UX Design Fundamentals: From Basics to Mastery: Ep.02
Understanding UX Research: A Comprehensive Guide
A quick recap
In Episode.01, we learnt about the seven fundamental UX design principles that include user-centricity, consistency, hierarchy, context, user control, accessibility, and usability. These principles focus on understanding and addressing user needs, maintaining uniformity, organizing content, considering user environment, providing control, ensuring inclusivity, and creating easy-to-use products. The design thinking process, comprising empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test stages, emphasizes understanding users, defining problems, generating solutions, prototyping, and testing for feedback. Iterative design is crucial for continuous improvement, allowing products to evolve based on user feedback, enhancing usability, functionality, and satisfaction, and ensuring responsiveness to market demands through incremental updates and MVPs. Now, it’s time to know more about the research part of UX.
Introduction to UX Research
User Experience research, involves studying and understanding the behaviors, needs, and motivations of users through various methods. The primary goal of UX research is to place the user at the center of the design process, ensuring that the final product is both functional and user-friendly. It typically begins at the start of the project and continues throughout the development lifecycle. As the project progresses, ongoing research activities, such as usability testing and user feedback, ensure that the design remains aligned with user expectations and can be iteratively improved.
We can divide UX research into two subsets:
Qualitative Research
This type of research focuses on understanding the underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations behind user behavior. It involves collecting non-numerical data through methods such as interviews, focus groups, and observational studies. Qualitative research is useful for gaining deep insights into user needs and experiences. Another aspect of qualitative research is usability testing, to monitor (e.g.) users’ stress responses. Qualitative research should be done carefully. As it involves collecting non-numerical data , there’s a risk that your personal opinions will influence findings.
Quantitative Research
This type of research involves collecting numerical data that can be quantified and analyzed statistically. Common methods include surveys, analytics, and A/B testing. Quantitative research helps in identifying patterns and measuring user behavior on a larger scale, providing a broader understanding of user interactions. 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 a mix of both quantitative and qualitative research as well as attitudinal and behavioral approaches is used, we usually get the clearest view of a design problem.
Generative and Evaluative Research
Generative (Exploratory) Research: This type of research is conducted in the early stages of the design process to explore and identify user needs, behaviors, and pain points. It aims to generate insights that inform the initial design concepts. Methods include user interviews, ethnographic studies, and contextual inquiries.
Evaluative Research: Conducted later in the design process, evaluative research focuses on assessing and validating the effectiveness of design solutions. It involves testing prototypes or existing products to identify usability issues and areas for improvement. Common methods include usability testing, A/B testing, and heuristic evaluations.
UX Methods in Brief
Qualitative Research Methods
Usability Testing: Participants are brought into a lab setting, interacting one-on-one with a researcher. They are given specific scenarios to complete tasks within a product or service, allowing observation of usability issues and user behavior.
Field Studies: Researchers observe participants in their natural environments, such as at home or work. This method captures the realistic use of a product or service in the context where it is typically used.
Contextual Inquiry: Researchers and participants work together in the participants’ environment to observe and discuss tasks and work processes. This method is similar to a field study but focuses on understanding complex systems and in-depth processes.
Participatory Design: Participants use design elements or creative materials to construct their ideal experience. This method helps uncover what matters most to users and why, through their concrete expressions.
Focus Groups: A group of 3–12 participants engages in a discussion led by a moderator. They provide verbal and written feedback on a set of topics through discussions and exercises.
Interviews: A researcher conducts one-on-one discussions with participants to explore their thoughts and opinions in depth about a specific topic.
Diary Studies: Participants record and describe aspects of their lives related to a product or service using diaries, cameras, or smartphone apps. These longitudinal studies capture data that participants can easily record.
Customer Feedback: Users provide open-ended or close-ended feedback through links, buttons, forms, or emails. This method gathers spontaneous user insights and experiences.
Desirability Studies: Participants evaluate different visual-design alternatives and associate each with attributes from a closed list. This method helps in understanding design preferences and perceptions.
Card Sorting: Users organize items into groups and assign categories, helping to create or refine a site’s information architecture by revealing users’ mental models.
Quantitative Research Methods
Eyetracking: it is a quantitative method for recording a participant’s eye movements as they observe a visual stimulus. An eyetracking device measures where participants look while interacting with websites, applications, physical products, or environments, providing precise data on visual attention.
Usability Benchmarking: Large-scale, tightly scripted usability studies measure performance using predetermined metrics. This method tracks usability improvements over time or compares a product with competitors.
Remote Moderated Testing: Usability studies are conducted remotely using tools like video conferencing and screen-sharing software. Researchers can guide participants through tasks and observe their interactions.
Unmoderated Testing: An automated method that captures participant behaviors and attitudes using specialized research tools. Participants are given goals or scenarios to accomplish, and the tool records usability metrics like success rate and task time.
Concept Testing: Researchers share approximations of a product or service to gauge if it meets the target audience’s needs. This method can involve one-on-one sessions or larger groups, conducted in person or online.
Tree Testing: This quantitative method tests the ease of finding items in an information architecture hierarchy. It benchmarks existing structures and demonstrates improvements after redesign.
Analytics: Data analysis of user behavior, such as clicks and form interactions, requires prior instrumentation of the site or application. It provides insights into how users interact with digital products.
Clickstream Analytics: A specific type of analytics that tracks the sequence of pages users visit, helping to understand navigation patterns and user flow within a site or application.
A/B Testing (aka Live Testing, or Bucket Testing): Different designs are scientifically tested by randomly assigning user groups to each design variant and measuring the effects on user behavior.
Surveys: Quantitative measurement of user attitudes through a series of questions, typically more closed-ended. Surveys can be triggered during site use (intercept surveys) or conducted via email, social media, or other channels.
Creating a User Persona
User personas are fictional characters created to represent different user types that might use your product. These personas are based on market research and user research. They put marketers in the user’s shoes by asking questions about their needs, goals, and behaviors. By creating user personas, designers can empathize with users and make more user-centered design decisions.
Here is the template to create your own user persona.
Usability Testing
Usability testing is a critical component of UX research because it directly assesses how real users interact with a product. It helps identify usability issues, understand user behavior, and uncover areas for improvement. By observing users as they complete tasks, designers can gather valuable feedback to enhance the user experience, ensuring that the product is intuitive, efficient, and satisfying to use. And, always remember, Usability Testing is an iterative process. It is of two types:
Moderated Usability Tests: These tests involve a facilitator who guides participants through tasks, asks questions, and probes deeper into user behavior and thought processes. This type of test allows for real-time interaction and clarification, providing rich qualitative data.
Unmoderated Usability Tests: These tests are conducted without a facilitator. Participants complete tasks on their own, usually using online tools that record their screen, actions, and feedback. Unmoderated tests can reach a larger audience quickly and provide quantitative data on user performance and behavior.
Next Steps
Stay tuned for more insights and tips on UX design! This is just the beginning of our journey together. Don’t forget to like, share, and comment on these blogs to let me know your thoughts and suggestions. Your feedback is so valuable as we embark on this series of UX design explorations. Let’s learn, grow, and create together!
