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User research

User Research focuses on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies. (source: Wikipedia)

Incorporating User Testing Into Learning Experience Design

Added on 17 November 2021 Peter Bogaards

Validating learning, much better than just using or experiencing.

“While much of the literature regarding usability testing in libraries focuses on library websites, this article describes an approach that evaluates the usability of learning artifacts, such as learning objects and print materials, as well as learning experiences. In three case studies, we describe our approach to testing these materials and experiences, the results and improvements we made, and the lessons we learned that have informed our approach. We argue that librarians should incorporate usability testing into instruction, from testing learning objects in development to testing complex learning activities and print materials. This approach to usability testing and evaluation will give educators an evidence-based way to develop more effective learning materials and experiences, making them better for our learners.”

Becksford, L. & Hammer, K. & McNabb, K. B. ~ Weave: Journal of Library User Experience 4.2 ★

Ethical considerations in UX research: The need for training and review

Added on 10 December 2020 Peter Bogaards

Ethics not only for research, but also for design.

“Research is an essential part of creating good UX. We are often in roles where we interact with our users in order to collect data to inform our UX. We need to ensure our UX research is compliant with ethical standards of research conducted with humans. To do this, we need to have an awareness of potential ethical issues in research, training on how to conduct ethical research, and a systematic review of our research protocols to avoid potential ethical pitfalls. In this article, Victor Yocco discusses some areas of ethical consideration for UX practitioners when conducting UX research, and explores potential solutions to preventing research from venturing into unethical territory.”

Victor Yocco a.k.a. /victor-yocco | @VictorYocco ~ Smashing Magazine ★

Reliability and Validity: Ensuring a Foolproof UX Research Plan

Added on 23 July 2020 Peter Bogaards

I rather go for a full proof research plan.

“Both reliability and validity are necessary ingredients for determining the overall success of a research project (…). Let us now see how we can estimate the reliability of our research findings and ensure the validity of the methods used in our research plan.”

Pallabi Roy Singh a.k.a. @pallabi1220 ~ UXPA Magazine 20.2 ★

A guide to asking the right user research questions

Added on 3 March 2020 Peter Bogaards

It’s the answer that matters.

“​User feedback is a vital input for product development. But to maximize the effectiveness of your user research, it’s necessary to ask the right questions. Before talking to your users, think about the overall objective of the research: What do you want to know? Do you want to find out if a certain feature is useful? Or are you trying to learn what problems the user is facing? At this point, focus on the overarching theme of your research, and not specific questions.”

Jeremiah Lam ~ Maze ★

The eight pillars of user research

Added on 1 November 2019 Peter Bogaards

Noticing a lot of overlaps and omissions regarding all things user, field and design research.

“​These eight pillars are the broad areas of User Research. Underneath these pillars sit groups of things that User Researchers or ‘people who do research’ (PWDR) are concerned with. Many of these things are challenges to operationalising research.”

Emma Boulton a.k.a. /emmalouiseboulton | @emmaboulton ★

Simultaneous triangulation: Mixing user research & data science methods

Added on 19 July 2019 Peter Bogaards

Using DataSci (quant) to get meaning out of UsrRes (qual).

“Simultaneous triangulation is an incredibly powerful tool to generate comprehensive and verified findings. If you only use one method, you could end up with blindspots. If you employ methods sequentially rather than simultaneously, you could run into unexplainable contradictions, like we did at first. The solution is simultaneous triangulation. Next time you have a complex research question, consider using the three-step process to mitigate blindspots and turn discrepancies in learning opportunities.”

Colette Kolenda and Kristie Savage ~ Spotify Design ★

Understanding variables in UX research

Added on 18 July 2019 Peter Bogaards

Global and local vars, lots of them.

“UX research pulls many terms, methods, and conventions from other fields. Selecting a method is an important first choice in measuring the user experience. But an important next step is understanding the variables you’ll have to deal with when designing a study or drawing conclusions. Variables are things that change. Variables can be controlled and measured.”

Jeff Sauro a.k.a. /jeffsauro | @MeasuringU ~ MeasuringU ★

UX research is essential to product success

Added on 25 September 2018 Peter Bogaards

Seeing, knowning, and understanding are just part of wisdom.

“To change the mindset of your stakeholders from being naysayers to being advocates for user research, you must help them understand how research can add value to their product and that learnings from user research are an indispensable asset to a product team.”

Apurvo Ghosh a.k.a. /apurvo-ghosh-hfi-cua™ | @Apurvo_Ghosh ~ UXmatters ★

The role of observation in user research

Added on 10 September 2018 Peter Bogaards

User research and what you see is not what you get.

“User research consists of two core activities: observing and interviewing. Since we’re most interested in people’s behavior, observing is the most important of these activities because it provides the most accurate information about people, their tasks, and their needs. While interviewing is also very important, the information people provide during interviews isn’t always accurate or reliable. Often, research participants don’t know why they do things, what they really need, what they might do in the future, or how a design could be improved. To really understand what people do, you can’t just ask them, you have to observe them.”

Jim Ross a.k.a. /anotheruxguy | @anotheruxguy ~ UXmatters ★

Lean user research: Lessons from the Agile trenches

Added on 15 May 2018 Peter Bogaards

All phases of the design cycle transform into lean. Oh dear.

“The Agile approach to product development focuses on continually and quickly releasing, learning about, and improving a product to enable sustained movement forward. By focusing on incremental improvements rather than a finished product, product teams can learn and pivot as needed to maintain their competitive edge. Most product teams use, or are moving toward, some form of an Agile methodology to rapidly and incrementally evolve their product or service. The good news is that user experience research and design can fit into the Agile process quite effectively.”

Michelle R. Peterson, Anna Rowe, Valle Hansen, and Carmen Broomes ~ The Magazine of the User Experience Professionals Association ★

Working with external user researchers (part 1)

Added on 16 January 2018 Peter Bogaards

In principle, you can outsource anything. In practice, it’s not always the best option.

“You’ve got an idea or perhaps some rough sketches, or you have a fully formed product nearing launch. Or maybe you’ve launched it already. Regardless of where you are in the product lifecycle, you know you need to get input from users. You have a few sound options to get this input: use a full-time user researcher or contract out the work (or maybe a combination of both). Between the three of us, we’ve run a user research agency, hired external researchers, and worked as freelancers. Through our different perspectives, we hope to provide some helpful considerations.”

Chelsey Glasson et al. ~ A List Apart ★

How to turn UX research into results

Added on 19 June 2017 Peter Bogaards

The application of research results is always up for debate.

“To move from your research findings to product changes, you should set yourself two main goals. First, to effectively communicate your findings to help your audience process them and focus on next steps. Secondly, to follow through by proactively working with stakeholders to decide which issues will be addressed and by whom, injecting yourself into the design process whenever possible. This follow-through is critical to your success. Let’s look at an end-to-end process for embracing these two main goals.”

Cindy McCracken a.k.a. /cindy-mccracken | @cmccracken ~ UX Mastery ★

User research when you can’t talk to your users

Added on 4 May 2017 Peter Bogaards

Nielsens First Law of User Research: Never listen to users, observe them.

“It’s not breaking news to say that the core of UX, in a vacuum, is talking to your users to gather insights and then applying that information to your designs. But it’s equally true that UX does not happen in a vacuum. So what happens when you don’t have the budget or the timeline to run user tests, card sorts, or stakeholder interviews? What should you do when your company doesn’t want you bothering the paying customers who use their software? In short, how do you do UX research when you can’t get direct access to your users?”

Jon Peterson a.k.a. /jonpetersonuxdesign | @jp_pete ~ A List Apart ★

UX Research is the biggest bang for the buck most companies fail to invest in

Added on 14 November 2016 Peter Bogaards

Research comes in many shapes for digital design.

“The problem I see with having a UX Designer without a UX Researcher is that as a company, you develop the illusion that you are doing enough to comprehensively assess and change the user experience in a way to get the optimal results out of your investment. And, truth be told, many UX designers do a little bit of everything highlighted in this article. But they don’t do enough. They can’t. There simply isn’t enough time in a day to both create the user experience and validate its effectiveness. Moreover, as we saw above, there’s a wide variety of techniques through which User Researchers monitor, analyze and report on user experience developments.”

Craig Tomlin a.k.a. /wcraigtomlin | @ctomlin ★

Beyond the lab: Gathering holistic, qualitative user experience data

Added on 27 September 2016 Peter Bogaards

Making UX measured. The power of numbers.

“The field of User Experience is increasingly under pressure to gather qualitative data in shorter amounts of time. As a UX professional, I’m on the hunt for novel methods and approaches that facilitate the collection of meaningful information about users’ emotions and engagement. A central tenet of User Experience is the importance of gathering revealing, informative, powerful data about the user experience by engaging with users. For example, during usability tests, users interact with Web sites, applications, products, and concepts and give us detailed feedback as they go. Whether you are a UX designer, developer, marketer, engineer, or in executive leadership, seeing users use your product first hand is invaluable.”

Heather Wright Karlson a.k.a. /hwrightkarlson | @uxheat ~ UXmatters ★

10 practical tips for increasing the impact of your research insights

Added on 16 August 2016 Peter Bogaards

We’re still at the level of (practical) tips, tricks, and do’s/dont’s.

“Turning research insights into positive action is a combination of what you do but also what you are able to empower others to do. Knowing your audience and bringing the right mindset to the table can go a long way to making an impact in your organization.”

Mike Katz a.k.a. /mike-katz ~ Boxes and Arrows ★

UX research methods

Added on 5 July 2016 Peter Bogaards

After design validation, we need more and more design and user research methods.

“From new ideas to proven standards in user experience research, our toolkit is a rich collection of ways to understand people and context. The articles in this issue feature innovations, like new ways to explore emotional response, to unusual places to conduct research, like trains, ferries, and conferences.”

The Magazine of the User Experience Professionals Association

UX Reality Check: 14 Hard Truths About Users

Added on 17 May 2016 Peter Bogaards

Having to deal with other people is often a pain. Designers included.

“After any amount of time in the design industry, you’ll most certainly hear someone refer to users as “dumb.” People talk about having to “dumb down” interfaces, design for “the lowest common denominator,” and try to make applications “idiot-proof.” Designers say it themselves once in a while. The really terrible designers say it repeatedly. (…) This sort of thinking discounts a key component of good design: human psychology. Understanding some basics of user behavior, then applying them to design, is one of the most important things a company can do. Here are 14 things you should know about the people who use your websites and applications.”

Robert Hoekman Jr. a.k.a. /rhoekmanjr | @rhjr ~ FastCo.design ★