Prototype testing

Now we’ve covered the what and why of UX research, let’s get into the how. Continue to the next chapter to learn how to create a UX research strategy that blows your competitors away.

Frequently asked questions

What are some examples of UX research?

Some examples of UX research include:

• A/B testing
• Prototype or wireframe testing
• Card sorting
• User interviews
• Tree testing
• 5-second testing
• Usability testing

What are the basics of UX research?

The basics of UX research are simple: you just need a clear goal in mind and a mix of quantitative and qualitative tests. Then, it's a case of:

• Determining the right testing methods
• Testing on an audience that’s an accurate representation of your real users
• Doing continuous product discovery
• Performing unbiased research to build an unbiased design
• Iterating and building user-centric products

UX research gets easier when you use a product discovery platform like Maze. This tool allows you to run multiple types of product research such as usability, prototype, card sorting, and wireframe tests—and get answers within hours.

Is UX research hard?

UX research isn’t hard, especially when you use an intuitive tool for product discovery—like Maze. Maze allows you to build tests using its multiple available templates. It also lets you bring your own users or recruit from its panel and creates an automated, ready-to-share metrics report. Maze gives you answers to tests within hours so you can improve your UX based on real user feedback fast.

Building a UX research strategy

A Guide to Using User-Experience Research Methods

August 21, 2022 2022-08-21

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13 UX research methods for an up-close understanding of your users

Product teams know extensive research is critical for building apps and websites—but it’s all too easy to get stuck in a rut and go through the motions, arbitrarily collecting data to tick boxes. 

How do you find the user-focused insights you need to make a tangible difference for your business? It starts with choosing the right user experience (UX) research methods.

Last updated

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Carefully selecting the most effective user research methods to answer specific questions about your users enables you to build better products and drive customer delight .

Keep reading for a deep dive into 13 popular user experience research methods, and learn how to choose the right ones to meet your research objectives.

TL;DR: 13 user-centric UX research methods

Focus groups : get a broad picture of market opportunities and audience needs by hosting discussions with several participants

User interviews : gain a deeper understanding of individual user perspectives and experiences with one-on-one conversations

Surveys and questionnaires : understand user sentiment at scale, or get feedback related to specific ideas and business scenarios

Diary studies : track how an individual’s experience evolves and changes over time

Card sorting : understand how users naturally place different items (like web pages) into different categories

Tree testing : assess whether users can easily navigate your menu layout to complete specific tasks

Usability testing : observe how users navigate a live or prototype website to assess how usable it is

Heuristic analysis : evaluate a digital product against UX principles to identify obvious issues or areas for improvement

Five-second tests : assess whether users easily understand important parts of your website, like your homepage headline

Heatmaps : get hidden insights into how users interact with a web page, including where they click, scroll, tap, or move their cursors to

Eye tracking : record where participants gaze on your page to evaluate visual hierarchy

A/B testing : find which of two or more page variants achieves the best results on a live website

Feedback : invite users to share their thoughts on your site, so you can track how user sentiment changes over time or between pages

What type of UX research should you do?

Your team is probably already drawing data from multiple sources, like web analytics and product analytics platforms. But if you try and analyze every dataset you have, you’ll likely lose weeks’ worth of time—and end up more confused than you started.

I nstead, put the user at the center of your UX research process . 

Decide what questions you most need to answer, then choose the methods that will help you answer them efficiently. Your UX methods will fall within three key categories:

The most appropriate methods will always depend on what you want to achieve with the insights you find. But as a rule of thumb, it’s good to get a blend of quantitative and qualitative data so you can understand user actions along with the motivations and desires behind them.

Take your research process to new heights 🚀

Hotjar brings you Heatmaps, Recordings, Surveys, Interviews and more, all from a single platform.

13 UX research methods for user-focused product development

We’ve listed the 13 research methods below in order of where they fit into the average product life cycle—from early research and product design to post-launch improvement. 

1. Focus groups

Focus groups are open discussions with small groups of participants from your target audiences. They’re ideal for exploring the market you’re hoping to build a product for , so you can learn more about what users need.

For example, you might use a focus group to research

What daily challenges and pain points a specific audience has (e.g. project managers in medium-sized organizations)

How an audience currently solves those challenges: are they using a software product or a people-driven service? Or are they leaving the challenge unsolved?

How the audience views the market and shops for solutions, including ones offered by your competitors

Focus groups aren’t ideal for ‘going deep’ on specific details of what users need from product features. But they will help you understand user needs, pain points, and desires your product solves.

📅 When to conduct focus groups

Focus groups are most helpful in the early stages of product development, when you’re trying to generate or validate product ideas. After running focus groups, you might use your learnings to inform other UX research—or simply conclude that there isn’t a need for your idea.

2. User interviews

User interviews are an effective method for getting focused, qualitative insights from individual users . By talking with interviewees one-on-one, you can dig deep into specific topics, like

What users need from your product (also known as their jobs to be done )

Questions, doubts, and objections at each stage of your users’ buying journey

Experiences with other available solutions and perspectives on their pricing, features, and customer support

3 tips for running user-centered interviews

Recruit participants from your target audience. If you already have a specific audience in mind, try recruiting participants who match your profile closely—like job role, industry, or product usage habits.

Use non-biased, open-ended questions. A question like, “Would you buy our product?” isn’t very helpful—it can only be answered with a yes or no, and users might feel obligated to say yes. Instead, use questions like, “What do you think of our product?” that allow the user to answer any way they like without leading them to a specific answer.

Record and transcribe your session. As with focus groups, you’ll want to revisit your interviews later to analyze users’ comments. To speed up the process, use a user interview tool that creates automatic transcripts you can scan. When you find interesting moments—like a user talking about frustrations—revisit the interview recording for a closer analysis.

👉 Check out our complete guide to conducting user interviews that glean actionable insights every time .

📅 When to conduct user interviews

User interviews are helpful any time you want to enhance your understanding of the user’s perspective, allowing you to dig deeper into your learnings from focus groups or get clarity on what you learned from surveys, usability tests, and A/B testing projects.

These insights are incredibly advantageous when you’re in the early stages of product research—or, equally, when you’re trying to improve an established one.

Because activities like recruiting, screening, and paying participants can be time-consuming, it’s a good idea to use a remote user interview tool like Hotjar Engage that enables you to 

Recruit the right participants: tell Engage what (or who) you need, and let it recruit, screen, and schedule participants from our global network of 200,000+ people

Host interviews directly in Hotjar: chat with participants directly inside our platform and invite your teammates as ‘invisible spectators’ that participants won’t be aware of

Get an instant transcript: hit record in Engage for an automated, accurate transcript. From there, you can review the calls, comment with colleagues, and create highlight videos of key moments. 

3. Surveys and questionnaires

Surveys are a versatile and helpful method for conducting both qualitative and quantitative user research . Depending on your goals, you might use a blend of survey question types, including

Open-ended questions: get new insights on user perspectives by asking questions participants can answer in any way they want—for example, “What brought you to our website today?”

Multiple-choice questions: allow participants to select from fixed answers, such as a simple ‘yes/no’ question, or multiple-choice questions

Scales and ratings: give users the option to submit ratings so you can analyze their data over time or between user groups. Popular scale-type surveys include customer satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score® (NPS®).

👉 Want more tips? Check out our guide to writing UX research questions .

Use scale-based surveys to gather quantitative data like NPS scores

📅 When to use surveys

Surveys are super helpful whenever you want to measure user sentiment at scale. And because you can put them on individual pages, they’re great for asking questions at specific times and places. For example, you could launch them on your ‘thank you’ page to survey users who just made purchases.

Lastly, use surveys whenever you want quick feedback on design ideas (Hotjar’s concept tests are perfect for this).

🔥 If you’re using Hotjar

Set up targeted surveys using the Hotjar Surveys tool with a few clicks, and ask users any question you like. If you’re not sure what to ask, let Hotjar AI write your survey questions for you—just tell it your research goal and watch the magic happen. ✨

4. Diary studies

Diary studies gather qualitative data about users’ thoughts, behaviors, and experiences over time. They involve asking users to write diary entries about their experiences with a product or situation over days, weeks, or months.

Depending on the study’s goals, the user might write entries at set time intervals, or after specific events or behaviors (for example, after using an app). 

📅 When to use diary studies

Diary studies are helpful when you want to understand how a user’s journey with a product evolves. In addition, diary studies help you understand how users deal with ongoing, multi-step processes, like booking a holiday or managing finances.

5. Card sorting

Card sorting is a UX research method for determining how to organize information on a website. It involves writing concepts on cards and allowing participants to sort them into piles that fit together intuitively.

Depending on how you’re conducting your research, you can use physical ones or virtual cards from modern UX tools .

An example of physical card sorting from digital product agency Bit Zesty

Card sorting helps you identify the most intuitive way to structure website menus and navigation elements and organize your site into categories and sub-categories. Simply give participants cards representing different web pages, then ask them to sort them into groups. After the test, hold a debriefing session so participants can explain how and why they chose the different groups.

6. Tree testing

Tree testing is a method to determine how findable your website menu items are. It involves asking participants to find specific items within menus and then seeing which categories and sub-categories they navigate to.

This tree test invites users to mark which sub-category would best correspond with a specific task

Tree testing is an efficient way to evaluate your menu structures’ intuitiveness. To avoid bias in tree testing, use dedicated usability testing tools that show only the menus and nothing else, ensuring participants aren’t influenced by any other design elements.

7. Usability testing

Usability testing involves evaluating a digital product’s design by observing how users interact with it. Tests typically involve users trying to complete a task—like finding a specific page or completing a purchase. Observers then watch these journeys to find out where users get stuck and how they naturally navigate the site.

Researchers may also get additional insights by asking users to ‘think out loud’ during their journey, or by holding follow-up interviews. This type of qualitative data reveals why users behave a certain way and how they perceive the site’s design. 

📅 When to run usability tests

Usability tests are helpful across all stages of the product life cycle. You can run them on early website designs—even with basic website prototypes—or on live websites. 

Because they help you understand the user’s perspective, they’re also extremely helpful for solving common website problems or a sudden drop in conversions .

3 ways Hotjar helps with usability testing

Hold testing sessions remotely. Use Engage to recruit testing participants from our pool of 200,000+ people. Next, host your testing sessions directly in Hotjar, with your team members as ‘invisible’ observers.

Compare your test sessions with recordings. If you’re testing a live website, check your session recordings to see how users interacted with the same pages your test participants navigated. Do your ‘real’ users experience the same struggles?

Cross-reference other Hotjar data. Hotjar’s multi-product platform makes it easy to access additional data related to any specific issue you find. For example, if recordings on your pricing page show that users frequently ‘rage click’ on non-clickable elements, zoom out and view Trends to check whether rage clicks on that page have increased over time.

8. Heuristic analysis

A heuristic analysis is the process of a researcher evaluating a product against UX best practices and principles. For example, a UX researcher might use their knowledge of website navigation UX to determine that a menu bar with ten links could be overwhelming for users.

📅 When to use a heuristic analysis 

Heuristic analyses are helpful when you want to evaluate an existing asset before launch, or after launch when the page isn’t performing well. These assessments aren’t meant to replace in-depth user research—but they’re a great starting point. 

When a web page isn’t performing to expectations, UX professionals might use their expertise to make an educated guess about the problem. The company can then implement a quick fix based on what they know works, or instead choose to gather more data.

👉 Not sure where to start with your heuristic analysis? Check out our guide to solving common UX problems .

9. Five-second tests

Five-second tests show users an image—like a website intro section—for just five seconds, before asking them questions about what they saw. 

This allows testers to accurately gauge users’ initial impressions of a site or design. Given that many users will decide whether to stay on a site in just a few seconds, five-second tests help to assess how intuitive your page design is.

Dedicated UX tools eliminate bias by ensuring all participants see the image for only five seconds

📅 When to use five-second tests

Five-second tests are most helpful when optimizing the hero section of your homepage (or any important page). They work well for investigating how clear your page headline and intro text are—if visitors don’t immediately understand what you do, it’s time to rethink your design and copy.

10. Heatmaps

Heatmaps are a form of quantitative data that visualize how groups of users behave on an individual page. Depending on which type of heatmap you choose, they show where users click, scroll, or move their mouses to .

📅 When to use heatmaps

Heatmaps are most helpful when you have a live website and need insights on how users behave on specific pages.

Click heatmaps show you which menu items get the most interaction and reveal when users try to click non-clickable page elements

Scroll heatmaps show what percentage of your users navigate to content that’s further down your page

Move heatmaps show you what parts of the page grab users’ attention most (users tend to hover their mouse over text they’re reading)

Mobile heatmaps show where users tap and pinch

Hotjar’s Engagement Zones maps combine click, scroll, and move data in a single visualization to reveal the parts of your page that users interact with most—perfect for when you’re trying to understand what parts of the page interest (or distract) your users.

Above, red engagement zones indicate that users interact with the arrows to view more of the slider content

Heatmaps showed us that very few users scroll down beyond our hero, so when redesigning our landing pages, we used this information to redesign only that section. This reduced our costs in terms of design and engineering overhead whilst delivering a 15% increase in our conversion rate.

11. Eye tracking

Eye tracking is a qualitative research method that follows a user’s gaze to find out where they look on a page. 

Like heatmaps, eye tracking can be used to determine what grabs users’ attention on a website or digital product. However, this method provides different insights on how users tend to read certain types of materials: while heatmaps show you if users click on a page element, eye tracking reveals whether users actually saw it or not, getting you even closer to the user’s perspective.

The Nielsen Norman Group famously used eye tracking to determine that visitors tend to read websites in an F-shaped pattern

📅 When to use eye tracking

Eye tracking is a specialized research method, so it won’t be useful for every project. However, if you’re trying to optimize an important page, it helps you identify three important factors in the user experience, namely

Blind spots: what parts of the page do users simply not look at? This is a fantastic insight when optimizing your page’s visual hierarchy.

Stumbling points: when users keep re-reading the same page elements, it’s a strong indicator they’re confused by them

Reading patterns: understanding how users read different materials helps you optimize them for readability. For example, eye tracking studies have shown that when reading tables, users return to the top of the table and re-read the column headings. This suggests tables should be small enough for users to  see the headings.

12. A/B testing

A/B testing is a method to determine which of two (or more) variants of a page perform better. It involves randomly directing incoming traffic to the different variants, and seeing which variant gets more conversions.

For example, you might use A/B testing to determine whether a redesigned product page (the ‘Treatment’) gets better results than your original version (the ‘Control’).

A/B testing allows you to directly measure group behavior to see which design has the most real-life impact on sign-ups, sales, or other key metrics.

📅 When to use A/B testing

When you’re trying to optimize marketing materials, A/B testing is usually one of the final (and most awesome) steps in the process. 

For example, let’s say you’ve gathered data, developed a hypothesis for what might improve your page, and created a new iteration accordingly. A/B testing allows you to validate your improvements and determine which design works better in real life . 

After testing your new variant(s), you can decide whether to stick with your original design or keep the new one. Some businesses repeatedly test and iterate their pages to see continual improvement.

👉 Read our guide on how to do A/B testing to learn how to do this step by step.

Learn more from A/B tests with Hotjar

Hotjar’s Optimizely integration makes analyzing your A/B tests a breeze. Your Optimizely experiments are available as  Events  inside Hotjar, so you can target surveys and view recordings, heatmaps, and trends for each page variant.

Next, use the data you gather in Hotjar to learn more about why one variant outperforms another. 

Watch recordings from each variant and compare journeys of users who converted with those who didn’t

View heatmaps for each variant to learn if users got distracted or rage clicked on a page element

Send surveys to ask users about their experience on each page

13. Feedback

Feedback is a Hotjar tool that invites users to share their sentiment about your website. See that red button on the right hand of the screen now? That’s the feedback widget—and whenever users click it, they can instantly rate their experience on your site.

📅 When to use feedback

Feedback shows you what users think of a live website. Because it lets you measure user sentiment on a five-point scale, you can do some pretty neat things with the data, like

Aggregate feedback scores for every page on your website to identify pages with the lowest ratings

Check your aggregated feedback scores before and after an update to see if users liked the changes

With these insights, you can continually gauge what users actually respond well to—and identify where your site most needs improvement.

💡 Pro tip: Hotjar also connects individual feedback responses to the same user’s session recording. So, when you want more context on a user's answer, simply click the play icon to zoom out and see what happened during their session.

Connect user research methods to get a complete picture of your audience

Each one of these user research methodologies will help you answer different types of questions about your audiences. For example, tree testing tells you how intuitive your menu structure is, while scroll heatmaps show you what parts of your content users see.

But while these individual insights can be helpful, you can only learn so much from single tests. The real magic happens when you combine research methods to get a full picture of your users’ needs. By equipping your team with tools that let you run multiple tests—and see the connections between them—you’ll be closer than ever to building products and services that delight your users.

Everything you need to understand your users

Hotjar brings you Surveys, Recordings, Trends, user interviews, and more, all from a single platform.

FAQs about UX research methods

What are ux research methodologies.

UX research methodologies are ways to gather data around how users experience products and services. Examples include user interviews, usability testing, A/B testing, and card sorting. Researchers use insights from these methods to inform design decisions and build user-focused products.

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative UX research methods?

Quantitative research is concerned with gathering data that’s measurable—like the number of visitors to a page, or the average customer satisfaction score. Qualitative data generally focuses on descriptive insights, like a customer’s description of their thought processes when using a product.

UX researchers generally gather a mixture of both data types because they work together to give you the full picture. For example, quantitative data like customer satisfaction scores would tell you what users think of a website on average. Qualitative data, like a user’s description of their website journey, would explain why .

What are the exploratory methods of UX research?

Exploratory research in UX is also known as discovery, generative, or foundational research. Methods include

Focus groups

Online surveys

User interviews

Diary studies

Card sorting

UX research examples

Previous chapter

Guide index

2024 UX research methods: A complete guide

Last updated

2 June 2024

Reviewed by

Miroslav Damyanov

UX impacts how people interact with designs, how they feel as they use them, and how quickly they can complete tasks.

Research is the first crucial step to provide delightful user experiences. It ensures that you’re backing your decisions with data, there are proof points for success, and you’re considering the end user at every stage of the process.

Without UX research, UX could be considered just an afterthought. Bringing your customer into the decision-making process is the key to success. Let’s dive into the best 2023 methods.

Don't let UX problems go unnoticed

Use Dovetail to analyze all your customer interviews and uncover hidden UX issues that are costing your business every day.

• What is UX research?

UX comprises all design aspects, including: 

Development

Functionality

UX research matters throughout the entire design process. It looks at how users think and behave, including their motivations and pain points. 

Research enables product teams to deeply understand their end customer, so they can create better products for them. 

You can conduct UX research through various methods to observe user behavior, assess user attitudes, and identify user challenges. 

These insights and data points inform the design process to create truly user-centered products. 

• Why is UX research critical?

Designing with people in mind is fundamental to creating products that delight the end user while solving their problems in the best possible ways.

Research enables this. 

Valuing UX research means respecting the people you’re designing for: You stop relying on assumptions and design products that solve problems. 

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Don’t leave money on the table. See how much you could save in lost revenue each year when you solve UX issues and deliver a better experience for your customers.

Value per visit

x Abandoned users

x 0 abandoned users

x $ 0 lost revenue / day

Lost revenue / year

• What results can I expect from UX research?

We can’t overstate the value of UX research. If you complete it accurately and bake it into product designs, UX can be the difference between a product thriving or flopping. 

UX research can result in:

Improved customer loyalty : Customers who feel like you’re listening to them are more likely to stay loyal to your brand.

Higher conversion rates:  Continual research and listening can smooth areas of friction, helping new customers join and convert seamlessly.

Increased sales : Research removes the guesswork, ensuring you’re creating a product that solves a real-world issue worth paying for.

Better reviews : With user-centricity at the forefront and decisions stemming from accurate data, you’re more likely to have happy customers and positive word-of-mouth.

Positive brand reputation : A company that prioritizes UX research can build a reputation for being innovative because its products are not merely beautiful but functional, easy to use, and solve customer problems.

Reduced development costs : Addressing potential issues early in the development cycle will result in fewer changes.

Continual learning : It’s essential to keep listening to customers and continually make improvements through feedback loops to stay on the leading edge.

Value-centered design : Valuing UX research means putting users first and creating a UX-focused company culture. 

• The most common UX research methods

Some of the most valuable user research methods include: 

User interviews

One of the most common ways of gaining feedback from your users is by interviewing them. This method can provide a broad range of insights relatively quickly. 

Unlike focus groups, user interviews are with just one user at a time. 

You can conduct user interviews at any stage of the design process. This is vital in providing valuable information to the product design and development teams. 

You can hold user interviews in person, via video call, or over the phone. 

We recommend these best practices for interviews: 

Prepare thoroughly to ensure the conversation is relevant and doesn’t take too much of the participant’s time. 

Identify relevant participants for your interviews who represent your target market. 

Ensure your interviewees are comfortable and have the time to answer your questions. 

Avoid leading and closed questions which can result in inaccurate, unhelpful information. 

If a participant raises something new, follow up with questions to ensure you fully understand them and don’t miss relevant points. 

Usability testing

Another way to create user-centered products is through usability testing. This research technique tends to occur later in the development and design process once you’ve developed prototypes or a beta version of the product. 

Usability testing ensures products are fit-for-purpose, simple to use, and better than alternatives. 

In a usability test, researchers typically take a small number of participants through a series of exercises to see how they respond to the product. They’ll also share feedback. 

A neutral party or a UX team will observe the participants and take notes. They mustn’t assist participants. This ensures the test highlights areas of difficulty to the team. 

A few main objectives with usability testing include: 

Learning about user behavior and needs 

Recognizing areas of potential improvement 

Highlighting issues, roadblocks, or clucky design aspects

Confirming whether users enjoy using the product and can easily perform tasks 

For best practice, you should continually perform usability testing as products progress. This ensures they’re the best they can be. 

Usability testing templates

Field studies.

Rather than conducting research in a study context – say in an office or lab – field research puts researchers into context. 

In field studies, users are in their own environment – whether that’s their home, workplace, or another local setting. This helps researchers gain a deeper understanding of their daily lives. 

Field studies can help teams better serve people and their real-life needs, as a field study can provide context that a lab study can’t. 

Imagine a company designing a smartwatch. Seeing users use their smartwatches while doing their daily chores or walking to a park provides much greater context. 

It might help a team improve features, generate new considerations, and see where unexpected interruptions or multi-tasking occur. 

Field studies ultimately provide more information, giving designers a greater understanding of how the user will actually use their product. 

Focus groups

Focus groups are a well-known UX research method. They can help a research team quickly discover a large amount of valuable information. 

Focus groups are useful in interactive systems development, including SaaS, social apps, and multiplayer games. 

Unlike user interviews, focus groups involve eight or fewer demographically similar people. They come together to discuss products, pain points, and preferences. 

Typically a moderator or neutral person conducts the group. They set out a series of questions, help everyone have their say, and keep the group on topic. 

To conduct best practice focus groups , we recommend: 

Allowing everyone in the room to speak : In a group environment, it’s common for louder voices to sway the group, so you must ensure everyone can share their opinion for accurate insights.

Encouraging varying responses : You’re not looking for one answer but enough answers to really understand your target market.

Listening for spontaneous responses : New insights are the real benefit of focus groups, and people will often say things you didn’t expect, which can prove valuable.

Having a list of relevant questions : Ask open-ended questions to ensure you deeply understand how your users feel.

Choosing a relevant group : Your participants should represent your target market, but you should also pay attention to inclusive design to ensure your products are usable by as many people as possible. 

Seeking to understand : Consider how you can better serve your customers by understanding their pain points and challenges. 

Companies often use surveys to gain insights from customers. Surveys ask a series of targeted questions, and they tend to be popular as they’re relatively fast and cost-effective to create.

With many online survey creation tools, organizations often send surveys through email, online questionnaires, or chatbot conversations. Companies also commonly conduct in-person and phone surveys. 

To conduct best practice surveys, consider the following: 

Surveys are only as useful as their questions : All questions should be relevant with measurable results. To see whether a question is appropriate for your project, ask “How does this relate to our overall goals?”

Use open-ended questions : These help you get more information and greater insights.

Use a consistent ranking scale : When users rate their experience, measuring those results is simple.

Keep your surveys short : The longer the survey, the more likely participants will drop out. Keeping the experience relatively brief will ensure more completions.

Card sorting

Another research technique is card sorting. The process can be beneficial to see how participants naturally understand and categorize information. 

During card sorting, researchers give participants cards representing categories, ideas, or concepts. 

The participants sort the cards into different categories that make sense to them. The researcher doesn’t guide how they should sort the cards; instead, the sorting is about how the user feels. 

Card sorting can make a website or app’s information architecture logical, easy to use, and simple to access. 

There are two main variations of card sorting: Open and closed. 

In open card sorting, users can generate names for groups they create from a card stack. In closed card sorting, users organize the card stack into predetermined categories.

For example, the designers of a language learning app might use card sorting to make better decisions about where they house information. The cards could represent aspects like:

Learning history

Achievements

Menu options

App language preference

Asking users to sort these cards will help designers identify patterns that inform the menu structure and layout of the app. The resulting layout will likely reflect a more natural flow. 

Tree testing

Like card sorting, tree testing is a UX research method focused on information architecture. While card sorting is generally the first step to categorizing information, tree testing takes the technique further. 

In tree testing, researchers give users a basic product structure and ask them to organize categories into a tree formation that makes sense to them. 

This generates feedback on your product’s structure, which can help you improve menus and sequences. 

Like card sorting, tree testing ensures your app or website’s structure matches what users naturally gravitate towards. That means it’s intuitive and more usable. 

Five-second testing

Ever heard that first impressions matter ? This testing method is all about those. 

Five-second testing analyzes users' very first reaction to a product. After a user views a product or feature for five seconds, they answer a series of questions so the researcher can understand their perspective. 

Five-second testing is common in web or app page tests to ensure the intended message comes across quickly. 

After running a five-second test, it can be helpful to ask questions such as: 

What is the page designed to do?

What do you think was the intended message? 

Who is the intended audience?

What was your first thought? 

What type of [service/product/feature] is on offer here? 

Did the company appear trustworthy? 

Diary studies

A diary study is a user research method where participants keep a diary of their experiences, activities, and thoughts over a period. 

Diary studies usually last up to a week. They can provide context for your product and how it fits into someone’s day. Diary studies can also be a fast, simple way to gain information. 

This method can be helpful for: 

Gaining an understanding of user habits 

Getting a perspective on user thoughts

Understanding more about user journeys 

Giving the product a real-world context 

The downside is that not all life events are relevant, so setting parameters is essential. This includes telling the participants what they should take notes of, which ensures the data is valuable for your project.

Diary study templates

• How to choose the right user experience research method

It’s helpful to understand the different types of research to choose the correct method. Many researchers choose multiple research types to gain as much relevant information as possible. This is known as mixed methods research .

Research methods generally fall into these groups: 

Qualitative and quantitative

Attitudinal and behavioral

Generative and evaluation research

Qualitative vs. quantitative research

Qualitative data comes directly from users through focus groups, usability testing, field studies, and interviews. This data provides insight into why users do things and their challenges. 

Quantitative data consists of numerical value measurements that you gain indirectly from users. Things like surveys, metrics, and user tests provide this information. Typically, the data involves measurements like how much, how many, and how often. 

Attitudinal vs. behavioral research

Attitudinal research is what users think about things. This includes what they think about something or what they think they will do in a particular situation. 

Behavioral research looks at what people actually do in certain situations. It’s an important distinction. Although people might feel a certain way, their behavior may say otherwise. 

Generative vs. evaluation research

Generative research focuses on a problem you’d like to solve. Researchers discovering more about users helps them innovate and generate new solutions. 

Evaluation research applies later in the design process, focusing on a specific solution to see whether it solves a problem for users. This may be at a prototype, beta, or similar stage.

• Powerful examples of UX research success

Research can boost ROI, customer retention , and sales, among other benefits. 

Let’s consider UK-based clothing retailer Matalan. Matalan’s online shopping cart had high drop-offs, and the team wasn’t sure why. To solve the issue, the team sought user responses to website changes. User feedback meant they could optimize their checkout process. The company boosted its conversions by 1.23% . 

In another example, the digital agency Turum-burum saw a large influx of visitors to its site, but it didn’t know how to maximize conversions. By leveraging the power of surveys, the agency discovered their checkout was too complicated. Turum-burum used this information to streamline the process, boosting its conversion rate by 54.68% . 

• UX research is the power behind product success

Quality UX is behind all good products. It impacts all aspects of the process and can be the difference between a product succeeding or failing in the marketplace.

UX research is the critical first step to success. Research ensures that you continually give customers what they want and need, helping you stand out from the crowd.

Learn more about UX research platforms

What’s a good sample size for ux research.

How many people you choose for UX research can heavily impact the results. Too many people can confuse your results, and too few can reduce the information you gain.

The right number also depends on the type of research.

In usability testing, five participants are enough. However, rather than looking for a specific number, it’s best to test until themes begin to repeat and you stop discovering new information.

For statistical analysis, 20–40 participants or more are necessary to gain a high level of accuracy in some quantitative research types.

Surveys will likely have much larger numbers, even into the thousands.

The number you choose will depend largely on the type of research you’re conducting, your budget, and the project goals.

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User experience (ux) research: definition and methodology.

17 min read To build outstanding products and services for your customers, you need a thorough understanding of who they are, what they need and where their pain points and priorities lie. UX research helps you fully step into your customers’ shoes.

What do we mean by user experience?

User experience (UX) is a customer’s-eye view of your business as it relates to completing tasks and using interactive platforms and services.

It’s closely tied to the idea of customer experience (CX) , but rather than being a holistic view of your brand, it’s more focused on utility and usability testing – the hands-on side of things. You can think of UX as a sub-discipline of CX .

For example, CX research might consider how customers perceive a company’s customer service levels and how confident they feel in having their issues resolved. Meanwhile, UX research would focus on how successfully those customers navigate a self-service website, whether the language on that site is clear and how easy it is to use.

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What is user experience (UX) research?

User experience (UX) research is about diving deep into how customers interact with your brand on a practical, functional level, and observing how easily they can complete their tasks and meet their goals.

User research is the process of discovering the behaviors , motivations, and needs of your customers through observation, task analysis, and other types of user feedback . It can involve working directly with members of your target audience through UX testing sessions, remote session observation using digital tools, surveys to collect user feedback, and many more UX research methods and techniques.

Why is UX research important?

So what exactly is the value of user experience research? After all, you understand your business and its workings better than anyone. How can uninformed external users help you learn more?

The fresh perspective of your end-users is exactly why UX research is so valuable. Because they’re not already immersed in your language, processes, and systems, user testing participants are in the best position to help you see where things might be confusing to a newcomer who isn’t involved with your business.

Better yet, they can show you where confusion or frustration might lead a new or potential customer to miss out on product benefits, fail to convert, or even give up and look toward your competitors instead.

In areas like new product design and development , user research allows you to head off potential issues with products and services before they even hit the shelves. You can design the product correctly the first time, instead of having to fix it later when customers are unhappy.

Simply put, UX research is critical because it keeps you from wasting time, money, and effort designing the wrong product or solution. It’s valuable for all areas of your business and yields clear benefits for your product, your users, and your bottom line.

• Product benefits By asking your customers for direct feedback about a potential product, you can discover how and when customers prefer to use a product, what pain points your product will solve, and how to improve your product design .
• User benefits UX research is unbiased feedback, straight from the most valuable source: your customers. Because this type of research is not biased by investors, company leaders, or outside influences, it is the best resource for getting actionable product feedback.
• Business benefits Knowing what your users value helps you spend less time and money fixing flawed designs, speeds up the product development process , and increases customer satisfaction.

UX research helps brands and organizations to:

• Understand how users experience products, websites, mobile apps, and prototypes
• Evaluate and optimize prototypes and ideas based on UX research discoveries – and nail the design and experience early in a product’s life cycle
• Unearth new customer needs and business opportunities
• Find and fix hidden problems with products and services that arise in real-world use cases
• Make informed decisions through the product development process by testing various aspects of product designs
• Provide user experiences that outperform other businesses in your sector ( UX competitor research )
• Understand each user interaction across complete customer journeys
• Build a richer, more useful picture of your target audiences for better marketing and advertising

What’s the ROI of performing UX research?

The ROI of UX research is tricky to pin down because there often isn’t a direct, easy-to-spot correlation between time spent on it and resulting revenue. UX research can and does drive revenue, but it more directly influences metrics that show customer satisfaction, customer retention, and behavioral goals like user signups.

A simple way to draw a straight (if basic) line between UX research and its associated ROI is to calculate your conversion rate, where ‘conversion’ simply means completing the action you had in mind:

Number of people who took your desired action

—————————————————————       x 100

Total visitors/users

That percentage can be calculated and revisited over time to see how UX changes resulting from your research are having an effect.

Generally, when we talk about ROI, we’re talking about the highest possible rates of return you can attribute to an investment. But – while PWC research suggests that ROI on UX research can rise to as high as 301% – it’s better not to get caught up in absolutes with operational data like revenue.

Instead, it’s worth thinking more about the benefits that come out of tracking human behavior associated with improving your UX in general.

For example, IBM research states that 3 out of 5 users think that a positive user experience is more influential than strong advertising, while Forrester Research estimates that as many as 50% of potential sales fall through because users can’t find the information they need.

Thorough UX research can also cut a project’s development time by up to 50% .

Ultimately, when trying to track the ROI of your time spent doing quantitative and qualitative research on UX, you want to look at behavior and sentiment. If your main goal is website use, you should notice a decline in bounce rate as a sign of positive ROI. If you sell services, run regular CSAT surveys to determine how satisfied customers are with everything.

You might also find that data in unusual places. For example, if you spot a decline in chatbot requests around how to do or perform certain actions, or for information, then you know your new UX implementations are working as desired.

Those kinds of behavioral data points will shine a light on how worthwhile your UX research has been more readily than changes in revenue.

User experience research methods

The type of UX research techniques you choose will depend on the type of research question you’re tackling, your deadline, the size of your UX research team, and your environment.

There are three research dimensions to consider as you decide which methods are best for your project:

Attitudinal and behavioral

“Attitudinal” refers to what people say, while “ behavioral ” refers to what people actually do – and these are often very different. Attitudinal research is often used in marketing because it measures people’s stated beliefs and needs. However, in product design and user experience research, what people do tends to be more relevant.

For example, A/B testing shows visitors different versions of a site at random to track the effect of site design on conversion and behavior.

Another behavioral method is eye tracking, which helps researchers understand how users interact and visually engage with the design of an interface by following their gaze.

Qualitative and quantitative methods

Quantitative UX research studies collect and analyze results, then generalize findings from a sample to a population. They typically require large numbers of representative cases to work with and are structured in their approach.

Quantitative research uses measurement tools like surveys or analytics to gather data about how subjects use a product and are generally more mathematical in nature. This type of inquiry aims to answer questions like ‘what,’ ‘where’ and ‘when’.

Qualitative research methods, on the other hand, gather information about users by observing them directly, as in focus groups or field studies.

Qualitative research aims to understand the human side of data by gaining a sense of the underlying reasons and motivations surrounding consumer behavior. It tends to use small numbers of diverse (rather than representative) cases, and the data collection approach is less structured. Qualitative methods are best suited to address the ‘how’ or ‘why’ of consumer behavior.

Qualitative UX research methods

Several UX research methodologies can help UX researchers answer those big ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions, and influence the design process of any product or service you’ve got cooking. Here are just a few …

1. Participatory design

In participatory design, people are asked to draw or design their own best-case version of the tool, product, or service in question. This gives UX researchers the ability to ask qualitative questions about why specific choices have been made. If multiple participants make similar choices, it’s easy to spot patterns that should be adopted.

You might ask participants how they would redesign your website. While their responses will naturally vary, you might spot that several of them have moved your site’s navigation to a more prominent spot, or have moved the checkout from the left of the screen to the right.

2. Card sorting

Card sorting involves giving participants a range of cards that represent business-specific topics and asking them how they would sort them into groups. UX researchers are then able to probe into why their audience might group certain things, and make changes to existing offerings as a result.

If you have a wide range of products and solutions, card sorting would be a useful way to gauge how your target audience would naturally bucket them on your website. A furniture seller, for example, might use this technique to find that people are naturally inclined to group items by room, rather than by furniture type.

3. Diary studies

If you’d like to know how the UX of your product or service varies over time or throughout the length of its use, a diary study can help. Here, participants are given a way to record their thoughts as they set about using the product or service in question, noting things that occur to them as they go. This is useful as it provides real-world insight over a longer period than a one-off focus group.

Giving people access to an early build of an app and asking them to keep usability testing notes can highlight pain points in the user interface. In a one-off focus group, having to tap three times to get to an oft-used screen might seem fine – whereas participants are more likely to find it annoying in the day-to-day. This kind of longer-term usability test can provide really valuable insights.

Both quantitative and qualitative UX research methodologies can be useful when planning the design and development of your brand presence, as well as for usability testing when it comes to product and service design.

Context-of-use

By collecting and analyzing information about users, the intended use of the application, the tasks they perform with the application, and the technical constraints presented by the application, context-of-use analysis allow UX researchers to better understand the overall experience.

Typically, context-of-use analysis data is collected through research surveys, focus groups, interviews, site visits, and observational studies.

Context-of use-analysis is one method for identifying the most important elements of an application or product in the context of using that application or product. This type of UX research is typically done early in the product lifecycle and continued as data identifies which components of the product and UX are most critical.

Types of user research tools

There are many types of user research methods for discovering data useful for product design and development. Below are some common examples of tools user experience researchers may use to gather information and draw insights into mental models, or users’ thought processes.

UX research surveys or questionnaires can discover data at scale through in-person or remote polling, with specific questions designed to collate useful information about user experience.

User groups or focus groups are a form of a structured interview that consults members of a target audience on their experience, views, and attitudes towards the product or solution. They usually involve neutral parties, such as a moderator and note-taker, and are led by a researcher who asks open-ended questions focused on specific aspects of an investigation.

User interviews are one-on-one structured interviews with a target audience member, led by a UX researcher to understand more about personal experiences with the product. These user interviews can be directed to compare and contrast answers between users, or non-directed, where users lead the conversation.

Ethnographic interviews take place within the target users’ typical environment to get a better context-of-use view. Field studies and site visits are similarly observational in nature, and take place in situ where the product or service is used, but may involve larger groups.

This is not a comprehensive list of research techniques but represents some of the main ways UX researchers might perform usability testing or trial UX design.

When to conduct user experience research

Before launching a new product or service, understanding user preferences that could impact your design or development is key to success. The earlier user experience research is performed, the more effective the end product or service will be, as it should encompass the insights learned about your target audience.

As a product and service’s use and value evolve over its lifecycle, the user experience will change over time. User research should be undertaken on an ongoing basis to determine how to adapt to users’ new needs and preferences.

Five basic steps to conducting UX research

If you’re new to UX research, here’s a step-by-step list of what to consider before you begin your UX testing program:

• Objectives What do you need to find out about your users and their needs?
• Hypothesis What do you think you already know about your users?
• Methods Based on your deadline, project type, and the size of your research team, what UX research methods should you use?
• Process Using your selected UX research method(s), begin collecting data about your users, their preferences, and their needs.
• Synthesis Analyze the data you collected to fill in your knowledge gaps, address your hypothesis and create a plan to improve your product based on user feedback.

Qualtrics makes UX research simple and easy

User experience research and user testing are multifaceted and can involve a lot of both quantitative and qualitative data. To ease the process and make sure it is efficient and scalable, it’s best conducted using a highly responsive platform that allows you to collect data, analyze trends and draw conclusions all in one place.

Whether you need attitudinal or behavioral insights, Qualtrics is your go-to solution for collecting all kinds of UX data and making use of it in the context of your wider CX program .

Conduct in-person studies or send beautifully designed surveys easily and quickly, and view your results via custom dashboards and reports using the most sophisticated research platform on the planet.

Related resources

User experience 20 min read, user experience surveys 9 min read, ux research tools 8 min read, user analytics 11 min read, rage clicks 11 min read, user experience analytics 10 min read, website user experience 14 min read, request demo.

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What is UX Research? Methods, Process, Tools, Examples

Appinio Research · 15.02.2024 · 41min read

Ever wondered how successful products and services are meticulously crafted to cater to your needs and preferences? User Experience (UX) research is the key that unlocks the secrets behind creating user-centered designs. In this guide, we will delve deep into UX research, uncovering its methods, strategies, and practical applications. Whether you're a designer, developer, product manager, or simply curious about the science of user satisfaction, this guide will empower you with the knowledge and tools to understand, implement, and benefit from UX research principles.

What is UX Research?

User Experience (UX) Research is a systematic process of understanding and evaluating how users interact with a product, service, or system. It encompasses a wide range of research methods and techniques to gain insights into user behaviors, preferences, needs, and pain points. The ultimate goal of UX research is to inform and improve the design and functionality of products and services to enhance user satisfaction and usability.

Importance of UX Research

Effective UX research plays a pivotal role in shaping user-centered design and development processes. Its significance can be understood through several key points:

• User-Centered Design : UX research places users at the forefront of design decisions, ensuring that products and services are tailored to meet their needs and preferences.
• Enhanced Usability : Research findings lead to improvements that enhance the overall usability of products, reducing user frustration and increasing engagement.
• Cost Reduction : Identifying and addressing usability issues early in the design process can save time and resources by avoiding costly redesigns or post-launch fixes.
• Competitive Advantage : Organizations prioritizing UX research gain a competitive edge by delivering superior user experiences that attract and retain customers.
• Improved User Satisfaction : Customer satisfaction is closely linked to loyalty and positive word-of-mouth, making UX research an investment in long-term customer relationships.
• Data-Driven Decision-Making : Research data provides valuable insights that inform strategic decisions, reducing the guesswork and subjectivity in design choices.

UX Research Goals and Objectives

The primary goals and objectives of UX research revolve around understanding user needs, improving usability, and driving user-centered design. Here are the key objectives that guide UX research efforts:

• User Understanding : Gain a deep understanding of the target audience, including their demographics, behaviors, motivations, and pain points.
• Usability Evaluation : Identify usability issues and challenges users encounter during interactions with a product or service.
• Task Efficiency : Determine how efficiently users can accomplish tasks within a system, with a focus on minimizing friction and errors.
• User Satisfaction : Measure user satisfaction and gather feedback to uncover areas where improvements can enhance overall user experience.
• Feature Prioritization : Assess which features or functionalities are most valuable to users, guiding feature prioritization in development.
• Validation and Iteration : Validate design decisions through testing and iteration, ensuring that changes align with user expectations and preferences.
• Benchmarking : Establish benchmarks to track improvements over time and compare performance to industry standards.
• Evidence-Based Design : Base design decisions on empirical data and user insights, fostering a user-centered and data-driven design culture.
• Accessibility and Inclusivity : Ensure that products and services are accessible to a diverse range of users, including those with disabilities.
• Risk Mitigation : Identify and mitigate potential risks and challenges early in the design process, reducing the likelihood of post-launch issues.
• Continuous Improvement : Embrace a culture of constant improvement, where UX research is an ongoing process that informs product enhancements and updates.

By aligning research efforts with these objectives, organizations can create products and services that resonate with users, leading to increased user satisfaction and business success.

How to Plan UX Research?

Planning is the foundation of any successful UX research project. It sets the direction, defines your objectives, and ensures that your efforts are focused on achieving meaningful outcomes.

Setting Clear Objectives

Setting clear objectives is the first and most crucial step in planning UX research. Your objectives guide the entire research process, helping you stay on track and measure success effectively. When defining objectives, consider the following:

• Specificity : Objectives should be clear and specific. Vague goals can lead to ambiguous research outcomes.
• Relevance : Ensure that your objectives align with the overall goals of your product or project. How will the research contribute to the success of the endeavor?
• Measurability : Define objectives that are measurable. You should be able to determine whether you've achieved them or not.
• Timeframe : Consider the timeline for your research. Are your objectives achievable within the given time frame?

A well-defined objective might look something like this: "To identify pain points in our mobile app's onboarding process by conducting usability testing with 15 participants, with the aim of reducing drop-off rates by 20% within the next quarter."

Identifying Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is fundamental to effective UX research. Your product or service is designed for specific users, and knowing them intimately is essential. When identifying your target audience, keep the following in mind:

• Demographics : Who are your users? What are their age, gender, location, and other relevant demographics?
• Psychographics : Dig deeper into their lifestyles, values, interests, and behaviors. What motivates them, and what are their pain points?
• User Personas : Create user personas to visualize your target audience. Personas help in humanizing and empathizing with your users.
• User Journeys : Map out the typical user journeys to understand the various touchpoints and interactions users have with your product.

Defining Research Questions

Research questions act as the compass that guides your journey through the UX research landscape. They should be well-crafted and directly tied to your objectives. When defining research questions, consider the following:

• Open-Endedness : Craft questions that allow for open-ended responses . Closed-ended questions with yes/no answers can limit the depth of insights.
• Unbiased Language : Ensure that your questions are phrased in a neutral and impartial manner. Biased questions can lead to skewed results.
• Relevance : Are your research questions directly related to your objectives? Avoid asking questions that do not contribute to your research goals.
• User-Centered : Frame questions from the user's perspective. What would users want to know or share about their experience?

For instance, if your objective is to improve the checkout process of an e-commerce website, a research question could be: "What challenges do users encounter during the checkout process, and how can we simplify it to enhance their experience?"

Budgeting and Resource Allocation

Effective UX research requires proper allocation of resources, both in terms of budget and personnel. Before embarking on your research journey:

• Financial Resources : Determine the budget available for your research project. This budget should cover participant incentives, research tools, and any other associated costs.
• Time Allocation : Allocate time appropriately for each phase of the research process, including recruitment, data collection, analysis, and reporting.
• Human Resources : Identify the team members or researchers responsible for conducting the research. Ensure they have the necessary skills and expertise.
• Tools and Software : Assess whether you have access to the required research tools, such as usability testing software, survey platforms, or analytics tools.

Proper budgeting and resource allocation prevent unexpected obstacles and ensure a seamless research process. Remember that investing in UX research is an investment in the overall success of your product or service.

Types of UX Research

When it comes to User Experience (UX) research, understanding the different types of research methodologies is crucial. Each type has its own strengths and applications, allowing you to gather specific insights into user behavior, preferences, and interactions. These are the three primary types of UX research.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research focuses on collecting numerical data to quantify user behaviors, preferences, or attitudes. It involves systematic data collection and statistical analysis. Here's a deeper look into quantitative research:

• Data Collection : Quantitative research relies on structured data collection methods, such as surveys, questionnaires, or data analytics tools. These methods yield data in numerical form.
• Objective Measurement : It aims to provide objective and measurable data. This is particularly useful for answering questions like "How many users performed a specific action?" or "What percentage of users prefer feature A over feature B?"
• Large Sample Sizes : Quantitative research often involves larger sample sizes to ensure statistical significance. This allows for generalizable findings.
• Statistical Analysis : Statistical analysis plays a central role in quantitative research. It helps identify trends, correlations, and patterns within the data.
• A/B Testing : A common application of quantitative research is A/B testing, where two versions of a design or feature are compared to determine which performs better based on quantifiable metrics.

Quantitative research provides valuable insights when you need to make data-driven decisions and understand the broader user trends and preferences within your target audience.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research dives deep into the subjective aspects of the user experience. It seeks to understand the "why" behind user behaviors and motivations. Here's a closer look at qualitative research:

• Data Collection : Qualitative research relies on methods such as user interviews, usability testing, focus groups , and ethnographic studies. These methods capture rich, non-numerical data.
• Subjective Insights : Qualitative research aims to uncover subjective insights. It helps answer questions like "Why do users find a particular feature frustrating?" or "What emotions do users experience during a specific interaction?"
• Small Sample Sizes : Qualitative research typically involves smaller sample sizes but offers in-depth insights into individual experiences.
• Contextual Understanding : Researchers often engage with users in their natural environment or within the context of product use. This provides a holistic understanding of user behaviors.
• Thematic Analysis : Qualitative data is analyzed through techniques like thematic coding, where common themes and patterns in user feedback are identified.

Qualitative research is particularly valuable when you want to gain a deeper understanding of user needs, pain points, and the emotional aspects of their interactions with your product or service.

Mixed-Methods Research

Mixed-methods research combines elements of both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. It offers a comprehensive view of the user experience by leveraging the strengths of both methodologies. Here's what you need to know about mixed-methods research:

• Data Variety : Mixed-methods research involves collecting both numerical and non-numerical data. This includes quantitative data from surveys and qualitative data from interviews or observations.
• Holistic Insights : By combining quantitative and qualitative data, researchers can gain a more complete and nuanced understanding of user behavior and preferences.
• Sequential or Concurrent : Mixed-methods research can be conducted sequentially (first quantitative, then qualitative) or concurrently (simultaneously collecting both types of data).
• Data Integration : Researchers must carefully integrate and analyze the data from both sources to draw comprehensive conclusions.
• Complementary Insights : The aim is to complement the strengths of one method with the weaknesses of the other, providing a more well-rounded perspective.

Mixed-methods research is valuable when you want to explore complex user experiences, understand the reasons behind quantitative trends, or validate findings from one method with the other. It offers a holistic approach to UX research that can lead to more informed design decisions.

How to Conduct UX Research?

Now that you've laid the groundwork and explored the types of UX research, it's time to delve into the practical aspects of conducting UX research.

Recruitment: Finding the Right Participants

Recruiting participants is a crucial step in UX research. The quality of your research outcomes depends on selecting the right participants who represent your target audience. Here's how to do it effectively:

• Define Participant Criteria : Begin by defining specific criteria for your participants. These criteria should align with your research objectives. For instance, if you're testing a healthcare app, you might require participants who have experience with healthcare services.
• Recruitment Channels : Determine where and how you will find participants. Common recruitment channels include online platforms, user testing services, or in-house databases.
• Incentives : Consider offering incentives to motivate participants. This could be monetary compensation, gift cards, or access to your product or service.
• Screening : Screen potential participants to ensure they meet your criteria. Conducting a screening interview or questionnaire can help filter out inappropriate candidates.

Sampling: Choosing the Right Sample Size

Sampling involves selecting a subset of your target audience for research. The size and representativeness of your sample are critical for obtaining reliable results:

• Sample Size : Determine the appropriate sample size based on your research goals and statistical requirements. Larger samples enhance the reliability of your findings.
• Random Sampling : Whenever possible, aim for random sampling to reduce bias. Randomly selecting participants from your target population increases the likelihood of obtaining a representative sample.
• Stratified Sampling : In cases where certain user segments are essential, consider stratified sampling. This ensures that each segment is adequately represented in your sample.

Recruitment and sampling are foundational elements of UX research, ensuring that the data collected accurately reflects the perspectives of your intended user base.

Choosing the Right Data Collection Methods

Selecting the most suitable data collection methods is vital for gathering relevant and meaningful information. Depending on your research objectives, you can utilize various methods:

• Usability Testing : Usability testing involves observing users as they interact with your product or prototype. It provides direct insights into how users navigate and use your design.
• Surveys and Questionnaires : Surveys are useful for gathering structured, quantitative data. They allow you to collect responses from a large number of participants quickly.
• Interviews : Interviews offer a deeper understanding of user experiences by engaging participants in open-ended conversations. They are particularly effective for uncovering motivations and pain points.
• Observations : Observational studies involve watching users in their natural context, providing insights into real-world behavior.
• Eye-Tracking : Eye-tracking technology can reveal where users focus their attention within your design, helping to optimize layouts and content placement.
• Heatmaps : Heatmaps display aggregated user interactions, highlighting areas of interest and interaction intensity within your design.
• Card Sorting : Card sorting exercises help organize information and navigation structures based on how users group and label items.

Choosing the proper data collection methods depends on your research goals, the type of insights you seek, and the available resources. When it comes to data collection, Appinio offers a streamlined solution that simplifies the process and ensures actionable results.

With Appinio , you can effortlessly design surveys, target specific demographics, and gather insights from a diverse pool of respondents. Whether you're conducting usability testing, administering surveys, or conducting interviews, Appinio provides the tools you need to make informed decisions quickly and efficiently.

Ready to elevate your UX research? Book a demo with Appinio today and experience the power of real-time consumer insights firsthand!

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Making Sense of Collected Data

Once data is collected, the next step is to analyze it effectively. Proper data analysis is critical for drawing meaningful insights and conclusions:

• Quantitative Analysis : For quantitative data collected through surveys or analytics, use statistical analysis techniques to identify patterns, correlations, and statistically significant findings.
• Qualitative Analysis : Qualitative data, such as interview transcripts or open-ended survey responses, requires thematic coding and content analysis to uncover themes, trends, and user sentiments.
• Mixed-Methods Integration : In mixed-methods research, integrate both quantitative and qualitative data to provide a comprehensive understanding of the user experience.
• Usability Metrics : When conducting usability testing, use established usability metrics such as task completion rates, time on task, and error rates to evaluate user performance.
• Data Visualization : Visualize your data using charts, graphs, and diagrams to make complex information more accessible and understandable.

Data analysis transforms raw data into actionable insights that inform design improvements and decision-making.

Improving User Experience Through Testing

Usability testing is a fundamental UX research method that involves observing users as they interact with your product or prototype. It helps identify usability issues and gather direct feedback for improvement:

• Test Planning : Begin by creating test scenarios and tasks that align with your research objectives. Determine what you want participants to accomplish during the test.
• Recruitment : Recruit participants who match your target audience and meet your criteria. Ensure they represent the diversity of your user base.
• Moderated vs. Unmoderated Testing : Choose between moderated (where a facilitator guides participants) and unmoderated (participants complete tasks independently) usability testing, depending on your needs and resources.
• Task Observation : Observe participants as they navigate your design, paying attention to their interactions, struggles, and feedback.
• Think-Aloud Protocol : Encourage participants to vocalize their thoughts and feelings during the test. This provides insights into their cognitive processes.
• Post-Test Interviews : Conduct post-test interviews to gather deeper insights. Ask participants about their overall experience, pain points, and suggestions for improvement.
• Iterative Testing : Usability testing is often an iterative process. After making design changes based on feedback, conduct additional tests to validate improvements.

Usability testing helps uncover issues that may not be apparent through other research methods, leading to improved user satisfaction and product usability.

Collecting Quantitative Insights

Surveys and questionnaires are valuable tools for collecting structured, quantitative data from a large number of participants. They can provide insights into user preferences, satisfaction, and demographics:

• Survey Design : Carefully design your survey or questionnaire , ensuring questions are clear, concise, and relevant to your research objectives.
• Sampling : Distribute your survey to a representative sample of your target audience to obtain meaningful results.
• Response Scale : Choose an appropriate response scale, such as Likert scales or multiple-choice questions, depending on the type of data you want to collect.
• Pre-Testing : Before launching your survey, conduct pre-testing to identify and address any potential issues with question wording or survey flow.
• Data Analysis : Once survey responses are collected, perform statistical analysis to uncover patterns and correlations within the data.

Surveys and questionnaires are efficient tools for gathering quantitative data, making them ideal for measuring user satisfaction, preferences, and trends.

Interviews and Observations

Interviews and observations provide qualitative insights that can help you understand the "why" behind user behaviors and motivations:

• Interview Types : Choose between structured, semi-structured, or unstructured interviews, depending on your research goals. Structured interviews use predefined questions, while unstructured interviews allow for open-ended conversations.
• Participant Selection : Select participants who represent your target audience and can provide diverse perspectives.
• Interview Moderation : During interviews, create a comfortable environment for participants to share their thoughts openly. Encourage them to expand on their responses.
• Observations : When conducting observational research, carefully observe users in their natural context or during product use. Take notes on their actions, gestures, and expressions.
• Contextual Inquiry : Contextual inquiries involve observing users while they perform specific tasks related to your product or service. This approach provides insights into real-world behavior.
• Data Interpretation : Analyze interview transcripts and observational notes using thematic coding or content analysis to identify recurring themes and patterns.

Interviews and observations allow you to gain a deep understanding of user experiences, uncover pain points, and inform design decisions from a user-centered perspective.

With these data collection methods at your disposal, you can tailor your approach to gather the most relevant insights for your specific UX research objectives. Whether you choose to observe user interactions, administer surveys, conduct interviews, or run usability tests , each method offers unique advantages for understanding and improving the user experience.

How to Interpret UX Research Data?

As you gather data through various UX research methods, the next critical step is to analyze and interpret this data effectively. This process involves transforming raw information into actionable insights that can drive design improvements and strategic decisions.

Visualizing Insights for Clarity

Data visualization is a powerful technique for making complex data more accessible and understandable. It involves representing data graphically through charts, graphs, and diagrams. Here's why data visualization matters and how to use it effectively:

• Simplify Complex Data : Data visualization simplifies large datasets and helps users quickly grasp trends and patterns.
• Enhance Communication : Visual representations of data are often more effective in conveying information than raw numbers or text.
• Choose the Right Visualization : Select the appropriate type of visualization based on the data and the story you want to tell. Common types include bar charts, line graphs, scatter plots, and heatmaps.
• Labels and Legends : Ensure that your visualizations have clear labels, legends, and scales. This makes it easier for viewers to understand and interpret the data.
• Interactivity : In digital formats, consider adding interactivity to allow users to explore data further by hovering, clicking, or filtering.
• Data Storytelling : Use data visualizations to tell a compelling story. Explain the context, highlight key findings, and guide viewers through the insights.

Data visualization aids in identifying patterns, trends, and anomalies within your data, helping you make informed decisions based on a visual representation of your research findings.

Identifying Patterns and Trends

Identifying patterns and trends within your data is essential for understanding user behavior and preferences. Here's how to effectively uncover these insights:

• Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) : Begin with an exploratory analysis of your data. Visualizations, such as histograms, box plots, and scatterplots, can reveal patterns and outliers.
• Segmentation : Segment your data by relevant variables (e.g., demographics , psychographic , user behaviors) to identify patterns within specific groups.
• Statistical Analysis : Use statistical methods to analyze your data quantitatively. Techniques like regression analysis, correlation, and hypothesis testing can uncover relationships and trends.
• Time Series Analysis : If your data includes time-based information, such as user interactions over time, use time series analysis to identify temporal trends and seasonality.
• Qualitative Data : For qualitative data from interviews or open-ended survey responses, use thematic coding to identify recurring themes and insights.
• Comparative Analysis : Compare data before and after design changes or between different user groups to assess the impact of interventions.

Identifying patterns and trends in your data allows you to deeply understand user behaviors, preferences, and pain points, enabling data-driven decision-making.

Turning Data into Actionable Knowledge

Drawing insights and conclusions from your data is the ultimate goal of UX research. It's the stage where you transform data into actionable knowledge that informs design improvements and strategic decisions:

• Hypothesis Validation : Determine whether your research findings align with your initial hypotheses and objectives.
• Prioritization : Prioritize the most significant insights and findings. Focus on those that have the most substantial impact on the user experience.
• User-Centered Recommendations : Frame your insights in a user-centered manner. Consider how the findings can benefit users and enhance their interactions with your product or service.
• Iterative Design : Use insights to inform iterative design improvements. Test and validate changes based on research findings to ensure they address identified issues.
• Communicate Effectively : Communicate your insights and conclusions clearly to stakeholders, designers, and developers. Use data-driven evidence to support your recommendations.
• Continuous Learning : UX research is an ongoing process. Continue to learn and adapt based on user feedback and new research findings.

Ultimately, the ability to draw meaningful insights and conclusions from your UX research data is what drives the improvement of user experiences and the success of your products and services. It's the bridge between data collection and impactful action.

Examples of UX Research

To gain a deeper understanding of how UX research is applied in real-world scenarios, let's explore some concrete examples that illustrate its importance and impact.

E-Commerce Website Optimization

Scenario : An e-commerce company notices a high cart abandonment rate on their website, with users frequently leaving before completing their purchases.

UX Research Approach : The company conducts usability testing with a group of participants. They observe users as they navigate the website, add products to their carts, and attempt to complete the checkout process.

Findings : Through usability testing, the research team identifies several issues contributing to cart abandonment. Users struggle with unclear product descriptions, a complex checkout process, and a lack of payment options. Additionally, users express concerns about data security during the payment phase.

Impact : Armed with these insights, the company makes a series of improvements. They streamline the checkout process, improve product descriptions, add multiple payment options, and prominently display security certifications. As a result, cart abandonment rates decrease significantly, leading to a notable increase in completed purchases and revenue.

Mobile App Redesign

Scenario : A mobile app development company receives user feedback indicating that their app is challenging to navigate and lacks key features.

UX Research Approach : The company initiates a comprehensive research effort that includes user interviews, surveys, and competitor analysis . They aim to understand user expectations, pain points, and the strengths of competing apps.

Findings : User interviews reveal that users desire a more intuitive navigation structure and specific features that rival apps offer. Surveys confirm these preferences and competitor analysis uncovers successful design patterns.

Impact : The company embarks on a redesign project based on user feedback and industry best practices. They restructure the app's interface, add requested features, and enhance the overall user experience. As a result, user satisfaction increases, app ratings improve, and user engagement metrics rise.

Healthcare Information Portal Enhancement

Scenario : A healthcare organization operates an online portal where patients access medical records and communicate with healthcare providers. Users report difficulties in finding information and engaging with the portal.

UX Research Approach : The organization employs a mixed-methods research approach, combining quantitative data analysis with qualitative research. They analyze user interactions and survey responses while also conducting in-depth interviews with patients.

Findings : Quantitative data analysis reveals that users frequently abandon tasks without completion, such as accessing test results. Surveys and interviews uncover confusion related to navigation, terminology, and information layout.

Impact : Armed with a comprehensive understanding of user challenges, the organization revamps the portal's navigation, rewrites content in plain language, and introduces user-friendly features such as task wizards. User engagement with the portal increases, and patients report improved satisfaction with the online experience, leading to enhanced patient-provider interactions.

Social Media Platform Feature Expansion

Scenario : A popular social media platform aims to expand its feature set to stay competitive and retain users. However, the platform's leadership wants to ensure that any new features align with user preferences.

UX Research Approach : The social media platform initiates a series of surveys and user feedback sessions. They present users with potential feature concepts and gather their opinions, expectations, and concerns.

Findings : Through surveys and user feedback sessions, the platform discovers that users desire enhanced privacy controls, a more user-friendly post creation process, and better content filtering options. Additionally, users express concerns about the potential impact of new features on their data privacy.

Impact : Armed with user insights, the platform introduces new features while addressing user concerns. They implement robust privacy settings, simplify post creation, and provide users with customizable content filters. User engagement increases as users appreciate the platform's responsiveness to their needs, and user satisfaction remains high.

These examples highlight how UX research methods, such as usability testing, interviews, surveys, and data analysis, can identify specific issues, inform design improvements, and ultimately enhance the user experience. By investing in UX research, organizations can address user pain points, improve product offerings, and stay competitive in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

How to Report UX Research Findings?

After conducting UX research and drawing valuable insights, the next crucial step is effectively communicating your findings to stakeholders and team members.

Creating Research Reports

Research reports are comprehensive documents that encapsulate your entire UX research process and findings. They serve as a valuable reference for team members and stakeholders. Here's how to create effective research reports:

• Structured Format : Organize your report in a structured format that includes sections such as an executive summary, methodology, key findings, and recommendations.
• Visual Aids : Use visuals such as charts, graphs, and screenshots to illustrate your findings. Visual aids make complex data more accessible.
• Clear Language : Write in clear, concise language that is easily understandable by both technical and non-technical readers.
• Methodology Details : Provide a detailed account of your research methodology, including participant recruitment, data collection methods, and analysis techniques.
• Key Insights : Summarize the most critical findings and insights that emerged from your research. Highlight what these findings mean for the user experience.
• Actionable Recommendations : Include actionable recommendations for improving the product or service based on your research insights.

Creating a well-structured research report ensures that your findings are documented comprehensively and can be referred to as a reference for future decision-making.

Presenting to Stakeholders

Presenting your research findings to stakeholders is essential in the UX research process. It's an opportunity to convey the significance of your insights and garner support for implementing changes.

• Know Your Audience : Understand the background and interests of your audience. Tailor your presentation to their level of expertise and concerns.
• Storytelling : Craft a compelling narrative around your research. Use storytelling techniques to engage your audience and convey the user experience effectively.
• Visuals : Incorporate visuals, such as charts, graphs, and user personas, to illustrate key points and findings.
• Interactive Demonstrations : If possible, demonstrate user interactions or showcase usability improvements through interactive prototypes.
• Key Takeaways : Summarize the main takeaways and actionable recommendations. Highlight how implementing these changes can benefit the organization and users.
• Address Questions : Be prepared to answer questions and provide additional context during the presentation.

Effective presentations not only convey the value of your research but also foster collaboration and support for user-centered improvements.

Making Recommendations

One of the most critical aspects of UX research is translating findings into actionable recommendations that drive improvements in the user experience. Here's how to make recommendations effectively:

• Prioritize Recommendations : Identify and prioritize recommendations based on their potential impact and feasibility. Consider short-term and long-term goals.
• User-Centered Focus : Frame recommendations in a user-centered manner. Explain how implementing each recommendation will directly benefit users.
• Specificity : Make recommendations specific and actionable. Avoid vague suggestions. For example, instead of saying "improve navigation," specify "simplify the main menu structure."
• Data-Backed Evidence : Support recommendations with data-backed evidence from your research. Reference specific findings or user feedback that led to each recommendation.
• Collaboration : Collaborate with designers, developers, and other stakeholders to implement recommendations effectively. Provide guidance and support during the implementation phase.
• Iterative Approach : Recognize that UX research is an ongoing process. Encourage an iterative approach where recommendations are tested, refined, and re-evaluated over time.

Effective recommendations bridge the gap between research findings and meaningful changes that enhance the user experience. They guide product development efforts toward user-centered design and improved satisfaction.

Iterative UX Research

Iterative UX research is a fundamental practice that involves continuous feedback and improvement throughout the product development lifecycle. It emphasizes the importance of ongoing research, testing, and refinement to create user-centered designs.

Here's how it works:

• Feedback Loops : Establish feedback loops where user feedback and insights are collected continuously, not just at specific project phases.
• Regular Testing : Conduct regular usability testing, user interviews, or surveys to gather insights and validate design decisions.
• A/B Testing : Implement A/B testing to compare different design variations and make data-driven decisions on feature implementations.
• Prototyping : Create prototypes and gather user feedback early in the design process. Use this feedback to refine and iterate on designs.
• Monitoring Metrics : Continuously monitor key performance metrics, such as user engagement and conversion rates, to identify areas for improvement.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration : Promote collaboration between UX researchers, designers, developers, and product managers to ensure that research findings inform design and development decisions.

Iterative UX research ensures that user feedback is integrated into the design and development process, leading to products and services that continually evolve to meet user needs and preferences.

Ethical Considerations in UX Research

Ethical considerations in UX research are paramount to protect the rights and well-being of participants and ensure the integrity of the research process. Here are some ethical principles to adhere to:

• Informed Consent : Obtain informed consent from participants, clearly explaining the research purpose, procedures, and any potential risks involved.
• Privacy and Data Security : Safeguard participant privacy by anonymizing and securely storing sensitive data. Follow data protection regulations, such as GDPR.
• Transparency : Be transparent about the research objectives, methodologies, and the use of collected data. Avoid misleading or deceptive practices.
• Avoiding Harm : Ensure that research activities do not harm participants physically or emotionally. Minimize any potential discomfort or stress.
• Respect and Dignity : Treat participants with respect and dignity. Avoid any form of discrimination, bias, or exploitation.
• Bias Awareness : Be aware of potential biases in research design and analysis . Strive for inclusivity and fairness in participant selection and interpretation of findings.
• Debriefing : Provide participants with a debriefing session after their involvement in research, explaining the purpose of the study and addressing any questions or concerns.

Ethical UX research practices uphold the principles of integrity, transparency, and respect, fostering trust between researchers and participants and ensuring the ethical integrity of the research process.

Conclusion for UX Research

UX research is the compass that guides the creation of products and services with you, the user, at the center. By understanding your needs, preferences, and challenges, organizations can craft experiences that truly resonate with you. From setting clear objectives and conducting research to analyzing data and making improvements, the journey of UX research is a continuous cycle of enhancement, ensuring that the digital world becomes more user-friendly with each iteration. Remember, UX research is a powerful tool that empowers teams to create products that delight users and drive success. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just beginning your journey into UX, the principles and practices outlined in this guide can help you make a positive impact in the ever-evolving landscape of user experience.

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UX Research

What is ux research.

UX (user experience) research is the systematic study of target users and their requirements, to add realistic contexts and insights to design processes. UX researchers adopt various methods to uncover problems and design opportunities. Doing so, they reveal valuable information which can be fed into the design process.

See why UX research is a critical part of the UX design process.

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UX Research is about Finding Insights to Guide Successful Designs

When you do UX research, you’ll be better able to give users the best solutions—because you can discover exactly what they need. You can apply UX research at any stage of the design process. UX researchers often begin with qualitative measures, to determine users’ motivations and needs . Later, they might use quantitative measures to test their results . To do UX research well, you must take a structured approach when you gather data from your users. It’s vital to use methods that 1) are right for the purpose of your research and 2) will give you the clearest information. Then, you can interpret your findings so you can build valuable insights into your design .

“I get very uncomfortable when someone makes a design decision without customer contact.” – Dan Ritzenthaler, Senior Product Designer at HubSpot

We can divide UX research into two subsets:

Qualitative research – Using methods such as interviews and ethnographic field studies, you work to get an in-depth understanding of why users do what they do (e.g., why they missed a call to action, why they feel how they do about a website). For example, you can do user interviews with a small number of users and ask open-ended questions to get personal insights into their exercise habits. Another aspect of qualitative research is usability testing , to monitor (e.g.) users’ stress responses. You should do qualitative research carefully. As it involves collecting non-numerical data (e.g., opinions, motivations), there’s a risk that your personal opinions will influence findings.

Quantitative research – Using more-structured methods (e.g., surveys, analytics), you gather measurable data about what users do and test assumptions you drew from qualitative research. For example, you can give users an online survey to answer questions about their exercise habits (e.g., “How many hours do you work out per week?”). With this data, you can discover patterns among a large user group. If you have a large enough sample of representative test users, you’ll have a more statistically reliable way of assessing the population of target users. Whatever the method, with careful research design you can gather objective data that’s unbiased by your presence, personality or assumptions. However, quantitative data alone can’t reveal deeper human insights.

We can additionally divide UX research into two approaches:

Attitudinal – you listen to what users say—e.g., in interviews.

Behavioral – you see what users do through observational studies.

When you use a mix of both quantitative and qualitative research as well as a mix of attitudinal and behavioral approaches, you can usually get the clearest view of a design problem.

© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0

Use UX Research Methods throughout Development

The Nielsen Norman Group—an industry-leading UX consulting organization—identifies appropriate UX research methods which you can use during a project’s four stages . Key methods are:

Discover – Determine what is relevant for users.

Contextual inquiries – Interview suitable users in their own environment to see how they perform the task/s in question.

Diary studies – Have users record their daily interactions with a design or log their performance of activities.

Explore – Examine how to address all users’ needs.

Card sorting – Write words and phrases on cards; then let participants organize them in the most meaningful way and label categories to ensure that your design is structured in a logical way.

Customer journey maps – Create user journeys to expose potential pitfalls and crucial moments.

Test – Evaluate your designs.

Usability testing – Ensure your design is easy to use.

Accessibility evaluations – Test your design to ensure it’s accessible to everyone.

Listen – Put issues in perspective, find any new problems and notice trends.

Surveys/Questionnaires – Use these to track how users’ feel about your product.

Analytics – Collect analytics/metrics to chart (e.g.) website traffic and build reports.

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Whichever UX research method you choose, you need to consider the pros and cons of the different techniques . For instance, card sorting is cheap and easy, but you may find it time-consuming when it comes to analysis. Also, it might not give you in-depth contextual meaning. Another constraint is your available resources , which will dictate when, how much and which type of UX research you can do. So, decide carefully on the most relevant method/s for your research . Moreover, involve stakeholders from your organization early on . They can reveal valuable UX insights and help keep your research in line with business goals. Remember, a design team values UX research as a way to validate its assumptions about users in the field , slash the cost of the best deliverables and keep products in high demand —ahead of competitors’.

User research methods have different pros and cons,and vary from observations of users in context to controlled experiments in lab settings.

Learn More about UX Research

For a thorough grasp of UX research, take our course here: User Research – Methods and Best Practices

Read an extensive range of UX research considerations, discussed in Smashing Magazine: A Comprehensive Guide To UX Research

See the Nielsen Norman Group’s list of UX research tips: UX Research Cheat Sheet

Here’s a handy, example-rich catalog of UX research tools: 43 UX research tools for optimizing your product

Questions related to UX Research

UX research is a good career for those who enjoy working with a team and have strong communication skills. As a researcher, you play a crucial role in helping your team understand users and deliver valuable and delightful experiences. You will find a UX research career appealing if you enjoy scientific and creative pursuits. 

Start exploring this career option; see the User Researcher Learning Path .

Studies suggest that companies are also willing to pay well for research roles. The average salary for a UX researcher ranges from $92,000 to $146,000 per year.

In smaller companies, user research may be one of the responsibilities of a generalist UX designer. How much can your salary vary based on your region? Find out in UI & UX Designer Salaries: How Much Can I Earn .

Research is one part of the overall UX design process. UX research helps inform the design strategy and decisions made at every step of the design process. In smaller teams, a generalist designer may end up conducting research.

A UX researcher aims to understand users and their needs. A UX designer seeks to create a product that meets those needs.

A UX researcher gathers information. A UX designer uses that information to create a user-friendly and visually appealing product.

Learn more about the relationship between UX research and UX design in the course:

User Experience: The Beginner’s Guide

If we consider a very broad definition of UX, then all user research is UX research.

However, in practice, there is a subtle difference between user research and UX research. While both involve understanding people, user research can involve users in any kind of research question, and some questions may not be that directly connected to user experience.

For example, you might do user research relating to a customer’s experience in relation to pricing, delivery or the experience across multiple channels.

Common UX research methods are usability testing, A/B testing, surveys, card sorting, user interviews, usage analytics and ethnographic research. Each method has its pros and cons and is useful in different scenarios. Hence, you must select the appropriate research method for the research question and target audience. Learn more about these methods in 7 Great, Tried and Tested UX Research Techniques .

Get started with user research. Download the User Research template bundle .

For a deep dive into usability testing—the most common research method, take the course Conducting Usability Testing .

Having a degree in a related field can give you an advantage. However, you don’t need a specific degree to become a UX researcher. A combination of relevant education, practical experience, and continuous learning can help you pursue a career in UX research. Many UX researchers come from diverse educational backgrounds, including psychology, statistics, human-computer interaction, information systems, design and anthropology.

Some employers may prefer candidates with at least a bachelor’s degree. However, it does not have to be in a UX-related field. There are relatively fewer degrees that focus solely on user research.

Data-Driven Design: Quantitative Research for UX

User Research – Methods and Best Practices

Every research project will vary. However, there are some common steps in conducting research, no matter which method or tool you decide to use: 

Define the research question

Select the appropriate research method

Recruit participants

Conduct the research

Analyze the data

Present the findings

You can choose from various UX research tools . Your choice depends on your research question, how you're researching, the size of your organization, and your project. For instance:

Survey tools such as Typeform and Google Forms.

Card sorting tools such as Maze and UXtweak.

Heatmap tools such as HotJar and CrazyEgg

Usability testing (through first-click testing and tree-testing) tools such as Optimal Workshop and Loop 11

Diagramming applications such as Miro and Whimsical to analyze qualitative data through affinity diagramming.

Spreadsheet tools such as Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel for quantitative data analysis

Interface design and prototyping tools like Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch and Marvel to conduct usability testing.

Presentation tools such as Keynote, Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Many of these tools offer additional features you can leverage for multiple purposes. To understand how you can make the most of these tools, we recommend these courses:

There are relatively fewer degrees that focus solely on user research.

While there are no universal research case study formats, here’s one suggested outline: 

An overview of the project: Include the problem statement, goals and objectives.

The research methods and methodology: For example, surveys, interviews, or usability testing).

Research findings

The design process: How the research findings led to design decisions.

Impact of design decisions on users and the business: Include metrics such as conversion and error rates to demonstrate the impact.

Optionally, include notes on what you learned and how you can improve the process in the future.

Learn how to showcase your portfolio to wow your future employer/client in the How to Create a UX Portfolio course.

While AI can help automate tasks and help UX researchers, it will not completely replace them. AI lacks the creativity and empathy that human designers bring to the table.

Human researchers are better at understanding the nuances of human behavior and emotions. They can also think outside the box and develop creative solutions that AI cannot. So, AI can help researchers be more efficient and effective through data analysis, smart suggestions and automation. But it cannot replace them.

Watch AI-Powered UX Design: How to Elevate Your UX Career to learn how you can work with AI.

Agile teams often struggle to incorporate user research in their workflows due to the time pressure of short sprints. However, that doesn’t mean agile teams can’t conduct research. Instead of seeing research as one big project, teams can break it into bite-sized chunks. Researchers regularly conduct research and share their findings in every sprint.

Researchers can involve engineers and other stakeholders in decision-making to give everyone the context they need to make better decisions. When engineers participate in the decision-making process, they can ensure that the design will be technically feasible. There will also be lower chances of errors when the team actually builds the feature. Here’s more on how to make research a team effort .

For more on bite-sized research, see this Master Class: Continuous Product Discovery: The What and Why

For more practical tips and methods to work in an agile environment, take our Agile Methods for UX Design course.

User research is very important in designing products people will want and use. It helps us avoid designing based on what we think instead of what users actually want.

UX research helps designers understand their users’ needs, behaviors, attitudes and how they interact with a product or service. Research helps identify usability problems, gather feedback on design concepts, and validate design decisions. This ultimately benefits businesses by improving the product, brand reputation and loyalty. A good user experience provides a competitive edge and reduces the risk of product failure.

Learn more about the importance of user research in the design process in these courses:

Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide

Answer a Short Quiz to Earn a Gift

What is the primary purpose of UX research in design processes?

• To ensure the product is visually appealing.
• To reduce the cost of marketing the product.
• To understand user needs and enhance design decisions.

Which type of UX research do designers use to collect non-numerical data such as opinions and motivations?

• Behavioral research
• Qualitative research
• Quantitative research

Which UX research method involves users sorting terms into categories to help structure design logically?

• Card sorting
• Information architecture
• Usability testing

What is a potential drawback of using card sorting in UX research?

• It can be expensive and requires special software.
• It may not provide deep contextual insights.
• It only works for digital products.

How does UX research primarily benefit a design team in a business context?

• It focuses exclusively on the aesthetic aspects of product design.
• It reduces dependency on technology.
• It validates design assumptions and keeps products competitive.

Better luck next time!

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Literature on UX Research

Here’s the entire UX literature on UX Research by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about UX Research

Take a deep dive into UX Research with our course User Research – Methods and Best Practices .

How do you plan to design a product or service that your users will love , if you don't know what they want in the first place? As a user experience designer, you shouldn't leave it to chance to design something outstanding; you should make the effort to understand your users and build on that knowledge from the outset. User research is the way to do this, and it can therefore be thought of as the largest part of user experience design .

In fact, user research is often the first step of a UX design process—after all, you cannot begin to design a product or service without first understanding what your users want! As you gain the skills required, and learn about the best practices in user research, you’ll get first-hand knowledge of your users and be able to design the optimal product—one that’s truly relevant for your users and, subsequently, outperforms your competitors’ .

This course will give you insights into the most essential qualitative research methods around and will teach you how to put them into practice in your design work. You’ll also have the opportunity to embark on three practical projects where you can apply what you’ve learned to carry out user research in the real world . You’ll learn details about how to plan user research projects and fit them into your own work processes in a way that maximizes the impact your research can have on your designs. On top of that, you’ll gain practice with different methods that will help you analyze the results of your research and communicate your findings to your clients and stakeholders—workshops, user journeys and personas, just to name a few!

By the end of the course, you’ll have not only a Course Certificate but also three case studies to add to your portfolio. And remember, a portfolio with engaging case studies is invaluable if you are looking to break into a career in UX design or user research!

We believe you should learn from the best, so we’ve gathered a team of experts to help teach this course alongside our own course instructors. That means you’ll meet a new instructor in each of the lessons on research methods who is an expert in their field—we hope you enjoy what they have in store for you!

All open-source articles on UX Research

7 great, tried and tested ux research techniques.

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• 4 years ago

UX Roles: The Ultimate Guide – Who Does What and Which One You Should Go For?

• 2 weeks ago

Shadowing in User Research - Do You See What They See?

Contextual Interviews and How to Handle Them

• 3 years ago

Ethnography

15 Guiding Principles for UX Researchers

Porter’s 5 Forces Model - Design in Context, Understand the Market

• 7 years ago

Ideas for Conducting UX Research with Children

Laddering Questions Drilling Down Deep and Moving Sideways in UX Research

• 8 years ago

Action Research

The top ux design books you need to read in 2024: beginner to expert.

4 Common Pitfalls in Usability Testing and How to Avoid Them to Get More Honest Feedback

• 2 years ago

Confirmation Bias – It’s Not What We Think We Know That Counts

User Research Methods for Mobile UX

The Best Free UX Design Courses in 2024

• 11 mths ago

6 Tips for Better International UX Research

Common UX Research Interview Questions

Collaborating with Your Team for Research

Adding Quality to Your Design Research with an SSQS Checklist

How to Fit Quantitative Research into the Project Lifecycle

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What Is User Research, and What Is Its Purpose?

User research, or UX research, is an absolutely vital part of the  user experience design process.

Typically done at the start of a project, it encompasses different types of research methodologies to gather valuable data and feedback. When conducting user research, you’ll engage with and observe your target users, getting to know their needs, behaviors, and pain points in relation to the product or service you’re designing.

Ultimately, user research means the difference between designing based on guesswork and assumptions, and actually creating something that solves a real user problem. In other words: Do not skip the research phase!

If you’re new to user research, fear not. We’re going to explain exactly what UX research is and why it’s so important. We’ll also show you how to plan your user research and introduce you to some key user research methods .

We’ve divided this rather comprehensive guide into the following sections. Feel free to skip ahead using the menu below:

• What is user research?
• What is the purpose of user research?
• How to plan your user research.
• An introduction to different research methods—and when to use them.

Ready? Let’s jump in.

1. What is user research?

User experience research is the systematic investigation of your users in order to gather insights that will inform the design process. With the help of various user research techniques, you’ll set out to understand your users’ needs, attitudes, pain points, and behaviors (processes like task analyses look at how users actually navigate the product experience —not just how they should or how they say they do). 

Typically done at the start of a project—but also extremely valuable throughout—it encompasses different types of research methodology to gather both qualitative and quantitative data in relation to your product or service.

Before we continue, let’s consider the difference between qualitative and quantitative data .

Qualitative vs. Quantitative data: What’s the difference?

Qualitative UX research results in descriptive data which looks more at how people think and feel. It helps to find your users’ opinions, problems, reasons, and motivations. You can learn all about in-depth in this video by professional UX designer Maureen Herben:

Quantitative UX research , on the other hand, generally produces numerical data that can be measured and analyzed, looking more at the statistics. Quantitative data is used to quantify the opinions and behaviors of your users.

User research rarely relies on just one form of data collection and often uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods together to form a bigger picture. The data can be applied to an existing product to gain insight to help improve the product experiences, or it can be applied to an entirely new product or service, providing a baseline for UX, design, and development.

From the data gathered during your user research phase, you should be able to understand the following areas within the context of your product or service:

• Who your users are
• What their needs are
• What they want
• How they currently do things
• How they’d like to do them

As you consider the  why  of user research, remember that it’s easier than you might realize to overlook entire groups of users. It’s important to ensure that you’re conducting inclusive UX research and that starts in the earliest stages!

2. What is the purpose of user research?

The purpose of user research is to put your design project into context. It helps you understand the problem you’re trying to solve; it tells you who your users are, in what context they’ll be using your product or service, and ultimately, what they need from you, the designer! UX research ensures that you are designing with the user in mind, which is key if you want to create a successful product.

Throughout the design process, your UX research will aid you in many ways. It’ll help you identify problems and challenges, validate or invalidate your assumptions, find patterns and commonalities across your target user groups, and shed plenty of light on your users’ needs, goals, and mental models.

Why is this so important? Let’s find out.

Why is it so important to conduct user research?

Without UX research, you are essentially basing your designs on assumptions. If you don’t take the time to engage with real users, it’s virtually impossible to know what needs and pain-points your design should address.

Here’s why conducting user research is absolutely crucial:

User research helps you to design better products!

There’s a misconception that it’s ok to just do a bit of research and testing at the end of your project. The truth is that you need UX research first, followed by usability testing and iteration throughout.

This is because research makes the design better. The end goal is to create products and services that people want to use. The mantra in UX design is that some user research is always better than none .

It’s likely at some point in your UX career that you will come across the first challenge of any UX designer—convincing a client or your team to include user research in a project.

User research keeps user stories at the center of your design process.

All too often, the user research phase is seen as optional or merely “nice-to-have”—but in reality, it’s crucial from both a design and a business perspective. This brings us to our next point…

User research saves time and money!

If you (or your client) decide to skip the research phase altogether, the chances are you’ll end up spending time and money developing a product that, when launched, has loads of usability issues and design flaws, or simply doesn’t meet a real user need. Through UX research, you’ll uncover such issues early on—saving time, money, and lots of frustration!

The research phase ensures you’re designing with real insights and facts — not guesswork! Imagine you release a product that has the potential to fill a gap in the market but, due to a lack of user research, is full of bugs and usability issues. At best, you’ll have a lot of unnecessary work to do to get the product up to scratch. At worst, the brand’s reputation will suffer.

UX research gives the product a competitive edge. Research shows you how your product will perform in a real-world context, highlighting any issues that need to be ironed out before you go ahead and develop it.

User research can be done on a budget

There are ways that you can conduct faster and less costly user research , utilizing Guerrilla research outlined later on in this article (also handy if budget and time are an issue). Even the smallest amount of user research will save time and money in the long run.

The second challenge is how often businesses think they know their users without having done any research. You’ll be surprised at how often a client will tell you that user research is not necessary because they know their users!

In a 2005 survey completed by Bain, a large global management consulting firm, they found some startling results. 80% of businesses thought they knew best about what they were delivering. Only 8% of those businesses’ customers agreed.

The survey may be getting old, but the principle and misperception still persist.

In some cases, businesses genuinely do know their customers and there may be previous data on hand to utilize. However, more often than not, ‘knowing the users’ comes down to personal assumptions and opinions.

“It’s only natural to assume that everyone uses the Web the same way we do, and—like everyone else—we tend to think that our own behavior is much more orderly and sensible than it really is.” (Don’t Make Me Think ‘Revisited’, Steve Krug, 2014.) A must on every UX Designer’s bookshelf!

What we think a user wants is not the same as what a user thinks they want. Without research, we inadvertently make decisions for ourselves instead of for our target audience. To summarize, the purpose of user research is to help us design to fulfill the user’s actual needs, rather than our own assumptions of their needs.

In a nutshell, UX research informs and opens up the realm of design possibilities. It saves time and money, ensures a competitive edge, and helps you to be a more effective, efficient, user-centric designer.

3. How to plan your user research

When planning your user research , it’s good to have a mix of both qualitative and quantitative data to draw from so you don’t run into issues from the value-action gap, which can at times make qualitative data unreliable.

The value-action gap is a well-known psychology principle outlining that people genuinely don’t do what they say they would do, and is commonly referred to as what people say vs. what people do.

More than 60% of participants said they were “likely” or “very likely” to buy a kitchen appliance in the next 3 months. 8 months later, only 12% had. How Customers Think, Gerald Zaltman, 2003

When planning your user research, you need to do more than just User Focus Groups—observation of your users really is the key. You need to watch what your users do.

Part of being a great user researcher is to be an expert at setting up the right questions and getting unbiased answers from your users.

To do this we need to think like the user.

Put yourself in your user’s shoes without your own preconceptions and assumptions on how it should work and what it should be. For this, we need empathy (and good listening skills) allowing you to observe and challenge assumptions of what you already think you know about your users.

Be open to some surprises!

4. When to use different user research methods

There’s a variety of different qualitative and quantitative research methods out there. If you’ve been doing the CareerFoundry UX Design course , you may have already covered some of the list below in your course.

It isn’t an exhaustive list, but covers some of the more popular methods of research. Our student team lead runs through many of them in the video below.

Qualitative Methods:

• Guerrilla testing: Fast and low-cost testing methods such as on-the-street videos, field observations, reviews of paper sketches, or online tools for remote usability testing.
• Interviews: One-on-one interviews that follow a preset selection of questions prompting the user to describe their interactions, thoughts, and feelings in relation to a product or service, or even the environment of the product/service.
• Focus groups: Participatory groups that are led through a discussion and activities to gather data on a particular product or service. If you’ve ever watched Mad Men you’ll be familiar with the Ponds’ cold cream Focus Group !
• Field Studies: Heading into the user’s environment and observing while taking notes (and photographs or videos if possible).
• In-lab testing: Observations of users completing particular tasks in a controlled environment. Users are often asked to describe out loud their actions, thoughts, and feelings and are videoed for later analysis
• Card sorting : Used to help understand Information Architecture and naming conventions better. Can be really handy to sort large amounts of content into logical groupings for users.

Quantitative Methods:

• User surveys: Questionnaires with a structured format, targeting your specific user personas. These can be a great way to get a large amount of data. Surveymonkey is a popular online tool.
• First click testing: A test set up to analyse what a user would click on first in order to complete their intended task. This can be done with paper prototypes, interactive wireframes or an existing website.
• Eye tracking: Measures the gaze of the eye, allowing the observer to ‘see’ what the user sees. This can be an expensive test and heatmapping is a good cheaper alternative.
• Heatmapping: Visual mapping of data showing how users click and scroll through your prototype or website. The most well-known online tool to integrate would be Crazyegg.
• Web analytics: Data that is gathered from a website or prototype it is integrated with, allowing you to see the demographics of users, page views, and funnels of how users move through your site and where they drop off. The most well-known online tool to integrate would be Google Analytics .
• A/B testing: Comparing two versions of a web page to see which one converts users more. This is a great way to test button placements, colors, banners, and other elements in your UI.

Further reading

Now you know what user research is and why it’s so important. If you’re looking for a way to get trained in this particular discipline, there’s good news—owing to demand and popularity, there’s a growing number of UX research bootcamps out there.

If you’d like to learn more about UX research, you may find the following articles useful:

• What Does A UX Researcher Actually Do? The Ultimate Career Guide
• How to Conduct User Research Like a Professional
• How to Build a UX Research Portfolio (Step-by-Step Guide)

User research is the process of understanding the needs, behaviors, and attitudes of users to inform the design and development of products or services. It involves collecting and analyzing data about users through various methods such as surveys, interviews, and usability testing.

2. How to conduct user research?

User research can be conducted through various methods such as surveys, interviews, observations, and usability testing. The method chosen depends on the research goals and the resources available. Typically, user research involves defining research objectives, recruiting participants, creating research protocols, conducting research activities, analyzing data, and reporting findings.

3. Is user research the same as UX?

User research is a part of the broader UX (User Experience) field, but they are not the same. UX encompasses a wide range of activities such as design, testing, and evaluation, while user research specifically focuses on understanding user needs and behaviors to inform UX decisions.

4. What makes good user research?

Good user research is characterized by clear research goals, well-defined research protocols, appropriate sampling methods, unbiased data collection, and rigorous data analysis. It also involves effective communication of research findings to stakeholders, as well as using the findings to inform design and development decisions.

5. Is user research a good career?

User research is a growing field with many opportunities for career growth and development. With the increasing importance of user-centered design, there is a high demand for skilled user researchers in various industries such as tech, healthcare, and finance. A career in user research can be fulfilling for those interested in understanding human behavior and designing products that meet user needs.