UX Research Basics

Before we decide which function or feature will be chosen and start to design, a vital and huge action will be executed first. Except for this stage, there’re also so many stages which involve UX research, only the methods are variable and different, depending on the specific stage.

UX research is a series of investigative actions through different methods. It covers the continuous questioning and evidence clustering, etc.The findings and insights from the research are used to create and build a human-centered experience environment.

A. Remove the prejudice
During the development process, we might have a lot of assumptions. But designers are not the target users. Their preset bias definitely makes the product become unneutral and unobjective. There are more than 100 cognitive biases identified by psychologists. Bias not only exist in designers, but also in other stakeholders.

This situation will lead very far from the user-centric route. And we won’t discover any other knowledge out of our mind.UX research is a little bit like real scientific research. As neutral and systematic as possible ,we will find more potential needs and knowledge which will be super useful in business mode and further decisions.

B.Validate the concept in small cost
An unverifiable idea cannot bring value to the real world. Validating the concept in any steps of the whole Design Process through some UX research is a cost-effective way, without developing a lot and waiting for launch day to gather feedback. You can design a questionnaire to validate the real need of target users. Usability tests will help you to find how users react to your solution.

C.Product highly evolve from user
Since all the design decisions are based on the analysis and the data collected in the UX research stage, the deliverables and product will evolve around users’ real needs.

UX research is generally divided into several steps. All of the steps belong to the following areas: Pondering questions, Collecting evidence, Generalizing&Analyzing , and Identifying key product insights.

A.Research Plan-Pondering questions

Before we start the research, writing a plan is a crucial method and opportunity to organize our thoughts and ponder the goals.

In the plan, we should define the questions statement, clarify the goals, choose the right research method, identify the correct target participant, clarify the method of evaluation to the research(aka test plan), make sure how to analyze the result, and the timeline of the research, etc.

B.Conduct the research-Collecting evidence

Based on the research plan, we will start the execution. During the conduction, we might need to choose the right platform or tools, since the research method has been chosen in the previous step.

Make sure the method of recording is appropriate to the research method, therefore we won’t miss the important or other information which might be out of our knowledge.

C.Analyze the result.

The raw result cannot directly be used on decision. Since it is so fragile and messy. To get objective insights, the right analyzing method is demanded.

Each research method has a specific analyzing method. For instance, one of the most famous ones for qualitative research-individual interviews is “Affinity Mapping”, which clusters similar papers under one category, and then summarizes and defines the category’s name.

D.Identify Key Finding.

Even if you get an objective analyzed result, you might still haven’t got the key insights. Identifying the key finding is not staring at the whiteboard and expecting the insight will appear suddenly in your mind. Keep asking the right questions. The famous”How might we____?“ methods.

E.Final- Present your Findings

When you finish your research, you should choose how to present it to your stakeholders, and use the language that understanded easily, like graph diagrams.

There is no standard answer. Actually, whenever you are suspicious about the success of your features or your plan execution and your project’s stakeholders have high detailed-requirement and no time limitation or other constraints, you can conduct research. Ideally, we can conduct research whenever we need to as long as there are no constraints. But in the real world everything has constraints, so a standard routine for a quick pace is useful.

Still, each stage has an essential opportunity to execute one. And in the next article, we will introduce which method will be used in which stage.

Define problem space & validate the assumption
Before Design Clarify the goals and specify the problems
After low fidelity Design
Check user use the user flow
After redesign & high-fidelity Design
.....

• UX research is an researching activity during the product building process, the result of it can be used into building a better human-center experience environment
• Why is UX research important? It can remove bias from stakeholders, validate the concept at a small cost. Products can be highly evolved from the user’s needs. It also can reduce the risk in business and other fields.
• A General UX Research usually consists of: Research Plan-Pondering questions, Conduct the research-Collecting evidence, Analyze the result, Identify Key Finding, Final- Present your Findings.
• You can execute a research at any stage of your process as long as you need.