When I was coming up, I was taught about UXR by people with an academic background in research and various levels of ‘a degree in HCI’. For those people, a researcher’s role was all about rigour and objectivity. In short, I had some excellent principles drilled into me.
But over time I’ve experienced a massive range of research attitudes, influenced by the specific company, project and individual researchers involved which have led me to reflect on the question — Should researchers make specific design recommendations as part of their findings?
I feel like I’ve been in situations at both ends of the spectrum.
One extreme…
Having worked in what some would call ‘pure’ UX agencies, I have seen researchers who refuse to commit to any specific guidance beyond “we should do more research”.
I’ve seen frustrated clients looking for answers, and not having the tools themselves to make forward leaps — they didnt know how to turn the findings into specific design iterations and prioritised sprints.
The solution?
In this kind of agency, I often saw this outcome for clients — namely a sense of dissatisfaction…
