Intro to UX Research Methods & Techniques

This week I learned about some commonly used techniques and methods for gathering data from the users. Data gathering is an essential step to creating any product/service as it will be the basis on which the product will be built. This data is useful for understanding the way users interact with the product and why they do what they do. There are several steps for several different techniques to accomplish a certain goal. The choice of the methods and techniques must always be made according to the situation and the people involved.

There are 5 important questions we need to ask before starting with any research method.

Goal setting: What is the goal of the product/service. What is it that we want to achieve?

Identifying the Participants: Who should be the sample audience for the research?

Relationship with the participants: Are the participants comfortable with sharing their information/experience?

Triangulation: what can we do to understand the problem from different perspectives?

Pilot Studies: Have we chosen the right research method and is it a viable option?

Depending on the goal, user’s need and context; these are some research methods can be used.

1. Interviews: An effective UX research method used to discover the beliefs, attitude, and experiences of using a product. Interviews can be Unstructured (informal chats which are open-ended), Structured (formally scheduled & precise) and Semi-structured (a hybrid of both). Advantages of an interview are that the interviewee can easily understand the emotions, body language and is the user feeling enthusiastic or discomfort by the questions.
2. Focus Groups: It is also a type of interview but with 3–10 people in a group. In focus groups, it is easy to identify the consensus or problems between the users and collect different viewpoints from the users.
3. Questionnaires: Questionnaires and surveys are used to gather a good amount of information about a group while spending minimal time and resources. Surveys can be online in remote locations too making it very convenient for the participants. For an effective survey, the questions should be unbiased with proper order and layout.
4. Direct observation in the field: This involves spending time with the users and observing their behavior as they use the product in day-to-day life. This approach yields more qualitative outputs which are very reliable as it is based on real situations and real problems. The disadvantages of this method are that it ‘s hard to manipulate the external variables and replicate the results.
5. Direct observation in a controlled environment: This method tends to take place in a laboratory/controlled environment. It yields more quantitative outputs which are fast, easy to reproduce & analyze. The disadvantage of this method is that the environment is artificial (not in real) and results are not always reliable.
6. Indirect observation: This method involves Observing users without disturbing their interaction with the product; while capturing the data automatically. The results can be both qualitative and quantitative. Web analytic tools such as Google analytics can be used to obtain a number of clicks, the amount of time spend, problems faced, the number of times helps required, processing time, etc.
7. Ethnography: It is a research method based on observing people and understanding their behavior while they use technology in their natural environment rather than in any laboratory. To create useful and usable products, it is essential to have humanity, empathy, and compassion for the users. Ethnography is useful in understanding what motivates people, what do they want, how cultures impact the usability, how to communicate globally and observe the problems which people face in their day to day life.

UX research is not just about deliverables, but also about strategy. When to use what research method is crucial. Christian Rohrer’s explanation about the 3 Dimensional frameworks is very helpful to take that decision. The 3 axes of this framework are:

1. Attitudinal vs. Behavioral: Attitudinal research assesses the users’ preconceived attitudes or feelings toward a product/experience. For example, when we ask a user what they like or dislike about a product. Behavioral research is more focused on what the user does rather than what he says.
2. Qualitative vs. Quantitative: Quantitative research methods rely on using large amount information (based on analytics) & sample sizes to reach a conclusion whereas Qualitative research is more appropriate for getting in-depth, contextual understanding of why users prefer a certain way.
3. Context of Use: Some product/service needs to be tested in the natural environment with minimum interference whereas some products can be tested remotely which saves time and is hassle free.

Interaction design should be human-centered, and the only way to understand what people want is by research. The context will be different but the product created will be useful, usable and desirable. We often take things for granted by believing that “we are the user” which is not true and how different research results can be then we have ever imagined.