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A complete guide to presenting UX research findings

In this complete guide to presenting UX research findings, we’ll cover what you should include in a UX research report, how to present UX research findings and tips for presenting your UX research.

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User experience research sets out to identify the problem that a product or service needs to solve and finds a way to do just that. Research is the first and most important step to optimising user experience.

UX researchers do this through interviews, surveys, focus groups, data analysis and reports. Reports are how UX researchers present their work to other stakeholders in a company, such as designers, developers and executives.

In this guide, we’ll cover what you should include in a UX research report, how to present UX research findings and tips for presenting your UX research.

Components of a UX research report

How to write a ux research report, 5 tips on presenting ux research findings.

Ready to present your research findings? Let’s dive in.

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There are six key components to a UX research report.

Introduction

The introduction should give an overview of your UX research . Then, relate any company goals or pain points to your research. Lastly, your introduction should briefly touch on how your research could affect the business.

Research goals

Simply put, your next slide or paragraph should outline the top decisions you need to make, the search questions you used, as well as your hypothesis and expectations.

Business value

In this section, you can tell your stakeholders why your research matters. If you base this research on team-level or product development goals, briefly touch on those.

Methodology

Share the research methods you used and why you chose those methods. Keep it concise and tailored to your audience. Your stakeholders probably don’t need to hear everything that went into your process.

Key learnings

This section will be the most substantial part of your report or presentation. Present your findings clearly and concisely. Share as much context as possible while keeping your target audience – your stakeholders – in mind.

Recommendations

In the last section of your report, make actionable recommendations for your stakeholders. Share possible solutions or answers to your research questions. Make your suggestions clear and consider any future research studies that you think would be helpful.

1. Define your audience

Most likely, you’ll already have conducted stakeholder interviews when you were planning your research. Taking those interviews into account, you should be able to glean what they’re expecting from your presentation.

Tailor your presentation to the types of findings that are most relevant, how those findings might affect their work and how they prefer to receive information. Only include information they will care about the most in a medium that’s easy for them to understand.

Do they have a technical understanding of what you’re doing or should you keep it a non-technical presentation? Make sure you keep the terminology and data on a level they can understand.

What part of the business do they work in? Executives will want to know about how it affects their business, while developers will want to know what technological changes they need to make.

2. Summarise

As briefly as possible, summarise your research goals, business value and methodology. You don’t need to go into too much detail for any of these items. Simply share the what, why and how of your research.

Answer these questions:

• What research questions did you use, and what was your hypothesis?
• What business decision will your research assist with?
• What methodology did you use?

You can briefly explain your methods to recruit participants, conduct interviews and analyse results. If you’d like more depth, link to interview plans, surveys, prototypes, etc.

3. Show key learnings

Your stakeholders will probably be pressed for time. They won’t be able to process raw data and they usually don’t want to see all of the work you’ve done. What they’re looking for are key insights that matter the most to them specifically. This is why it’s important to know your audience.

Summarise a few key points at the beginning of your report. The first thing they want to see are atomic research nuggets. Create condensed, high-priority bullet points that get immediate attention. This allows people to reference it quickly. Then, share relevant data or artefacts to illustrate your key learnings further.

Relevant data:

• Recurring trends and themes
• Relevant quotes that illustrate important findings
• Data visualisations

Relevant aspects of artefacts:

• Quotes from interviews
• User journey maps
• Affinity diagrams
• Storyboards

For most people you’ll present to, a summary of key insights will be enough. But, you can link to a searchable repository where they can dig deeper. You can include artefacts and tagged data for them to reference.

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4. Share insights and recommendations

Offer actionable recommendations, not opinions. Share clear next steps that solve pain points or answer pending decisions. If you have any in mind, suggest future research options too. If users made specific recommendations, share direct quotes.

5. Choose a format

There are two ways you could share your findings in a presentation or a report. Let’s look at these two categories and see which might be the best fit for you.

Usually, a presentation is best for sharing data with a large group and when presenting to non-technical stakeholders. Presentations should be used for visual communication and when you only need to include relevant information in a brief summary.

A presentation is usually formatted in a:

• Case studies
• Atomic research nuggets
• Pre-recorded video

If you’re presenting to a smaller group, technical stakeholder or other researchers, you might want to use a report. This gives you the capacity to create a comprehensive record. Further, reports could be categorised based on their purpose as usability, analytics or market research reports.

A report is typically formatted in a:

• Notion or Confluence page
• Slack update

You might choose to write a report first, then create a presentation. After the presentation, you can share a more in-depth report. The report could also be used for records later.

1. Keep it engaging

When you’re presenting your findings, find ways to engage those you’re presenting to. You can ask them questions about their assumptions or what you’re presenting to get them more involved.

For example, “What do you predict were our findings when we asked users to test the usability of the menu?” or “What suggestions do you think users had for [a design problem]?”

If you don’t want to engage them with questions, try including alternative formats like videos, audio clips, visualisations or high-fidelity prototypes. Anything that’s interactive or different will help keep their engagement. They might engage with these items during or after your presentation.

Another way to keep it engaging is to tell a story throughout your presentation. Some UX researchers structure their presentations in the form of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey . Start in the middle with your research findings and then zoom out to your summary, insights and recommendations.

2. Combine qualitative and quantitative data

When possible, use qualitative data to back up quantitative data. For example, include a visualisation of poll results with a direct quote about that pain point.

Use this opportunity to show the value of the work you do and build empathy for your users. Translate your findings into a format that your stakeholders – designers, developers or executives – will be able to understand and act upon.

3. Make it actionable

Actionable presentations are engaging and they should have some business value . That means they need to solve a problem or at least move toward a solution to a problem. They might intend to optimise usability, find out more about the market or analyse user data.

Here are a few ways to make it actionable:

• Include a to-do list at the end
• Share your deck and repository files for future reference
• Recommend solutions for product or business decisions
• Suggest what kind of research should happen next (if any)
• Share answers to posed research questions

4. Keep it concise and effective

Make it easy for stakeholders to dive deeper if they want to but make it optional. Yes, this means including links to an easily searchable repository and keeping your report brief.

Humans tend to focus best on just 3-4 things at a time. So, limit your report to three or four major insights. Additionally, try to keep your presentation down to 20-30 minutes.

Remember, you don’t need to share everything you learned. In your presentation, you just need to show your stakeholders what they are looking for. Anything else can be sent later in your repository or a more detailed PDF report.

5. Admit the shortcomings of UX research

If you get pushback from stakeholders during your presentation, it’s okay to share your constraints.

Your stakeholders might not understand that your sample size is big enough or how you chose the users in your study or why you did something the way you did. While qualitative research might not be statistically significant, it’s usually representative of your larger audience and it’s okay to point that out.

Because they aren’t researchers, it’s your job to explain your methodology to them but also be upfront about the limitations UX research can pose. When all of your cards are on the table, stakeholders are more likely to trust you.

When it comes to presenting your UX research findings, keep it brief and engaging. Provide depth with external resources after your presentation. This is how you get stakeholders to find empathy for your users. This is how you master the art of UX.

Need to go back to the basics and learn more about UX research? Dive into these articles:

What is UX research? The 9 best UX research tools to use in 2022

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What is UX Research: The Ultimate Guide for UX Researchers

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How to write and present actionable UX research reports

Regardless of how thorough or valuable your user research is, it quickly becomes meaningless if you’re unable to succinctly put it together and present it in a digestible UX research report.

UX research reporting is a skill just as valuable as being able to conduct the research in the first place. It lets you showcase methodology and findings of your research, and ensure a product’s user experience delivers with the first iteration.

Luckily, how to write and present UX research reports is something you can learn. What’s more, this chapter will guide you through it (and provide free templates for your UX report).

What is a UX research report?

A user research report is an easy-to-digest summary of a user research project that aims to update product stakeholders on results, inform product decisions with user data, and harmoniously guide a product build or iteration.

Once upon a time, UX research reporting was a cumbersome, dreaded box to tick. It was notorious for resulting in unnavigable reports that product teams would rather leave at the bottom of their inbox than try to consume.

The word 'report' conjures images of lengthy word documents, a PDF one-pager, or hour-long presentation with an occasional GIF—but a research report doesn't have to mean that.

Kevin Rapley , Senior User Researcher at Justice Digital, explains a UX report as being “about arming our teammates with data that allows them to decide on the direction of a product or service.”

A useful UX report includes:

• The research goals and research process
• Research questions the report is hoping to answer
• A recap of the UX research plan
• What UX research methods were used and why
• Quantitative and qualitative data sets and conclusions
• Key insights & actionable takeaways
• An expanded data appendix

Why do you need a user research report?

Product teams need a user research report to reflect on research activities and accurately guide a product’s scope with key insights. A UX research report helps sort information, defend research, and affirm (or disprove) a hypothesis. No matter how well-organized your research repository is, sometimes simply having the research results available is not enough. A succinct report will align entire teams in one sitting by presenting findings in a unique way.

In short, a research report helps to:

• Positively influence UX design
• Make sense of data sets and explain complicated graphs or other quantitative research results
• Provide actionable recommendations on next steps
• Summarize key findings, so they can be translated into every role and responsibility of the product team

Where UX research enables product teams to understand the user, prove or disprove hypotheses, and prioritize and generate ideas, a UX research report ensures the user is at the center of every product decision. Presenting that UX report then aligns team members on goals and priorities, and provides authentic user insights to inform every product decision.

We’ve covered what a research report is , but what is it not ? A UX research report is not a static, one-time document that your team reads once. It’s an ongoing reference point; the guardrails and guiding insights that guarantees the entire build stays on track.

How to write an effective UX research report: the essential elements

No matter how you choose to present your research study, there are a few elements that every report needs to include for it to be both useful and effective. Let’s look at how to create a report.

Introduction

Your introduction should lay out your research goals, plan, and scope. It should cover your product team’s pain points, and give a clear study overview. You need to answer what you did and why. The introduction can go on to include sales support data and competitive product analysis that inspired or guided this research project.

It’s a good idea to set up how this research helps to support and answer related company goals, team-level goals, and product-dev goals: so all stakeholders know it’s got something for them.

You can include questions from your UX research strategy you had originally hoped to answer, even if your results have gone on to answer other questions as well. Now’s also a good time to introduce research stakeholders: your fellow research team members.

As a secondary step to your introduction, ensure you’re including the approach you took to your UX research process : i.e. what research methods you used, as well as participant profiles and your user personas .

Don’t feel you need to spend too much time on this, says Charlie Herbozo Vidal , Senior User Experience Researcher at CVS Health. “As researchers, it’s not uncommon to dwell on the methodology for longer than needed. While interrogating methods might be valuable to other researchers, business partners might be disengaged by them.”

Ultimately, while methodology is important, it’s the results that most people are here for.

Key findings

This is where you get people on the edge of their seats! Give an overview of your findings, before breaking them down into more detail. Remind your audience ‘what we thought’ vs. what you actually learned.

Artifacts to use are:

• User personas built
• Insights from customer interviews
• User journey maps
• Prototype testing
• Storyboards
• Feedback & satisfaction reports

At the end of this section, and continuing throughout your presentation, you can pepper relevant atomic research nuggets.

Make sure you champion the user's needs throughout, and make special notes of 'offhand' comments users make. Often, it's the random comments that provide the most insight—they must not be forgotten about when writing the report.

Jack Dyer , Designer at Interactive Schools

Summarize your quantitative and qualitative research , and how they’ll both impact your product design and growth. Lay out opportunities versus risks, good-to-knows versus must-knows. Here you’ll want to convey the impact of each suggested step, roadmap designs, and figure out the long and short-term project scope. A few things to cover in your next steps are:

• Long and short-term goals
• ICE framework (Impact, confidence, ease)
• Roles and responsibilities for each task
• A timeline of events and project map
• A request for resources
• Desired outcomes

No matter how you’re presenting your research, be it asynchronously or not, you’ll need to include a Q&A. These can be subjective (based on what you think your team is likely to ask), pre-collected ahead of the presentation, answered live, or an opportunity to build an FAQ later.

What’s important is to acknowledge and be open to receiving questions. After all, questions are a positive thing—it means people are actually listening!

It’s easy to overlook the appendix after putting together a detailed report, but all that glorious research data needs to be accounted for and referenced clearly. Plus, you never know to what extent your team will want to dive into it. Your appendix is also where you’ll want to include secondary research that didn’t make the cut but backs up your research.

9 Ways to present UX research findings

UX research reporting will look a little different depending on your internal personas and organizational culture. First, ask yourself: who is your audience? Who needs to see the report, and who will benefit from seeing it? This will help determine how to present your user research report.

A few things to consider:

• Are you working with internal or external stakeholders? Tool limitation and file-sharing will differ for both.
• Are you working with an in-office, fully-remote, or hybrid team?
• Are you sitting in the same time zone or not?
• What are the knowledge levels like within your team?
• How does your team communicate daily/weekly/monthly?
• Are there any predetermined knowledge bases or tools your team is comfortable with?

The most common players across a UX team that need to understand your UX research report are:

• Product Designers (UX/UI)
• Fellow Product Researchers
• UX/UI Writers

However , it doesn’t stop at your product decision-making team. More often than not, there will be other stakeholders that can benefit from your research presentation. Your marketing, finance, sales, and even C-suite executives will massively benefit from your findings too. If you can tailor versions of your report or provide key summaries for each collective, even better!

Psst 👉 This is much easier to do when you have a research team that can host stakeholder interviews ahead of your research process.

Now, let’s get into the report formats to consider:

1. Workshops: for real-time, collaborative reports

First up, workshops. Workshops are a unique way of keeping your report interactive and engaging. They can be held remotely or in-person, but are almost impossible to hold asynchronously—so time zones are a big factor here.

You’ll also want to consider workshopping tools if you’re hosting digitally—a few to consider are: Miro, Mural, FigJam, and Gather.

A plus with workshops is that your stakeholders will actively have a say early on in the product development process , allowing you to foster more diverse inputs, minimize research bias you may have accumulated in your summaries, and build a sense of responsibility for the product’s success early on.

A negative of workshops is that they can be culprits to in-the-room or bandwagon bias. People are quick to ride on the coattails of a strong conclusion, without fully understanding or trialing another (less popular) conclusion or suggestion.

2. Slack channels: for an asynchronous and interactive research repository

Slack is a great option (especially if you’re already using it) if your research team needs to deliver insights to a fully-distributed collection of stakeholders. Slack tends to be the go-to channel for startups and creative companies, and there’s some key features you can tap into:

• Canvas: Store files, images, videos, and more in one place
• Huddles: Jump on a quick chat to fill in any gaps
• Clips: Post audio, video, or screen-sharing clips
• Connect: Team up with freelancers and agencies working on the project with you
• Workflow: Build drag-and-drop processes from your findings
• Knowledge sharing: Tag your data accordingly so it's easy to find later

3. Knowledge bases: for self-serve UX research reports

Knowledge bases can be a great home for your research presentation, and work especially well for distributed teams working across different time zones.

However your team is set up, research repositories are incredibly valuable. Sharing your report in a centralized location, regardless of the other ways you distribute findings, can democratize research , showcase the impact of your work, and disseminate valuable insights throughout your entire organization.

Keep in mind that knowledge bases can be tough to navigate if poorly organized or tagged. If you’re storing your UX research report in a knowledge base, ensure you provide clear instructions on how someone can find it, and how to navigate through the report itself.

If you have the time, run a card sorting test with an internal focus group to see how you can logically sort your research for those who are going to be looking for it.

4. Presentations / slide decks: great for the PAS framework

Live presentations tend to be the most impactful, but do risk being short-lived if you don’t have a follow-up plan for after your presentation.

While they’re great for sharing metrics and visuals, and can provide a beautiful overview of your research project, presentations can be a little one-sided. This one-way presentation style can prevent collaboration and innovation from the rest of the team. Consider how you can make your presentation interactive or engaging, whether it’s taking questions throughout or doing a ‘choose your own adventure’ session and asking people which sections they want to review first.

Kevin Rapley , Senior User Researcher at Justice Digital, recommends presenting slides using the PAS framework:

• Problem: State the problem you set out to overcome
• Agitate: Detail the impact or opportunity missed by not meeting the problem
• Solution: Offer a route forward from the research findings and insights, the next steps, and likely outcomes by solving the problem

Kevin explains that the PAS framework cuts to the detail people are invested in: “Stakeholders want to know the path forward: Are we on the right track to build this service? Have we uncovered user engagement or uptake issues? Have we learned that our assumptions are incorrect and we now have a better understanding of user needs? Presenting slides in this way delivers what’s needed.”

5. Written reports: for direct and simple sharing

If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. A written report is probably the idea that jumped to the front of your mind when you read the title of this chapter. For many, this may seem like the ‘OG’ of UX reports.

These types of reports often come as a PDF or a word document, making them static, reluctant to change, and resulting in low engagement or re-reads. Delivering a written report via email also means you can’t guarantee your audience is going to read it. On the other hand, written reports can be incredibly detailed, scanable for different stakeholders, and include all kinds of results from visual data to qualitative findings.

For many teams this method still works, especially if you’re trying to communicate findings to a distributed, asynchronous team. Written UX reports enable people to go through things in their own time—and come back to it when they need to.

6. Atomic research nuggets: to eliminate ‘bad research memory’

Deriving from an atom—the smallest unit of matter—atomic UX research nuggets are minute and succinct conclusions from data points. They’re always aligned and tagged with a product direction. Formalized by Tomer Sharon and Daniel Pidcock , it’s described as “the concept of breaking UX research down into its constituent parts”:

Experiments: “We did this…” Facts: “…and we found out this…” Insights: “…which makes us think this…” Conclusions: “…so we’ll do that.”

Atomic research nuggets help to fight ‘bad research memory’—the idea that knowledge gets lost or forgotten amid the depths of a larger report. These nuggets are accessible, usable, and searchable. They can be delivered (or accessed) throughout an entire product build, serving as North Stars for micro goals. Research nuggets can be a firm reminder your team is, or isn’t, taking the right action.

7. Pre-recorded video: for better knowledge retention

People retain 90% of the information they receive via video versus text. There’s no question that, for many, video is a better way of onboarding and remembering information. At the same time, it can be easier to share information via video if your UX researchers aren’t the most confident of writers.

Although pre-recorded video is an easy way to share a UX research report with a team, as with other formats on this list, you’ll need to ensure people actually watch it.

Loom can be a great screen-sharing video recording tool. Some of their features and paid plans will enable you to see who from your team has watched your video, as well as spark conversation and engagement opportunities throughout the video. Alternatively, you can share the video as a watch-along during a synchronous meeting and discuss afterwards, while still sharing the video with those who can’t attend live.

8. Case studies: for sticky storytelling

Case studies aren’t just for winning potential customers. At their very core, case studies are put together to convince someone of something due to a real-life story. This is why they can be great if your UX research report needs to convince a diverse or largely cautious selection of stakeholders.

What’s more, case studies tend to rely on storytelling tactics and a strong narrative to get their point across. They can pull from user personas to further a point and make it more relatable for your design team. Muhammad Ahmad , UX Designer at VentureDive, shares the value presenting reports as case studies holds:

“Case studies show how you think. As a UX Researcher or Designer, how you percieve problems and what framework you use to evaluate them matters a lot. Your case studies are supposed to show just that.”

9. Maze reports: for all-in-one research and reporting

Automate your reporting with Maze. Maze automatically generates a report for each test you run, turning it into an easy-to-navigate dashboard. Add comments to generate conversation, highlight key responses and generate usability scores for your prototype testing .

If you’re working with moderated research, Maze AI can speed up the reporting process with automated sentiment tagging, project naming, and even generating summaries and identifying critical learnings from user interviews . So you can sit back, and let Maze take care of the data processing.

When you’re happy with your report, generate a custom link that you can share with your team, and further internal and external stakeholders.

Using Maze reports will enable you to share:

• Introduction and mission slides
• An analysis of each UX research method: From card sorting to live website testing
• In-depth breakdowns of research data
• Overviews of the report metrics: From misclicks to bounce rates and time-on-screen
• A usability score

These reports will also allow you to download CSV files of your data, and customzie filters and views to bring your stakeholders the numbers they need, fast. Your team will be able to collaborate in a comments section and let AI identify key themes and takeaways if you’re struggling to spot them.

Overall, UX research tools with in-built reporting are a great way to translate and share all of your research into visual data sets that can be digested by the rest of the team in a few clicks.

7 UX research report templates

There are some fantastic research report templates to help get you started on your journey. Here are some of our favorites to help you better present those deliverables, key learnings, and everything in between.

Maze: Usability testing report

Hosted on Pitch, this report template is clear, simple, and follows a lot of the design and framework best practices shared in this chapter.

Access the template here

Aadil Khan: UXR report with examples

A straightforward report template is designed by Aadil Khan , UX Researcher at IBM, who says: “I made this template based on tons of mentoring calls I’ve been in with people looking to land UXR jobs where we discuss how to present UXR case studies during interviews and such. Oftentimes their case studies were too lengthy and lacked some sort of narrative structure to make it easier to present.”

EaTemp: Key findings report

A beautifully-designed template hosted on Figma. Get access to personas, empathy maps, and card sorting. All colors, fonts, and shapes are customizable.

Miro: Research repository template

Build a centralized research hub on Miro. Connect your team in a few clicks and allow them to collaborate with this free template. Note: you’ll need to sign up for a (free) Miro account.

Furquan Ahmad: UX research report template

A sleek and vibrant presentation, this template was created by Furquan Ahmad , Product Designer at Meta, “to help people focus their energy and time on the insights they're providing rather than worry about what the presentation will look like. I'm always shocked at how many people have benefited from the community.”

Estefanía Montaña Buitrago: Atomic UX research canvas

Beautifully designed on FigJam, this canvas by Estefanía Montaña Buitrago , UX Designer at Globant, has been used by over 7,000 people and now comes with several useful remixes too.

Muhammad Ahmad: UX research kit

Muhammad Ahmad , UX Designer at VentureDive, shared this minimalistic template. Here you’ll get 60+ customizable templates in both light and dark modes. There’s a free version, or a (paid) premium version which may be worth the investment for you.

Best practices for writing an effective UX research report

The functionality of your research report will come down to how you write it. Sitting down and being faced with copious amounts of data can make UX reporting feel like a daunting task—here’s some techniques and tips to help you along the way.

Take a leaf from your UX design book with user-friendly copy

No matter the format, you want your UX report to be as accessible and skim-able as possible for your audience. It’s a good idea to mimic some of the same mentalities you would use in UX design.

Gestalt grouping principles are good to consider for UX report writing. Think similarity , proximity , and common-region for grouping relevant information.

Similarly, UI design principles such as the figure-ground and focal point will help direct your readers’ eyes to the most important information first, as well as make for a more accessible read.

Lastly, Gestalt’s continuity principle is a great one to apply to your UX report. Readers naturally follow patterns for easier flows in information, so if you’re including stylistic elements like bolding, italics, asides, indenting, or something else, ensure these run consistently throughout your report.

At the same time, think about the structure, layout, and formatting of your written report. Are you leaving enough negative space for your reader to process information? These are especially important for readers with dyslexia, but will generally lift your readability on the whole:

• Is all of your copy aligned left?
• Is your font choice clear with a good amount of spacing between letters and words?
• Are you bolding important words and sentences rather than underlining them?
• Are you peppering your report with enough headings and subheadings?

Release oxytocin: Follow storytelling tactics

A Forbes article reported that “immersive storytelling releases the empathy-related chemical oxytocin in our brains.” If you’re not familiar with oxytocin, it’s known as a natural ‘feel-good’ chemical, promoting feelings of trust and attachment.

Why else do you think case studies are so effective? They rely on storytelling: they have characters, plots, beginnings, endings, peaks, and pits. User research reports that mimic storytelling threads and tactics are more likely to create sticky data points, as well as hold your readers’ attention throughout. This is why the PAS framework works so well, but whatever format your report takes, bear in mind a story-like structure with a beginning, middle, and end.

Ask your editor to edit your research presentation with the three Cs in mind

Clear , Concise , Compelling . These core principles exist everywhere the written word does, but it can be hard to spot them when editing your own work. Just because something is clear, concise, and compelling for you, doesn’t mean it is for someone else—ask a colleague to read your report (or, better yet—a content editor).

Failing that, if you don’t have access to an editor or are in a time crunch, here are some tools to help you edit your own work.

• Grammarly: Good for catching those little typos and grammatical errors
• Hemingway Editor: Gives a readability score and helps to simplify sentences

Consider your reader, and rethink the jargon

Tailoring your report to meet the needs and knowledge level of each stakeholder is a balancing act. Many will tell you to avoid jargon, acronyms, and technical language at all costs. But, that’s not always the case. Sometimes, using industry jargon is the most direct way of getting your point across, and if you know your reader understands it, go for it.

However, keep in mind that if your report is going to other teams: sales, C-suite, finance, etc, then you may need to find alternative terms that aren’t department-specific—or provide a glossary or acronym dictionary within the report.

Muhammad shares more: “Typically UX folks (or even product folks) are not that well-equipped with research terminologies. So giving them the summary of the research in plain language is the approach that works best for me.”

Wrapping up how to present user research findings

There you have it, a complete guide on how you can write and present your user experience research in a way that everyone can benefit from it.

Remember, be conscious of your audience, your format, and your language. Different stakeholders and team cultures require different reporting styles, it’s up to you to curate the information into a report that delivers the insights you’ve uncovered.

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From AI-generated summaries of your user interviews, to usability scores for your prototype tests, automate UX research reporting with Maze.

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Written by Bridgette Hernandez

3 September, 2020

Writing good user research summaries can be hard.

They’re supposed to communicate complex, detailed user testing findings in a really concise and simple way. This can be a bit of a challenge for non-writer folks like UX designers.

Are you one of them?

If yes, you’re in the right place. This article is here to help you write clearly, so you don’t end up with a huge summary that no one really wants to read.

Keep reading to know how to write a great research summary everyone will want to get credit for.

How to Write a User Research Summary: Step-by-Step Instructions

Now, let me walk you through the nine steps of writing that epic user research summary.

Step 1. Go Over Research Findings Once Again

Used-based testing is complex. To make sense of the insights from testers, you have to pay attention to every single detail. Not to mention that some critical thinking skills are necessary to read between the lines and make meaningful recommendations.

How to make sure to cover all bases? Read/analyze/watch research materials once again before writing. Not only does this refresh your memory, but it also gives one more chance to spot something important.

So, go over the results and make notes for yourself. The goal would be to summarize the results and make it easier for yourself to structure the summary.

Step 2. Make an Outline

With the research findings and notes fresh in your mind, proceed to outline your summary. It’ll be helpful to structure your thoughts and present everything in a logical order.

There’s no magical formula for the best summary structure, but you can go for this one. It ensures a logical flow of information and covers all important areas.

Report Outline Example

• Research goals and objectives (research questions)
• Summary of the most important findings
• Methodology + participants
• The findings in more detail
• Bugs and other issues
• Recommendations.

Sounds good? If yes, read more about each section next.

Step 3. Research Goals and Objectives (Research Questions)

The first section of your report should give a quick project background. It will give context to the goals and objectives. Describing them will be the most important part to help readers understand how the project contributed to making a better product.

For example:

“For this user testing project, our team was looking to understand the user’s impressions and perceptions of ABC app.”

Consider using a bullet list to describe your goals. This format clarifies writing and is easy to spot and read.

Pro tip: Include a sentence describing the goal of your summary. It can be something like:

“This report describes the user testing process, how the data was collected, the most important results, and recommendations.”

Related: User Testing a Mobile App Prototype: Essential Checklist.

Step 4. Summary of the Most Important Findings

“So what did they find? What do I need to know?

This section should answer these questions. The findings you need to describe are the themes that occurred across more than one tester, e.g., three users struggling to understand how to complete a certain action.

Struggling to keep the sentences you’re writing short and clear? Consider getting professional writing help from tools like Hemingway Editor . Remember that a clear description is critical to making the entire summary useful.

One way to give a clear explanation is to group the findings by themes, e.g., “Navigation.” If you wish to introduce more structure, also consider giving each finding a priority value (low, medium, and high). For example, the findings that point to the most severe issues can be given a “high” priority.

Step 5. Methodology + Participants

Describe the methods that were used to complete the testing.

Say, you invited 30 people between the ages of 20 and 40 to your office and several coffee houses around the city. You asked them to test your new app and tell you their thoughts.

After they “played” with your app for about 20 minutes, you sat down with each tester and talked. So, the primary method of collecting data was an interview.

There were two parts to it. During the first part, the tester shared their experiences with the interviewer. The second part had the interviewer asking the tester a series of pre-written questions, e.g., “ Did you find it difficult to book a breakfast via our app?”

To describe this plausible UX research methodology, you can use this structure:

• Interview plan + questions . Here, list the structure of the interview, e.g., “ The interview started with a quick introduction…”
• Most important interview questions . Describe the questions in a bullet list and add your reasoning to each (see the next point)
• The reasoning behind questions. Include a short explanation of why a particular question was asked, e.g., “ With this question, we were trying to learn how to present information about additional hotel features in a way that even skeptical app users would click to see more”
• Participant description . Let the readers know how many testers participated, and give some demographic details like age, gender, and why they were chosen.

Pro tip : Consider giving the participants fake names in the summary. It’ll make them easier to remember compared to generic “Participant I” or “Participant II.” To make this process more fun, use the famous Fake Name Generator .

Related: Top 10 Questions When Recruiting Participants for User Tests.

Step 6. Test Findings, in More Detail

You’ve given some idea of test findings already, but now it’s time to really go in detail. In this section, you don’t just state the findings, but also provide your explanation of why the test ended this way.

Here’s how you can write the explanation (a very concise one, go for more details):

“The testers weren’t interested in viewing the extra booking features on the app’s home page. According to them, they rarely got to the bottom of the page where the banner was placed. To engage more users, we need to move it up close to the search feature.”

Jenny Amendola, a UX writer from SupremeDissertations , advises to “Differentiate the results by assigning values like ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ to them. This way, you can make it easier to understand the results.”

Let the readers know how you organized, analyzed, and grouped the results into themes, too.

Step 7. Bugs and Other Issues

In this section, provide the description of problems discovered during the test that affected the results. Feel free to make it into a bullet list where each bug/issue comes with an explanation.

Categorizing them is also a good idea to clarify the text. For example…

Important! Be sure to include screenshots and images to visualize each issue. It’ll help UX designers understand what you mean.

Step 8. Recommendations

It’s time for your critical thinking genius to shine. In this section, list the ideas for improvement, from most important to least important.

Feel free to follow the structure we’ve used so far: the themes, categories, and bullet lists with explanations. Also, consider supporting each recommendation with a quote from a tester.

“Recommendation 1: We need to focus more on making extra booking options visible above the fold on the home page:

Tester review: ‘I rarely scroll down to the bottom of the home page, so I didn’t see that banner.’”

Some visuals with your recommendations could also be useful even if you create something really simple in an image processing app.

Need some help with spotting improvement opportunities and coming up with useful recommendations? Read a beginner-friendly, simple guide below to get started.

Read the Guide: A Beginner’s Guide to User Experience Testing .

Just One More Thing…

Put your name on that awesome summary.

As a UX researcher or someone involved in doing user research, you’ll be writing many more summaries in the future. Keep this outline to make the next one easier.

Happy writing!

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A Guide to User Research Analysis

When designers perform user interviews, field observations, or usability tests, they gather tons of notes and data to help inform design decisions and recommendations. But how do they make sense of so much qualitative data? Talking to customers is great, but most people walk away feeling overwhelmed by the sense of more information than they know what to do with. Learning how to properly analyze UX research helps turn raw data into insights and action.

What Is User Research Analysis?

User research analysis is a vital part of any research process because it is the very act of making sense of what was learned so that informed recommendations can be made on behalf of customers or users.

As researchers conduct analysis, they’re spending time categorizing, classifying, and organizing the data they’ve gathered to directly inform what they’ll share as outcomes of the research and the key findings.

Why Should Researchers Spend Time on Analysis?

Our natural instinct is to believe we can remember everything we heard or saw in an interview. But following impulsive decisions made from raw notes and data can be misleading and dangerous. Recommendations based on a single data point can lead a team down the path of solving the wrong problem.

Further, doing so is simply reacting to data, not making sense of it. This can cause companies to focus on incremental improvements only and miss important opportunities to serve customers in more meaningful, innovative ways.

A great example of this is when we see teams sharing research findings like, “6 out of 10 people had difficulty signing in to our application.” On the surface, a reasonable recommendation could be to redesign the sign-in form. However, proper research analysis and finding the meaning behind what that data represents is when the real magic happens. Perhaps the reason people had trouble signing in was due to forgotten passwords. In this case, redesigning the sign in form wouldn’t necessarily solve this problem.

Performing the necessary analysis of user research data is an act of asking “why” the “6 out of 10 people had difficulty signing into the application.” Analysis transforms the research from raw data into insights and meaning.

Consider what Slack did with their sign-in process. Slack allows a user to sign in by manually typing their password or having a “magic link” sent to their email which the person simply needs to click from their inbox.  They get signed in to their Slack team and get started.

Slack offers a magic link instead of asking users to type their password.

Slack emails a magic link within seconds that saves the user typing their password.

This decision wasn’t an accident; it came from a deep understanding of a customer pain point. That deep understanding came from making sense of user research data and not simply jumping to a conclusion. Slack’s example demonstrates the power of spending time in analyzing user research data to go beyond reacting to a single observation and instead understanding why those observations occurred.

When to Do Research Analysis

Before the research begins.

Great analysis starts before research even begins. This happens by creating well-defined goals for the project, research, and product. Creating clear goals allows researchers to collect data in predefined themes to answer questions about how to meet those goals. This also allows them to create a set of tags (sometimes known as “codes”) to assign to notes and data as they conduct their research, speeding up analysis dramatically.

Before any research session begins, craft clear goals and questions that need to be answered by the research. Then brainstorm a list of tags or descriptors for each goal that will help identify notes and data that align to the goals of the research.

During the Research

Researchers often tag or code data they gather in real time. This can be done multiple ways using spreadsheets, document highlighting or even a specialized research tool like Aurelius.

When taking notes in a spreadsheet, tags can be added to individual notes in an adjacent column and later turned into a “ rainbow spreadsheet .”

For teams physically located in the same space, an affinity diagram with sticky notes on the wall works well. Here, each note can be added to an individual sticky note with top level tags or themes grouped physically together.

A student stands in front of an affinity exercise on a whiteboard. Photo via Wikimedia

There are also software tools like Aurelius that help researchers tag and organize notes as they’re taken which also makes for quick viewing and analysis of those tags later.

View of analyzing notes and tags in Aurelius.

It’s also useful for teams to have a short debrief after each research participant or session to discuss what they learned. This keeps knowledge fresh, allows the team members to summarize what they’ve learned up to that point, and often exposes new themes or tags to use in collecting data from the remaining research sessions.

When the Research Is Done

This is where most of the analysis happens. At this point researchers are reviewing all the notes they’ve taken to really figure out what patterns and insights exist. Most researchers will have a good idea of which tags, groups, and themes to focus on, especially if they’ve done a debrief after each session. It then becomes a matter of determining why those patterns and themes exist in order to create new knowledge and insight about their customers.

How to Analyze User Research

Tag notes and data as you collect it.

Tagging notes and data as they’re collected is a process of connecting those tags to research questions and the research questions back to the project or research goals. This way you can be confident in the tags and themes being created in real time. Here’s how to make the connection between tags, research questions and project goals.

Imagine the research goals for the project are:

• Increase the number of people signing up for our product free trial
• Increase the number of people going from free trial to a paid account
• Educate trial customers about the value of our product prior to signing up for a paid account

From there, research questions can be formed such as:

• “Does the website communicate the right message to share the value of a free trial?”
• “Is it easy for a new customer to sign up?”
• “Are new customers easily able to start a free trial and begin using the product?”

From those questions, we can extract topics and themes. Since we’re researching the free trial, sign up process and general usability of that process, they become clear choices for tags. Also, since the research is meant to answer a question about whether or not potential customers understand the value of our product and free trial, this too provides a clear topic and tag we can use. So, useful tags based on those questions would be:

• #free-trial
• #value-prop
• #signup-reason
• #signup-process
• #onboarding

As the team conducts the research, they can tag notes and observations according to those themes that align to the high level goals and questions for the project. All of this highly increases the ease and effectiveness of research analysis later.

Analysis After Each Session

A common user research practice is for the team to debrief after each interview, usability test, or field study to discuss what was learned or observed. Doing this while also reviewing the notes and observations helps researchers hear the same information from a new perspective.

Let’s imagine the team found the following patterns while conducting their research:

• Potential customers visited the product page, free trial sign-up page, and went back to the product page several times prior to starting a free trial.
• Some people had multiple browsers open with competitor sites pulled up while signing up for the free trial.
• Potential customers mentioned waiting for the “right time” to start their free trial on several occasions.

This may help the researchers create new tags (or codes) for remaining sessions, such as:

• #right-time
• #competitor-review
• #feature-comparison

Using these new tags adds another dimension to analysis and provides deeper meaning to patterns the team is finding. You can see how the combination of these tags and themes already begin to paint a picture of customer needs without any detailed notes!

Here are some good tips for knowing when to tag or code a note:

• It aligns directly to a project/research goal.
• The participant specifically said or implied that something is very important.
• Repetition – a thing is said or heard multiple times.
• Patterns – when certain observations are related or important to other tags and themes already established in the project goals or research.

Steps for Analyzing Research Once It’s Done

Once all the research is done, it’s time to dig in to find patterns and frequency across all the data gathered .

Step 1 – Review the notes, transcripts, and data for any relevant phrases, statements, and concepts that align to the research goals and questions.

Step 2 – Tag and code any remaining data that represents key activities, actions, concepts, statements, ideas and needs or desires from the customers who participated in the research.

Step 3 – Review those tags and codes to find relationships between them. A useful tip for this is to pay close attention to tags that have notes with multiple other tags. This often indicates a relationship between themes. Create new tags and groups where appropriate to review more specific subsets of the data. Continue this process until meaningful themes are exposed. Once that happens, ask questions like:

• Why do these patterns or themes exist?
• Why did participants say this so many times?
• Does the data help answer the research questions?
• Does the data inform ways to meet the research goals?
• Does one tag group or theme relate to another? How? Why?

Sharing Key Insights from User Research

A key insight should answer one or more of your research questions and directly inform how to meet one or more of the established business goals. When sharing key insights, be sure to make a clear connection between one of the business goals, research questions and why the key insight is relevant to both. The most effective way of turning research into action is by helping teams make a connection between key insights and business outcomes.

3 Parts to a Key Insight

There are three parts to creating a key insight from user research :

• Statement of what you learned
• Tags that describe the insight (often used from the analysis, but can also be new tags entirely)
• Supporting notes, data, and evidence that give further context to the key insight and support the statement of what was learned

A key insight from the example project might be:

“Prospective customers are worried they might not have enough time to review our product during the free trial.” #right-time #signup-process #free-trial

This represents the pattern observed of customers mentioning the “right time” to sign up for a free trial and comparing the product to competitors. It also goes beyond sharing the quantitative data that those things occurred and offers a qualitative explanation of why they happened. All of this leads to clearer recommendations and the ability for other teams to take action on the research findings.

Creating key insights from the research in this way allows for the most effective sharing and reuse later. By providing supporting notes to each insight, stakeholders and others consuming the research findings can learn more detail about each key insight if they so choose.

Next Steps for User Research Analysis

Conducting detailed analysis of user research data helps teams clearly share what was learned to provide more actionable recommendations in design and product development.

Here are some tips for making user research analysis faster and easier on upcoming projects:

• Begin the user research by creating well defined questions and goals.
• Create tags based on each goal.
• Tag research notes and data as it’s collected to speed up analysis later.
• Debrief after each research session.
• Review the data once research is finished to find patterns, frequency, and themes.
• Make statements about each pattern or theme that was uncovered, describing what it means and why it’s important (aka: create key insights).
• Share the key insights!

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Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Research Methods

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The Complete Guide to UX Research Methods

UX research provides invaluable insight into product users and what they need and value. Not only will research reduce the risk of a miscalculated guess, it will uncover new opportunities for innovation.

By Miklos Philips

Miklos is a UX designer, product design strategist, author, and speaker with more than 18 years of experience in the design field.

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“Empathy is at the heart of design. Without the understanding of what others see, feel, and experience, design is a pointless task.” —Tim Brown, CEO of the innovation and design firm IDEO

User experience (UX) design is the process of designing products that are useful, easy to use, and a pleasure to engage. It’s about enhancing the entire experience people have while interacting with a product and making sure they find value, satisfaction, and delight. If a mountain peak represents that goal, employing various types of UX research is the path UX designers use to get to the top of the mountain.

User experience research is one of the most misunderstood yet critical steps in UX design. Sometimes treated as an afterthought or an unaffordable luxury, UX research, and user testing should inform every design decision.

Every product, service, or user interface designers create in the safety and comfort of their workplaces has to survive and prosper in the real world. Countless people will engage our creations in an unpredictable environment over which designers have no control. UX research is the key to grounding ideas in reality and improving the odds of success, but research can be a scary word. It may sound like money we don’t have, time we can’t spare, and expertise we have to seek.

In order to do UX research effectively—to get a clear picture of what users think and why they do what they do—e.g., to “walk a mile in the user’s shoes” as a favorite UX maxim goes, it is essential that user experience designers and product teams conduct user research often and regularly. Contingent upon time, resources, and budget, the deeper they can dive the better.

What Is UX Research?

There is a long, comprehensive list of UX design research methods employed by user researchers , but at its center is the user and how they think and behave —their needs and motivations. Typically, UX research does this through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies.

There are two main types of user research: quantitative (statistics: can be calculated and computed; focuses on numbers and mathematical calculations) and qualitative (insights: concerned with descriptions, which can be observed but cannot be computed).

Quantitative research is primarily exploratory research and is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics. Some common data collection methods include various forms of surveys – online surveys , paper surveys , mobile surveys and kiosk surveys , longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations.

This user research method may also include analytics, such as Google Analytics .

Google Analytics is part of a suite of interconnected tools that help interpret data on your site’s visitors including Data Studio , a powerful data-visualization tool, and Google Optimize, for running and analyzing dynamic A/B testing.

Quantitative data from analytics platforms should ideally be balanced with qualitative insights gathered from other UX testing methods , such as focus groups or usability testing. The analytical data will show patterns that may be useful for deciding what assumptions to test further.

Qualitative user research is a direct assessment of behavior based on observation. It’s about understanding people’s beliefs and practices on their terms. It can involve several different methods including contextual observation, ethnographic studies, interviews, field studies, and moderated usability tests.

Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group feels that in the case of UX research, it is better to emphasize insights (qualitative research) and that although quant has some advantages, qualitative research breaks down complicated information so it’s easy to understand, and overall delivers better results more cost effectively—in other words, it is much cheaper to find and fix problems during the design phase before you start to build. Often the most important information is not quantifiable, and he goes on to suggest that “quantitative studies are often too narrow to be useful and are sometimes directly misleading.”

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. William Bruce Cameron

Design research is not typical of traditional science with ethnography being its closest equivalent—effective usability is contextual and depends on a broad understanding of human behavior if it is going to work.

Nevertheless, the types of user research you can or should perform will depend on the type of site, system or app you are developing, your timeline, and your environment.

Top UX Research Methods and When to Use Them

Here are some examples of the types of user research performed at each phase of a project.

Card Sorting : Allows users to group and sort a site’s information into a logical structure that will typically drive navigation and the site’s information architecture. This helps ensure that the site structure matches the way users think.

Contextual Interviews : Enables the observation of users in their natural environment, giving you a better understanding of the way users work.

First Click Testing : A testing method focused on navigation, which can be performed on a functioning website, a prototype, or a wireframe.

Focus Groups : Moderated discussion with a group of users, allowing insight into user attitudes, ideas, and desires.

Heuristic Evaluation/Expert Review : A group of usability experts evaluating a website against a list of established guidelines .

Interviews : One-on-one discussions with users show how a particular user works. They enable you to get detailed information about a user’s attitudes, desires, and experiences.

Parallel Design : A design methodology that involves several designers pursuing the same effort simultaneously but independently, with the intention to combine the best aspects of each for the ultimate solution.

Personas : The creation of a representative user based on available data and user interviews. Though the personal details of the persona may be fictional, the information used to create the user type is not.

Prototyping : Allows the design team to explore ideas before implementing them by creating a mock-up of the site. A prototype can range from a paper mock-up to interactive HTML pages.

Surveys : A series of questions asked to multiple users of your website that help you learn about the people who visit your site.

System Usability Scale (SUS) : SUS is a technology-independent ten-item scale for subjective evaluation of the usability.

Task Analysis : Involves learning about user goals, including what users want to do on your website, and helps you understand the tasks that users will perform on your site.

Usability Testing : Identifies user frustrations and problems with a site through one-on-one sessions where a “real-life” user performs tasks on the site being studied.

Use Cases : Provide a description of how users use a particular feature of your website. They provide a detailed look at how users interact with the site, including the steps users take to accomplish each task.

You can do user research at all stages or whatever stage you are in currently. However, the Nielsen Norman Group advises that most of it be done during the earlier phases when it will have the biggest impact. They also suggest it’s a good idea to save some of your budget for additional research that may become necessary (or helpful) later in the project.

Here is a diagram listing recommended options that can be done as a project moves through the design stages. The process will vary, and may only include a few things on the list during each phase. The most frequently used methods are shown in bold.

Reasons for Doing UX Research

Here are three great reasons for doing user research :

To create a product that is truly relevant to users

• If you don’t have a clear understanding of your users and their mental models, you have no way of knowing whether your design will be relevant. A design that is not relevant to its target audience will never be a success.

To create a product that is easy and pleasurable to use

• A favorite quote from Steve Jobs: “ If the user is having a problem, it’s our problem .” If your user experience is not optimal, chances are that people will move on to another product.

To have the return on investment (ROI) of user experience design validated and be able to show:

• An improvement in performance and credibility
• Increased exposure and sales—growth in customer base
• A reduced burden on resources—more efficient work processes

Aside from the reasons mentioned above, doing user research gives insight into which features to prioritize, and in general, helps develop clarity around a project.

What Results Can I Expect from UX Research?

In the words of Mike Kuniaysky, user research is “ the process of understanding the impact of design on an audience. ”

User research has been essential to the success of behemoths like USAA and Amazon ; Joe Gebbia, CEO of Airbnb is an enthusiastic proponent, testifying that its implementation helped turn things around for the company when it was floundering as an early startup.

Some of the results generated through UX research confirm that improving the usability of a site or app will:

• Increase conversion rates
• Increase sign-ups
• Increase NPS (net promoter score)
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Increase purchase rates
• Boost loyalty to the brand
• Reduce customer service calls

Additionally, and aside from benefiting the overall user experience, the integration of UX research into the development process can:

• Minimize development time
• Reduce production costs
• Uncover valuable insights about your audience
• Give an in-depth view into users’ mental models, pain points, and goals

User research is at the core of every exceptional user experience. As the name suggests, UX is subjective—the experience that a person goes through while using a product. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the needs and goals of potential users, the context, and their tasks which are unique for each product. By selecting appropriate UX research methods and applying them rigorously, designers can shape a product’s design and can come up with products that serve both customers and businesses more effectively.

Further Reading on the Toptal Blog:

• How to Conduct Effective UX Research: A Guide
• The Value of User Research
• UX Research Methods and the Path to User Empathy
• Design Talks: Research in Action with UX Researcher Caitria O'Neill
• Swipe Right: 3 Ways to Boost Safety in Dating App Design
• How to Avoid 5 Types of Cognitive Bias in User Research

Understanding the basics

How do you do user research in ux.

UX research includes two main types: quantitative (statistical data) and qualitative (insights that can be observed but not computed), done through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies. The UX research methods used depend on the type of site, system, or app being developed.

What are UX methods?

There is a long list of methods employed by user research, but at its center is the user and how they think, behave—their needs and motivations. Typically, UX research does this through observation techniques, task analysis, and other UX methodologies.

What is the best research methodology for user experience design?

The type of UX methodology depends on the type of site, system or app being developed, its timeline, and environment. There are 2 main types: quantitative (statistics) and qualitative (insights).

What does a UX researcher do?

A user researcher removes the need for false assumptions and guesswork by using observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies to understand a user’s motivation, behavior, and needs.

Why is UX research important?

UX research will help create a product that is relevant to users and is easy and pleasurable to use while boosting a product’s ROI. Aside from these reasons, user research gives insight into which features to prioritize, and in general, helps develop clarity around a project.

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5 tips to write a great actionable user research summary.

User research summaries serve a very particular purpose. They are meant to gather and explain user testing findings in a way that is very easy to understand and store. Writing a good user research summary can be tricky for beginners. While it might seem like a difficult task, there are always ways to make it easier. 

If you need to learn how to write these research summaries easily, you found the right place. Here are 5 simple and easy to follow tips to help you achieve the best outcome. 

5 tips to actionable user research summaries

1. go through your research findings once again.

The very first place to get started is right in your hands. The findings you have collected are the best thing to get started with. In most cases, a  user research summary is put together by the use of interviews. If this is the way you did it, you need to go through the information you collected again.

This might seem tedious, but it has a lot to offer you. The most important thing in this project is paying attention to detail. The better you know the information you have gathered, the easier it will be for you to put them in order. Before you start to write anything, understanding everything you have gathered is the most important step.

2. Keep notes or put together an outline

After you have completed the first step, it is time to start taking notes. This can be done in any way you consider easy. Whether you choose to simply write ideas in your smartphone or a notepad or even create a detailed outline is up to you. The goal here is to make your work as easy as possible for you to put together.

When you write these notes, you need to make sure that you know what information to collect. Some of the most important things to keep track of are the following:

• The goals the researchers had and their primary and potentially their secondary objectives
• A brief summary of their most important findings 
• The methodology they followed 
• The participants they included in the study
• Their findings in a more detailed fashion
• Ethical and other issues they might have encountered
• Recommendations for future research and discussion

All of these points will allow you to shape a basic outline, which you can later enhance. Some of this information will be very easy to extract. Other points you will need to read more on in order to write about them well. This is exactly why knowing and understanding the findings you have collected is crucial in such situations.

3. Exclude repetitive information

After creating a basic outline, you will have probably put a lot of similar ideas in order. This is oftentimes an issue because, in interviews with a physical person, they don’t always follow one line of thought. The best thing you can do is go through the notes you have kept and see where it is possible to exclude information. 

If you are planning on mentioning something in another spot of your summary, you might be able to exclude it. This will help you decrease the amount of information you have collected. In addition, it will make the writing process a lot easier and more straightforward. The less repetitive details you have to deal with, the easier your job will end up being.

4. Proofread and edit your written content

A step many writers consider crucial in their writing process is proofreading and editing their content. This might not seem important in such a piece of content, but it truly is necessary. Even if you are new to writing a custom research paper , there are many ways to get this done. No matter which way you choose, it will help you avoid making these small and unnecessary mistakes.

You can easily use the help of proofreading and editing tools and services such as Grammarly , BestEssaysEducation , Hemmingway Editor , and ClassyEssay . These are easy to use, and depending on your budget, can help you achieve the most professional results. This way, the content of your summary will look professional and well-written. 

5. Gather and include relevant quotes

Last but not least, another important thing you should do is use quotes. Anthony Brooke, a content creator for GrabMyEssay , said that: “When interviewing someone, it is very helpful to use their words exactly as they said them. This serves as social proof that can help give your content more weight”.

This is something that can be done at the very end of your writing process as it does not require much time. The way to achieve this is simple. You can listen to the interview one last time or read through your notes. When the person or team you interviewed said something important or useful, you can write it down.

You just need to use air quotes and put their exact words in your summary. Since you will be at the end of the writing process, putting the quotes in place will prove very easy. Everything will already be in place, and you will just need to add the quotes in the right places. This process is not only easy to do but also helps your summary appear more professional and reliable.

Finding the best way to write actionable user research summary

Depending on the type of content you wish to create, there are plenty of tips you can follow. Each will help you develop your own writing style and allow you to gather information correctly. This way, you will be able to write the perfect actionable user research summaries.

The tips mentioned previously will help you get a better understanding of how to get started. Following them correctly will help you write great quality content. As a result, your summaries will appear more professional and well put-together.

Which of these writing tips are you looking forward to trying for yourself? 

About the author

Kristin Savage is a professional writer and editor for SupremeDissertations and TopEssayWriting . Kristin loves to create content helpful for her audience. This is exactly why she frequently creates content for platforms such as Subjecto . In her spare time, Kristin loves to read and spend time outdoors.

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A One Page User Research Plan

If you want to generate a user research plan that gets read and is easy for people to agree on; you want to keep things simple. How simple? We think that you might be able to get away with a single page though you’ll need to pay careful attention to the wording to keep it that way. You can always create a more detailed plan to work from but for your stakeholders – they have other concerns and user research is only a tiny part of their remit. If you make it easy for them to engage with your plan; it’s much more likely they will read it and sign up to it.

What to Include in a Single Page User Research Plan?

With only a single page; there’s no room for fluff. Leave the academic writing skills in the classroom and stick to plain English. Here’s what you need to make this work:

• A title – it should be obvious but over the years we’ve come to realize it isn’t always. Labelling a document makes it easier for someone to know what it’s about.
• Authorship details – if people have feedback on the plan; who should they give it to?
• Stakeholder details – who else is the plan being shared with? This helps stakeholders identify other relevant parties (if you’ve omitted anyone).
• The date – this should also include any revision dates. People want to be certain they’re working with the latest version of a document.
• Document control – if your company uses a document control system; it’s a good idea to follow it in your titles, filing, etc.
• An introduction – this is your background. A quick paragraph on why the research is needed and any history that is relevant.
• Objectives – what are you trying to achieve? One short statement. Research is best when it tries to satisfy a single objective; if you have dozens of objectives – you’re over-reaching and you need to plan again.
• The questions to be asked – another short list. You can’t get the answers to hundreds of questions from any piece of research; 3-5 is probably best but no more than ten.
• The methods to be used – what will you do, where will you do it and how long do you need.
• The people involved – it’s always a good idea to define the users you will do your research with. Use broad brush strokes and keep detail to a minimum.
• The time needed –it’s always a good idea to keep people informed as to when they will see results from a plan. If a project is a long one; you might want to include some preliminary milestones so that people can check on progress as well as a final reporting date.
• Where supporting information can be found – if there’s any other data that might be relevant; you can signpost it. This can include both previous studies, results, etc. and the suggested scripts that you use in the research.

Short and simple is a very effective way of communicating a plan. It’s much easier to expect people to read and engage with something that doesn’t require hours of attention to digest.

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User Research in Product Management: Strategies and Best Practices

Why User Research Matters

• Identify user pain points and unmet needs
• Validate product ideas and features
• Understand user motivations and behavior
• Prioritize features and improvements
• Reduce the risk of product failure

Types of User Research

Qualitative research.

• Focus groups
• Observations
• Diary studies
• Usability testing

Quantitative Research

• Analytics and usage data
• A/B testing
• Market research

Best Practices for Conducting User Research

1. define clear research objectives, 2. choose the right research methods.

3. Recruit a Representative Sample

4. analyze and interpret your findings, 5. communicate your insights, 6. integrate user research into your product management process, key takeaways for product managers and user research.

• Define clear research objectives and goals.
• Choose the right research methods for your objectives.
• Recruit a representative sample of your target users.
• Analyze and interpret your findings systematically.
• Communicate your insights effectively to stakeholders.
• Integrate user research into your product management process.

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ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini: Which is the best AI chatbot?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed how we work and play  in recent months, giving almost anyone the ability to write code , create art , and even make investments . For professional and hobbyist users alike, generative AI tools, such as  ChatGPT , offer advanced capabilities to create decent-quality content from a simple user prompt. 

Keeping up with all the latest AI tools can get confusing, especially as Microsoft added  GPT-4 to Bing Chat  and renamed it to Copilot, OpenAI added new capabilities to ChatGPT and released GPT-4o , and Google plugged Bard   into its ecosystem  and rebranded the chatbot as Gemini .

Also: How to use ChatGPT (and how to access GPT-4o)

Knowing which of the three most popular AI chatbots is best to write code , generate text , or help build resumes is challenging. Let's break down the biggest differences so you can choose the one that best meets your needs. 

Testing ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini

To help determine which AI chatbot gives more accurate answers, I'm going to use a simple prompt to compare them: 

"I have 5 oranges today, I ate 3 oranges last week. How many oranges do I have left?"

The answer should be five, as the number of oranges I ate last week doesn't affect the number of oranges I have today. First up, ChatGPT.

You should use ChatGPT if...

1. you want the most advanced ai chatbot for free.

OpenAI lets users access ChatGPT , powered by its GPT-3.5 and the GPT-4o models, for free with a registered account. If you're willing to pay for the Plus version, you can access GPT-4, use a higher prompt limit for GPT-4o, and get early access to new features for $20 per month.

ChatGPT with GPT-4o, available for free users, answered the question correctly. 

GPT-4o is a new multimodal model available to free and paying ChatGPT users. Rather than relying on three separate models to power its features -- GPT-4 for text, DALL-E 3 for images, and Whisper for voice -- ChatGPT now uses GPT-4o to process and generate text, images, and sounds. This makes it faster than GPT-4 for paying ChatGPT subscribers, and just as good for ChatGPT users who don't want to pay.

Aside from giving free ChatGPT users access to the latest GPT-4o model, the startup also announced that free users now get most of the features that until now were exclusive to ChatGPT Plus users. These include web browsing, access to custom GPTs, ChatGPT Memory, and advanced data analysis.

2. You want to try the most popular AI chatbot

OpenAI released a widespread preview of  ChatGPT  in November 2022. Since then, the AI chatbot quickly gained over 100 million users and has been at the center of  controversies , especially as people uncover its potential to  do schoolwork  and replace some work across industries.

Also: ChatGPT will put your data into interactive tables and charts with GPT-4o

Since its release, I've been testing ChatGPT almost daily. Although its user interface has remained simple, minor changes have greatly improved the tool, including GPT-4o for free users,  Custom Instructions , and easier access to accounts.

The free version of ChatGPT using the default GPT-3.5 model gave the wrong answer to our question.

Although ChatGPT has proven to be a valuable AI tool, it can be prone to  misinformation . Like other large language models (LLMs), GPT-3.5 is imperfect, as it is trained on human-created data up to January 2022. It also often fails to comprehend nuances, like it did with our math question example, which it answered incorrectly by saying we have two oranges left, when the answer should be five.

Also: I put GPT-4o through my coding tests and it aced them - except for one weird result

The GPT-4o model answered the math question correctly, having understood the full context of the problem from beginning to end.

Next, let's consider Microsoft Copilot , which is a great way to access GPT-4 for free.

You should use Microsoft Copilot if...

1. you want to use gpt-4 for free.

Although the free version of ChatGPT lets you use GPT-4o, access to free users is limited to about 15 messages every three hours or capped depending on peak hours, to keep it accessible to more people. After reaching your GPT-4o limit, your chat session reverts to GPT-3.5, limited to generating conversational text and information only until January 2022.

Also:  How to use Copilot (formerly called Bing Chat)

Meanwhile, Copilot can access the internet to deliver more current information than GPT-3.5, complete with links to sources.

Copilot's Creative conversation style was the only Copilot mode to answer the question accurately.

There are other benefits, too. Copilot is powered by GPT-4, OpenAI's LLM, and is completely free. Unfortunately, you are limited to five responses per conversation and can only enter up to 4,000 characters in each prompt. Copilot will eventually get GPT-4o built-in, but Microsoft hasn't made this update widely available, yet.

Also: Microsoft Copilot vs. Copilot Pro: Is the subscription fee worth it?

Copilot's user interface is a bit more cluttered than ChatGPT's, but it's still easy to navigate. While Copilot can access the internet to give you more up-to-date results compared to ChatGPT powered by GPT-3.5, I've found it is more prone to stalling before replying and will miss more prompts than its competitor.

2. You prefer more visual features

Microsoft has upgraded its platform several times to add visual features to Copilot, formerly Bing Chat. At this point, you can ask Copilot questions like, "What is a Tasmanian devil?" and get a response complete with photos, lifespan, diet, and more, for a more scannable result that is easier to digest than a wall of text. 

You can also ask Copilot to generate images for you. Give Copilot a description of what you want the image to look like, and the chatbot will generate four images for you to choose from. 

Also: How to use Image Creator from Microsoft Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator)

Microsoft Copilot features different conversational styles, including Creative, Balanced, and Precise, which alter how light or straightforward the interactions are.

The Balanced and Precise conversation styles in Microsoft Copilot answered my question inaccurately.

Finally, let's turn to Google's Gemini, formerly known as Bard. It uses Google's own LLM, also named Gemini, and has received considerable upgrades in the past few months.

You should use Gemini if...

1. you want a fast, almost unlimited experience.

In my time testing different AI chatbots, I saw  Google Bard catch a lot of flack for different shortcomings . While I'm not going to say they're unjustified, I will say that Google's AI chatbot, now named Gemini and powered by a completely different AI model than the one it debuted with, has improved greatly.

Also: How to use Gemini (formerly Google Bard): Everything you should know

Gemini gives speedy answers, which have become more accurate over time. It's not faster than ChatGPT Plus, but it can be faster at giving responses than Copilot and faster than the free GPT-3.5 version of ChatGPT, though your mileage may vary. 

Gemini answered accurately, like GPT-4o and Copilot's Creative conversation style.

Bard used to make the same mistake as other chatbots for my example math problem by incorrectly using the 5 - 3 = 2 formula, but Gemini, powered by Google's new Gemini Pro -- the company's largest LLM -- now answers the question accurately.

Also: Copilot Pro vs. ChatGPT Plus: Which is AI chatbot is worth your $20 a month?

Gemini is also not limited to a set number of responses. You can have long conversations with Google's Gemini, unlike with Copilot, which is limited to five replies in one conversation. Even ChatGPT Plus limits users to 40 messages every three hours. 

2. You want the full Google experience

Google also incorporates more visual elements into its Gemini platform than those currently available in Copilot. Users can generate images using Gemini, upload photos through an integration with Google Lens , and enjoy Kayak, OpenTable, Instacart, and Wolfram Alpha plugins.

Also: 6 AI tools to supercharge your work and everyday life

Gemini is slowly becoming a full Google experience thanks to extensions that add the wide range of Google applications. You can add extensions for Google Workspace, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Flights, and Google Hotels, giving you a more personalized and useful experience.

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Copilot pro vs. chatgpt plus: which is ai chatbot is worth your $20 a month, what is gemini everything you should know about google's new ai model, what is gemini live how google's real-time chatbot competes with gpt-4o.

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World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience

Accounting for user research in agile.

September 26, 2021 2021-09-26

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User research and Agile are not always the best of friends . Agile development often focuses on building features and breaks down work into bite-sized pieces. User research isn’t always tied to a single feature, which makes it difficult to fit perfectly into two- or three-week increments (the typical sprint duration). How can we fit user research into an Agile framework?

In This Article:

User research in agile is a challenge, focus on outcomes, not features, representing research on the backlog, update the backlog based on research findings, communicating learnings from research in agile.

Typically, in Agile environments, user research (such as user interviews , usability testing , and diary studies ) is approached in the same way in which the team approaches building new features: by dividing it into bite-sized chunks of work that produce something tangible.

This type of thinking leads to many challenges:

• Research spans multiple sprints. Teams can’t complete the entire study in a single sprint and the backlog item remains open across several sprints.
• Research findings aren’t taken into consideration after the research is complete. Teams get feedback from users, but that feedback isn’t funneled back into the backlog to be worked on.
• There is no tangible artifact that results from the research. Stakeholders and teams don’t know what to do with the learnings that come out of research because they’re used to being handed completed designs or code that’s ready for production.

Because of all these challenges, UX research often ends up neglected or abandoned altogether in Agile environments.

In product development, one of the biggest traps is focusing on outputs over outcomes — that is, discussing what features to build before clearly defining their purpose. This way of thinking prioritizes creating shiny features over understanding the value delivered to users and the business.

For example, an app like Venmo may decide to build a feature to send money to another person so that a user can easily pay someone without cash. The output is the functionality to be built: the Send Money feature. The outcome is what the users get out of it —another way to pay someone. To understand the problems that we’re solving and figure out what the outcomes are, we need to do user research.

One of the main values of Agile is responding to change over following a plan. Teams should focus on continuous discovery — that is, continuous learning — throughout their projects. Research should be the driving force behind this continuous discovery and should be ongoing throughout the entirety of a project. Many teams regard research as a 6-week project or a discovery phase that comes before development and never do research again as the project continues. But they will be more successful in building user-centric products if they aim to do some research every sprint. This way they are always learning and refining their project goals.

Just like with design and development work, we need to represent research efforts on our Agile backlog . When research efforts aren’t reflected on the backlog, they go unnoticed and are inevitably deprioritized — out of sight, out of mind.

To document research on the backlog, follow these steps:

• Add the research effort to the backlog as a single backlog item or user story .
• Break down the study into bite-sized pieces and add corresponding tasks within the research backlog item.  
• As you finish tasks, mark them as done while leaving the research backlog item open until all the tasks have been completed.

Let’s look at an example.

Example: Usability Testing with 6 Participants

For this example, imagine you want to conduct usability testing with 6 participants to learn about how users will (or won’t) use keyboard shortcuts in your application.

To complete this study, you’ll need to complete the following tasks:

• Recruit and schedule each participant
• Conduct the session
• Analyze the data
• Present findings to stakeholders

For each participant, you add to the backlog separate tasks corresponding to recruiting, scheduling, and conducting the session. Then you can add one or more tasks for data analysis and presenting the findings to your stakeholders. Some teams start looking for patterns at the halfway point of data collection, so they might analyze the data and present some initial findings twice during this research effort.

It’s important to accept and communicate that this research effort will remain open across multiple sprints . This idea is difficult for some stakeholders to grasp, so remind them that research efforts deliver outcomes, not outputs — that is, they deliver goals and needs, not features. Ask yourself if you’re closer to your goal. If yes, then you’re learning — that’s a good thing! In the sprint review you can talk about how the research is going, memorable quotes you might have heard so far, and what is coming up next. This approach will reinforce the idea that research is consistently happening and will continue to build buy-in.

The halfway point is a perfect opportunity to get stakeholders involved in the process, too! Now that they’ve seen some early feedback, they may want to get involved in the latter half of the research — a first step to making research a team sport . If your study is going quickly, you don’t need a halfway point checkin, but the more transparent you are about the process, the more likely your team and stakeholders are to understand the value it brings to the project.

Once all the tasks are completed in this backlog item, this research effort is considered done and can be closed out.

After the research is complete, you’ll likely end up with a list of bug fixes, UX debt , potential new features, and opportunities for future research. These should all be funneled back into your backlog — either as tasks on existing backlog items, bugs to fix, or new backlog items.

Bring up this list of items after your presentation of research findings at the sprint review so it can be prioritized and added to the backlog immediately. Since your stakeholders are already present at the sprint review, you won’t need to ask them to attend yet another meeting.

Regardless of how you add incorporate your research findings into the backlog, make sure that you’re acting on them. A team that doesn’t address the feedback received is only discovering new information and not actually responding to change.

Agile teams know a lot about delivery, but research and continuous learning should be equally important. To overcome the challenges of doing user research in Agile, remember:

• Research efforts may span multiple sprints. You’re focusing on user goals that will likely influence more than one feature so, during sprint reviews, be transparent about how the research is moving the team forward. Communicating often as the research is being done will build buy-in and common ground .
• Funnel research findings back into the backlog. Continuous discovery and responding to change are important for building viable software in Agile environments. Make sure that the team not only hears from users, but also responds to their needs.
• Research provides value to the team in the form of learnings rather than tangible artifacts. Learnings from your research will inform upcoming features, build out requirements and acceptance criteria, and help you understand your users. These are all things that move the team forward and provide value.

Josh Seiden. 2019. Outcomes Over Output: Why Customer Behavior is the Key Metric for Business Success. Sense & Respond Press, United States.

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