A new model for building user research capacity across cities
How USDR helps local governments meet the needs of their communities by learning directly from the people using their services.
Imagine an average day in a city’s Office of Finance: Cubicles overflow with U.S. Postal Service bins, stacked high as the ceiling, covering every available inch of desk space. A library cart piled with additional paper sits behind the office chair for good measure.
Inside all these containers are thousands of business license applications and renewals, which small businesses are required to complete each year to stay active. The confusing part? These forms were available to complete online and over the phone. Yet business owners were overwhelmingly choosing to print, fill out, and mail these forms when a faster and cheaper option was readily available. But why?
This ‘why’ is a simple yet powerful question that can help public servants design better services to meet the needs of their communities. U.S. Digital Response (USDR) has been helping our government partners dig into the ‘why’ through user research, deploying experts to partner with governments and find out where services were hitting the mark — and where they were falling short.
Answering the ‘why’ of one question often leads to uncovering the ‘why’ of another — which sparked an idea: What if USDR created a way for cities to systematically improve multiple services at once?
This insight led to the launch of our first Research Cohort for cities.
But first: what is user research?
User research is about understanding people’s needs and using that knowledge to improve products, services, or experiences. “User” is a term popularized in the tech industry, referring to someone who “uses” or receives services. For government, this might look like: a housing authority’s primary users are usually residents or a public transit agency’s primary users are usually riders. It’s possible to have multiple users and many sub-categories of users depending on the service being considered.
Take this hypothetical example of a public transit agency thinking about what changes to make to its transit app. There are many different ways the transit agency could think about what a rider may need from their mobile app such as:
- Mode of transportation: bus vs. bicycle vs. subway
- Frequency of transportation: first-time vs. visitor vs. regular
- Accommodations: visually impaired vs. wheelchair user
- Primary language: English vs. Spanish vs. Cantonese
These needs can be drilled down into a hundred thousand different combinations, each representing the unique needs of every user. That’s why user research is so important in government — collecting firsthand information from different types of users you need to serve and helping to ensure that services are accessible, relevant, and effective, ultimately leading to more engaged and satisfied residents.
User research also improves the experience of government staff. In the mobile application example, let’s say that riders who have questions about the application are directed to get in touch with a call center. That call center, in turn, experiences a higher volume of calls than they can handle daily. Understanding how to better get users the information they need can also decrease the volume of calls routed to a call center, all while increasing the satisfaction of riders.
How do you conduct user research?
There are many different methodologies related to user research. Experienced researchers can help define a clear research question and determine what methodologies would be most suitable for that research question without introducing unintentional bias into the process. Many user research projects involve a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Quantitative research is expressed in numbers and typically consists of data that is gathered indirectly. Surveys, website metrics, and engagement metrics are all examples of quantitative data. This kind of research can be helpful in identifying trends, and often requires larger groups of participants (Think: more than 30).
Qualitative research focuses on understanding the “why” behind behaviors, opinions, or experiences , and typically consists of data that is gathered directly. Focus groups, interviews, observing people interacting with something are all types of qualitative data. This kind of research can be helpful in understanding motivations and can be achieved with groups as small as 5–8 participants.
Government agencies may rely solely on quantitative data, or on a very narrow set of qualitative methodologies, such as only conducting focus groups. While this data can be helpful and appropriate for some research questions, many situations would benefit from other methodologies.
USDR’s research cohort model
Through city-based Research Cohorts, USDR has developed a model for building user research understanding and capacity across cities. Since launching this offering in 2023, we have successfully run and are in the process of running two research cohorts in Seattle, WA as well as cohorts in Chattanooga, TN and Long Beach, CA. Within the last year, we have worked with 18 different city departments to deliver tangible results that impact hundreds of thousands of residents.
USDR’s cohort model involves running 3–5 simultaneous 10-week user research projects across different city departments, exposing dozens of public servants to user research methodologies while directly benefiting from hands-on research and actionable insights that can be applied immediately. Our general process is:
- Cohort application and review: USDR works with city agencies to ensure they are a good candidate for a cohort. City staff are invited to submit applications for their research project over a 2-week period. USDR and city staff review applications and select 3–5 projects.
- Project scoping and volunteer recruitment: USDR works with each department to further define the scope of projects and recruit volunteers with the right skill sets.
- Engagement and wrap-up: Over the course of 10 weeks, USDR volunteers lead research engagements with the city. USDR offers weekly office hours and a mid-point check-in to ensure projects stay on track and address any challenges. Projects culminate in a final presentation of findings and recommendations.
- Formalize learnings: Receiving a list of recommendations isn’t the end of our partnership. USDR can continue to advise and guide partners on strategic ways to build user research maturity, whether that’s through changes to procurement, vendor management, policy, or more.
Learnings & findings
Let’s go back to the city Office of Finance and all its overflowing bins — an actual problem we helped solve. USDR volunteers surveyed over 100 businesses and conducted 14 interviews with business owners and city staff. They found that business owners were not comfortable using pay-by-phone systems to renew their licenses, and would vastly prefer an online system. However, because the current online system charged a fee, business owners defaulted to renew their licenses by mail. This kind of insight can be critical in helping a department reprioritize where it invests its time and resources. The outcome is better service for residents and decreased risk of spending time and money on solutions that don’t work.
On average, volunteers in Research Cohort receive 1500+ survey responses and conduct 50+ user interviews across all projects. As part of our research cohorts, we have supported departments ranging from libraries to public utilities to health and human services. Research questions include:
- How do we better understand and support city services for residents who speak languages other than English?
- What factors prevent library patrons from using online resources?
- What are the major pain points for women and minority business enterprise (WMBE) vendors who want to work with the city?
Through the research cohorts, we have been able to help cities gather actionable data to improve their services. In many departments, employees are hearing directly from constituents for the first time. Read on for more details about our latest cohort with Long Beach. If you are a government leader interested in help with user research, or interested in signing up for a research cohort for 2025, you can fill out this form.
About U.S. Digital Response
U.S. Digital Response is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works alongside governments at all levels to ensure they have the capacity to support the critical needs of the public. Founded in 2020, USDR connects governments with technology, resources, and support, leaving them better equipped to deliver services and support to millions of people nationwide. To date, USDR has built a dedicated community of 10,000 volunteers driven to serve in a time of need and has partnered with 500 government and nonprofit partners on more than 500 projects. See more at usdigitalresponse.org.
