What Does it Take to Become a UX Researcher at PeepalDesign? (2/2)

If you find yourself excited about possibilities in UX research but don’t know if you possess the skills to enter, the following list is for you.

Communication Skills

UX research heavily relies on your listening, facilitation, and presentation skills. Moderating, especially, will be an important skill you’ll develop as a UX researcher and you will need to pay close attention when:

• Listening: It is important to note that moderating is different from a conversation, where the share of dialogue is equal. When moderating, you must actively listen, refrain from interrupting or sharing, and pay attention to verbal and nonverbal cues.
• Facilitation: As a moderator, one of your main responsibilities is to facilitate the discussions with participants and help them articulate their thoughts. With a friendly yet neutral tone, ensure the participant feels comfortable and encouraged to answer questions without being led on or pressured.
• Presentation: As part of your interactions with different groups of people, you will have to present ideas, material and data that is precise, easy to understand and follows a coherent structure. If you find yourself with complex data and concepts, use examples and stories as a way to effectively communicate your message.

Analytical Skills

Collecting, managing, and making sense of data are extremely important skills that UX researchers must develop. Different steps are involved in the analysis process:

• Organizing information: After you have completed your sessions, the next step is to organize it so that you can notice similarities and interrelationships across participants. Make use of affinity maps or even platforms like Miro which will help you see patterns in behaviors and attitudes. With your data organized, it is now time to identify patterns and themes that occurred.
• Synthesizing: In this step you begin to ask “why?”. Once the findings are collected you must try to mine data from your notes and summaries. Identify, and cluster repeated words, themes, similarities in user-journeys, or even anomalies that occurred to help sort your observations.

Organizational Skills

With so many tasks involved as a researcher, being organized is key. You must quickly learn to map out plans, share and organize resources with your team, schedule regular meetings, establish effective lines of communication, and do all this simultaneously for other projects and clients you may be assigned to.

Empathy

In UX research, understanding the needs, motivations and experiences of users is one of the main responsibilities. When conducting research, you must be aware of your personal biases, come in with an open mind, and practice understanding different user perspectives with empathy and compassion.

Research Experience

A basic understanding of research methodologies and data management is required to get on board quickly with UX project objectives and responsibilities. Depending on your background, review the skills you developed through academic research, assignments, and tasks during your tertiary studies or previous work experience.

Design Knowledge

UX researchers are often the bridge between users, designers, product managers and engineers, so while you may not be involved in the direct design process, you still need to understand design. Familiarize yourself with the terminology, elements, and principles of design to better communicate the pain points and recommendations your research identifies.

The above list provides you with a broad overview of some of the skills you need to brush up on and put into practice as a UX researcher. There are far more specialized tools and tasks you will be trained in but it is important to stay just as curious and engaged as you were on day one. Every day will be a new learning experience and we look forward to your journey into the world of UX research.