user experience researcher

What is a UX Researcher? The Ultimate Guide for 2024

The role of the user experience (UX) researcher is becoming more prominent, more specialized, and more in demand.

Uncovering user behaviors, needs, and motivations in order to design products and services that provide value is the crux of user experience research. When performed correctly, these methods have a huge impact on business.

So what is a UX researcher?

In this guide, we’ll take a look at what a UX researcher does and the UX research career path.

Although there is no singular path, there are four main steps to move a UX researcher forward: expanding knowledge of the user research field ; obtaining foundational skills ; crafting a portfolio; and building a network of industry peers.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What is a user experience researcher?
• What does a user experience researcher do?
• What skills are required for a career in UX research?
• How to expand your knowledge of the UX research industry
• How to obtain the necessary foundational skills
• How to craft a convincing portfolio
• How to build a solid network of industry peers
• Final thoughts

1. What is a user experience researcher?

A user experience researcher has their hand on the pulse of user needs and goals. They are the empathetic, organized, critical thinker whose day-to-day is about the first stage of the design thinking process : empathize .

This isn’t to say that UX researchers’ work is totally separate from the rest of the process, but their work has arguably the most humanizing effect on the process. Here’s why— UX researchers know how to:

• Understand the problem or challenge at hand
• Apply a variety of methods and approaches to finding out how their users tick in the context of this problem or challenge
• Listen, observe, and ask the right kinds of questions to gather insights that can be turned into actionable ideas
• Synthesize their findings and communicate them to the rest of the team and to key stakeholders in clear, actionable, and even engaging ways

2. What does a user experience researcher do?

The purpose of the UX researcher (also referred to as “user researcher” or “design researcher”) is to unearth human insights in order to guide the application of design.

According to a recent job posting by IBM, as a design researcher, you will “help provide actionable and meaningful data-driven insights that represent the voice of multiple users. You will collaborate across development, design, and marketing teams to evaluate current and upcoming user research needs that help to improve product definition and drive business goals.”

Some typical tasks and responsibilities of the UX researcher include:

Research Planning and Recruitment

• Develop a well-crafted research plan with clear research objectives.
• Write usability research screeners and discussion guides.
• Recruit targeted end-users for specific research studies.

Data Collection

• Moderate one-on-one basic usability sessions.
• Help develop and implement quantitative surveys.
• Conduct stakeholder and client interviews .

Data Analysis

• Extract insights about user behaviors from web instrumentation tools.
• Translate user insights into actionable recommendations for the product team.

Presentation of Insights

• Craft personas and other “information radiators” (e.g. journey maps) to communicate insights across the design and development teams.
• Present design research findings to the larger team in a clear and organized fashion.
• Work closely with the product team to identify research objectives.
• Establish and implement an overall research strategy.

These are just a handful of tasks that belong to UX research. Ultimately, your job as a UX researcher is to build up a picture of your target users based on their needs, wants, motivations, and pain points. These insights enable the wider design team to create user-friendly products based on real user feedback—not just your assumptions.

As with most UX design roles, the UX researcher means different things to different companies.

To learn more about what might be expected of you as a UX researcher, browse various job sites and see how different companies advertise and describe the role. Here are some useful job portals to help you get started:

• UX Jobs Board
• Just UX Jobs
• User Experience Professionals Association
• AIGA Design Jobs

3. What skills are required for a career in UX research?

Now we’re familiar with some of the key tasks and responsibilities, let’s consider what skills are required for a career in UX research.

As such, being a UX researcher typically requires knowledge or experience in a relevant field that studies human behavior, such as cognitive science, behavioral economics, anthropology, sociology, or psychology. Ultimately, it’s important to be adept at reading people and empathizing with the user, and equally at home handling data and analytics.

Ideal candidates are typically “passionate, curious, and self-driven team players” who have experience working in fast-paced environments while applying both generative and evaluative research methods to build a larger understanding of users.

It’s also important to have a solid understanding of the design thinking process, as well as a passion and know-how for influencing design strategy.

Obtaining these skills can be done through identifying research opportunities with a current employer, volunteering for a design project with an external organization (e.g. VolunteerMatch), or completing research for a personal project of your own.

Overall, practice makes perfect, and refining these skills as often as you can prepare you for your future role. You can even get a design thinking certification by taking a course or program in the discipline, to show potential employers and clients that you truly know your stuff.

4. How to expand your user research knowledge

As already mentioned, there are four key steps to forging a career in UX research:

• Expand your user research knowledge.
• Obtain the foundational skills.
• Craft a portfolio of experience.
• Build a network of peers.

Let’s start with that first step: Expanding your knowledge of the UX research field. In addition to browsing job descriptions, there are plenty of things you can do to learn more about the industry — but where to begin?

Start with the basics and learn all about UX design in this comprehensive guide , and understand the critical role UX research plays in UX design in this article.

From there, learn about the difference between qualitative , quantitative , attitudinal, and behavioral research. Next, you can familiarize yourself with some common UX research methods, such as card sorting, usability testing, and user interviews.

You’ll find an introduction to some of the most important UX research methods on the CareerFoundry YouTube channel (and be sure to take a look at these free UX research tutorials ).

Be sure to watch the video below, in which CareerFoundry graduate and professional UX designer Maureen Herben explains the different techniques and tools used in qualitative user research:

As part of your own research into the UX research field, you’ll also want to consider things such as salary and career options. Sites like Glassdoor and Payscale provide up-to-date salary reports for a range of different locations.

If you can, reach out to people who are already donning the UX researcher job title. Do they tend to work remote or in-house? What kinds of companies employ UX researchers? Again, job sites can help you out here if you don’t have any contacts in the industry (yet!).

Before you commit to the UX researcher route, it’s important to learn as much as you can about the industry and what the role entails.

5. How to obtain the foundational skills necessary for a career as a UX researcher

If you’re keen to forge a career in UX research, you’ll need to start learning some of the key skills. As with any profession, it’s important to build a solid foundation of knowledge before jumping into real-world problem-solving.

Assuming that you already have some knowledge in a related area (cognitive science, sociology, psychology, etc.), there are plenty of ways to learn the fundamentals of user research. Let’s consider those now.

• Human-Computer Interaction: An Empirical Perspective : learn about the foundational topics about one of the precursors to UX design. As well as being a neat introduction to HCI , this book includes historical context, the human factor, interaction elements, and the fundamentals of science and research.
• User Research: A Practical Guide to Designing Better Products and Services : learn about all the key research methods including face-to-face user testing, card sorting, surveys, and A/B testing.

Online resources

Industry blogs are a great way to start learning the ins and outs of the field. Some useful (and trustworthy!) sources include:

• Nielsen Norman Group
• UX Collective
• Inside Design

Conferences and meetups

If possible, consider attending a UX research conference or a local meetup. You’ll find a list of the top UX research conferences to attend in 2019 here , and can search for local UX research groups on meetup.com .

In addition to the examples above, finding an apprenticeship or a more senior researcher who is willing to let you shadow their process is a great way to immerse yourself in the context of a UX researcher while learning “on the job.”

6. How to craft a convincing UX research portfolio

As with any design role, a compelling portfolio is key to proving you’ve got the right skills for the job. So how do you go about creating a convincing UX research portfolio ?

As you practice refining your skills, keep a record of your work to present to future employers. Crafting an online portfolio is a great supplement to a resume or CV when highlighting case studies that show hiring managers what you can do. According to Senior UX Recruiter Tom Cotterill:

“Your portfolio should show cultural suitability for the company where you are applying. Don’t be afraid to add a touch of character or your own style to your portfolio. It’s your chance to wow the hiring manager and demonstrate that you stand out from the crowd. A good portfolio indicates, in short, that this person has taken time to represent themselves in the best possible light, and they’re clued up enough to showcase their most relevant work in an aesthetic and logical way.”

Ultimately, your portfolio should include the following sections:

• The problem or design challenge your research aimed to solve.
• The team you collaborated with.
• The research process (how did you go about solving the problem?).
• The tools you used to recruit, collect and analyze data, and present insights.
• The final outcome and the handoff of the design for development .

For more insight on how to refine a great UX research portfolio, check out How to Wow Me With Your UX Research Portfolio and How to Create a Powerful Case Study for Your UX Portfolio . Another great resource for inspiration is  Bestfolios , the largest curation of best UX research and designer portfolios, resumes, case studies , and design resources.

7. How to build a network within the UX research industry

You’re in the process of mastering the right skills and crafting your portfolio. Now it’s time to network! Networking is one of the best ways to meet people in the UX field and potentially land a new job.

Let’s consider some of the best opportunities for making industry connections.

Current Co-Workers

If you are currently employed, look to see if there are any user experience researchers in your organization, and ask them what it’s like! Also request to shadow them during a research session and take notes.

Future Employers

Informational interviews are also a great way to get candid feedback with people working at great companies, such as IBM, Google, or Amazon. Using LinkedIn or Twitter to find and invite UX researchers for coffee is a solid way to get an idea of what it may be like to work for your company of interest, and also how to get in the door.

Online UX Communities

Actively participate in online UX communities (e.g. Facebook groups) relevant to your professional interests and learning goals. Here are a few to start with:

• Useful Usability
• The UX School

UX Research Organizations

Lastly, join 1-2 user experience research organizations, such as the User Experience Research Professionals Association or the Design Research Society to see if there are any upcoming events you can attend.

8. Final thoughts

UX is a growing field, and the role of the user experience researcher is becoming more and more pivotal. Equipping yourself with the necessary skills and knowledge, and learning to conduct UX research like a professional , while surrounding yourself with peers in the field who you can learn from are essential to becoming a UX researcher yourself.

Overall, the value of understanding the needs of the customer cannot be ignored, and user experience researchers will have an increasingly valuable role to play in the future of design.

If you’d like to learn more about UX research, check out the following guides:

• What is the UX research salary?
• A 5-Point Roadmap For Any UX Research Project
• How to conduct a UX audit
• Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your UX Research Portfolio
• Interview Toolkit: Top 5 UX Research Questions to Prepare For

UX Researcher

• Certifications
• Related Topics

What Is a UX Researcher? How to Become One, Salary, Skills.

UX researchers are responsible for studying and understanding what users of a system or product need and want. UX researchers use their findings to improve the design of goods, software and services. Here’s what to know about a UX researcher’s salary, needed skills and how to become one.

What Is a UX Researcher?

UX researchers study user behavior to answer important questions about how digital products and services are designed and how customers interact with them. The goal of a UX researcher is to improve a product or service through their findings. Some of the key insights UX researchers must uncover about users include their demographic information, how they use a product, what they get from a product and what issues they may have with the product. 

What Do UX Researchers Do?

UX researchers are tasked with learning what motivations, needs and behaviors users have when interacting with a product or service. The two main types of UX research are quantitative and qualitative. The goal of quantitative research is to identify the experience of a user by looking at data, such as click-through rates on landing pages, for example. The goal of qualitative research is to understand why users behave the way they do, and for this, UX researchers rely on field studies, moderated usability tests and user interviews.

UX Researcher Responsibilities

• Design, organize and implement user research projects, including A/B tests, field studies, user surveys, user interviews and usability tests.
• Analyze and synthesize qualitative and quantitative research to create and report findings.
• Present findings to designers, developers, leadership and stakeholders. 
• Collaborate with product and design teams and provide actionable feedback. 

Day-to-Day Responsibilities of UX Researchers

• Craft user research plans.
• Develop budgets and timelines for research projects. 
• Recruit targeted users.
• Conduct user interviews. 
• Create user surveys. 
• Organize usability tests.
• Conduct field studies.
• Analyze results from interviews and surveys. 

UX Researchers Within a Company

UX researchers are typically part of the product development team within a company. They often collaborate with leaders on the product team and design to create research plans, analyze results and data from surveys and questionnaires and make product recommendations. 

Importance of UX Researchers

UX researchers help companies understand the needs and wants of their customers as they approach the product or service. Without thoughtful UX researchers, companies will overlook the most important part of the design process: empathy. 

What Skills Are Needed to Be a UX Researcher?

Qualifications to be a ux researcher.

• Experience designing and executing user research.
• Knowledge of UX design principles.
• Strong understanding of statistics and data.
• Experience with user research tools and software.

UX Researcher Prerequisites

• UX researchers usually hold a bachelor’s degree in psychology, statistics, human-computer interaction, information systems or a related field. 
• A portfolio of previous user research projects. 

UX Researcher Hard Skills

• Data analysis.
• Math and statistics.
• UX research methods and software tools. 
• User testing. 
• Basic design skills.

UX Researcher Soft Skills

• Empathy and curiosity.
• Interpersonal communication and writing skills.
• Problem solving and critical thinking skills.
• Collaboration and teamwork skills.

Tools and Programs UX Researcher Use

• Google Forms 
• Google Optimize
• Optimal Workshop

How to Become a UX Researcher

Ux researcher education and experience.

UX researchers can come from a variety of different backgrounds; there isn’t one set degree that is necessarily best for UX research. Studying technology or behavioral and social sciences can all be relevant to UX research, as an understanding of tech and how humans interact with it is central to the role.

Outside of education, volunteering to run UX research projects for local businesses and non-profit organizations, as well as participating in hackathons, may be helpful experience in developing a UX research portfolio.

• UX Researcher Certificates and Courses
• UX Bootcamps to Know
• Google UX Design Professional Certificate
• General Assembly UX Design Immersive
• Northwestern UX/UI Boot Camp

UX Researcher Career Path

Although UX researchers can come from many different educational backgrounds, starting a UX research career with an internship is a great first step in the field. UX researchers may later take on roles such as UX designer or UX engineer.

UX Researcher Salary and Job Outlook

UX research is a growing field, with 41 percent of researchers only having five years of experience in the field. But the size of UX researcher teams is expected to grow too. Of UX researchers surveyed by User Interviews , 71 percent said there are five or more researchers on their team.

The full compensation package for a UX researcher depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s experience and geographic location. See below for detailed information on the average UX researcher salary.

Expand Your UX Researcher Career Opportunities

Build a multi-dimensional skillset by completing online UX and design courses through Udemy.

Are you interested in UX Design, but have no prior experience or an idea of where to start? You’ve come to the right place!

UPDATE (03/01/2016) : New Section!

• Just added a new section where we go over the most modern design and prototyping tools.
• We discuss design tools like Sketch 3, Photoshop, and Illustrator, so you can decide…

Your product won't be easy to use on accident.  The only way to deliver products and services that delight users is to  listen to them . If you want to learn how to do that, then this is the course for you.

2023 Edition.

You've just landed on Udemy's highest rated course on user experience (UX). Thousands of user researchers and designers have used this course to kick-start their career in UX. You can do it, too.

UX Researcher Certifications + Programs

Reignite your journey up the career ladder with Udacity’s online UX and design certifications.

General Assembly’s User Experience Design Immersive is a transformative course designed for you to get the necessary skills for a UX Design role in three months. 

The User Experience Design bootcamp is led by instructors who are expert practitioners in their field, supported by career coaches that work with you since day one and enhanced by a career services team that is constantly in talks with employers about their UX Design hiring needs.

What you'll accomplish

As a graduate, you’ll have a portfolio of projects that show your creative and technical ability to launch the next generation of successful apps, websites and digital experiences. Throughout this program, you will:

Identify and implement the most effective methods of user research to gain a deeper understanding of what users want and need.

Use interaction and visual design techniques to craft a dynamic digital product that brings delight and function to users.

Conduct usability testing to make product experiences more accessible for diverse user populations and environments.

Learn best practices for working within a product team, employing product management techniques and evaluating technical constraints to better collaborate with developers.

Produce polished design documentation, including wireframes and prototypes, to articulate design decisions to clients and stakeholders.

Prepare for the world of work, compiling a professional-grade portfolio of solo, group, and client projects.

Prerequisites

This is a beginner-friendly program with no prerequisites, although many students are familiar with common tools for graphic and web designers and some may have had exposure to UX concepts in the past. The General Assembly curriculum helps you gain fluency in end-to-end UX processes, tools, and documentation and put them to work on the path to a new career as a User Experience Designer.

Why General Assembly

Since 2011, General Assembly has graduated more than 40,000 students worldwide from the full time & part time courses. During the 2020 hiring shutdown, GA's students, instructors, and career coaches never lost focus, and the KPMG-validated numbers in their Outcomes report reflect it. *For students who graduated in 2020 — the peak of the pandemic — 74.4% of those who participated in GA's full-time Career Services program landed jobs within six months of graduation.  General Assembly is proud of their grads + teams' relentless dedication and to see those numbers rising. Download the report here .

Your next step? Submit an application to talk to the General Assembly Admissions team

Note: reviews are referenced from Career Karma - https://careerkarma.com/schools/general-assembly

Careers Related to UX Researcher

Latest ux and design jobs, companies hiring ux researchers, most common skills for ux researcher, related design careers.

What is a UX Researcher: Everything You Need to Know

What is ux research, what is a ux researcher, what does a ux researcher do, what are the necessary skills for ux researchers, what tools do ux researchers use, how to hire the right ux researcher, upgrade your ux research projects with fullsession, fullsession pricing plans, improve your website’s user experience right now, faqs about ux research.

The user experience is how a person feels when interacting with a system, product, or service. Naturally, companies want that experience to be as positive as it can be, which is more likely to lead to conversions and, ultimately, a better bottom line.

To do that, companies analyze the user experience and find the best ways to improve it. But who’s behind all of this?

In this guide, we’ll dive into user research and the indispensable person behind it all–the UX researcher.

UX research, also known as user experience research or simply user research, is the systematic investigation done to understand users’ needs, motivations, behaviors, and how they interact with products and services. 

It employs various methodologies to gather insights that can inform and guide the design process, ensuring that the end product resonates with the target audience and improves their overall experience.

The main goal is to bridge the gap between users and designers, providing evidence-based data that can drive design decisions. By focusing on the user, UX research helps in creating products that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional, accessible, and user-friendly.

Plus, UX research allows designers and developers to anticipate user issues, preferences, and expectations, leading to the creation of products that truly meet users’ needs and solve their problems effectively.

A UX researcher is essentially a digital detective with a keen eye for user behavior and a heart for empathy. 

They blend analytical prowess and a deep understanding of human behavior to enhance digital experiences. Their main task is to dig deep into what users need, desire, and expect and how they interact with digital interfaces in their everyday lives.

At a glance, a UX researcher is someone who:

• Understands the issue or problem
• Uses a variety of UX research methods to understand how users behave in the context of the issue or problem
• Gathers data and insights that can be useful in creating actionable ideas or solutions
• Consolidates their results and works with the rest of the team and stakeholders to determine viable solutions to the problem

It’s easy to summarize the job of a UX researcher into a few simple sentences, but the role is much deeper than that. To fully understand what a UX researcher does and why they are crucial for any business, let’s look into the core responsibilities of the job:

User Recruitment

A typical UX research strategy starts by identifying and recruiting a representative sample of the target user base. This involves defining criteria for participants that reflect the diversity of the product’s user group, ensuring that the research outcomes are relevant and inclusive.

Example: To recruit users for testing a new fitness app, a UX researcher might post an announcement on social media platforms and fitness forums targeting individuals interested in health and fitness. 

They might specify looking for a mix of fitness levels, from beginners to seasoned athletes, to ensure a diverse range of feedback on the app’s usability and features.

Interested participants will be asked to sign up through a short online form, which will screen for eligibility based on predefined criteria like age, fitness level, and smartphone usage.

Data Collection and Observation

Next, the UX researcher collects valuable data on how users interact with a product or service. This phase is crucial for observing real user behavior, preferences, and challenges in interaction with the design. Common research methods UX researchers use include:

• User interviews
• Field studies
• Usability testing

Example: For the fitness app, the UX researcher will conduct usability testing where participants are asked to complete specific tasks within the app, such as setting up a workout plan, tracking a workout session, and accessing fitness reports.

During these sessions, the researcher observes how easily users navigate the app, noting any confusion or difficulties encountered. They also collect verbal feedback by asking participants to think aloud as they use the app, providing insights into their thought processes and experiences.

Data Analysis

After gathering the data, the UX researcher moves onto a meticulous analysis phase to understand the underlying patterns, trends, and specific issues users face while interacting with the product. 

This process requires both qualitative research, such as user comments, feedback, and observational notes, and quantitative research, including task completion rates, time spent on various tasks, and frequency of use of different app features.

The researcher uses various analytical techniques and tools to organize and interpret the data. For example, thematic analysis may be applied to qualitative data to identify common themes in user feedback, while statistical analysis might be used to understand user behavior patterns through quantitative data.

By cross-referencing observations from user behavior with direct feedback, the researcher can pinpoint not just the obvious pain points but also subtler aspects of the user experience that might not be immediately apparent.

Example: In analyzing the data collected from the fitness app usability tests, the UX researcher discovers several key insights. For instance, a significant number of users struggled to find how to customize their workout plans, a feature that was buried deep within the app’s menu.

Additionally, quantitative data reveals a high dropout rate at the workout tracking feature, suggesting usability issues. By identifying these patterns, the researcher highlights critical areas for improvement. Furthermore, positive feedback on the app’s social sharing feature suggests users enjoy this aspect, pointing towards an area to develop further.

Collaboration

Armed with research insights, the UX researcher collaborates closely with UX designers, product managers, developers, and other stakeholders. They communicate their findings effectively, ensuring that the user’s voice is heard and integrated into the design process.

UX researchers might make buyer personas and “information radiators” or journey maps better to communicate their findings across different design and development teams.

Example: After identifying key insights from the data analysis, the UX researcher arranges a collaborative workshop with the fitness app’s design and development teams. During this session, the researcher presents the findings, emphasizing the need for a more intuitive navigation system to make the workout customization feature easily accessible. 

They also highlight the user feedback on the social sharing feature, suggesting it as a key area for further development to enhance user engagement .

Together, they brainstorm solutions, such as redesigning the app’s interface to include a more prominent ‘Customize Workout’ button on the home screen and enhancing the social sharing feature with more interactive elements. The development team discusses technical feasibility while the design team sketches initial concepts.

Whether you’re an aspiring UX researcher or looking to hire one, it’s important to know what skills the job entails. UX researchers require a unique blend of skills to effectively uncover user needs and translate them into actionable insights for product development. 

Here are some essential skills:

The ability to understand and share the feelings of others is critical. UX researchers must be able to put themselves in the users’ shoes and genuinely grasp their experiences, challenges, and needs.

Analytical Thinking

It is essential to sift through data, both qualitative and quantitative, to identify patterns, trends, and insights. UX researchers must analyze data, user feedback, and behavior to make informed recommendations.

Effective Communication

UX researchers must articulate their findings and insights clearly and persuasively to stakeholders, designers, and developers. This includes writing reports, presenting findings, and facilitating workshops.

A strong desire to learn and understand user behavior and technology trends is vital. UX researchers should always be asking questions and seeking out new information to stay ahead of the curve.

Problem-solving

It is crucial for user experience researchers to be able to think critically and creatively to solve problems. They must devise research strategies and methods to uncover insights that can address complex design challenges.

UX research is highly collaborative, requiring the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, including designers, developers, product managers, and stakeholders.

Technical Proficiency

While not necessarily needing to code, familiarity with research software and tools, as well as a basic understanding of design and development processes, can significantly enhance a UX researcher’s effectiveness.

UX researchers use a variety of tools to conduct their research, analyze data, and share insights. 

Here are several of the most commonly used tools:

Survey and Questionnaire Tools

Platforms like FullSession , Google Forms, Typeform and its alternatives are used to create and distribute surveys and conduct quantitative and qualitative research.

Usability Testing Software

Tools like UsabilityHub, UserTesting , and Lookback allow researchers to conduct remote usability testing, record user sessions, and analyze how target users interact with a product.

Analytics Tools

Google Analytics and FullSession provide insights into user behavior on websites and apps, helping researchers understand how users navigate and where they might encounter issues.

User Interview Platforms

Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Skype are commonly used for conducting remote interviews, allowing researchers to gather in-depth qualitative data.

Prototyping Tools

Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD are used not only by designers but also by researchers to create and test wireframes and prototypes, facilitating quick iterations based on user feedback.

Data Analysis Software

Excel, SPSS, and NVivo help in organizing, analyzing, and visualizing data, making it easier to identify patterns and insights.

Journey Mapping Tools

FullSession, Lucidchart, and UXPressia enable researchers to create user journey maps that visualize the user’s experience through different stages of interacting with a product or service.

Collaboration and Project Management Tools

Slack, Trello, and Asana facilitate communication and collaboration among user experience researchers and other stakeholders, ensuring that insights and recommendations are effectively integrated into the product development process.

Any business that wants to maximize its online potential needs a UX researcher. But just like any role, hiring great user researchers can be challenging. 

So, here are some tips to help you hire the right person for your team:

• Look for a Strong UX Research Portfolio : Look for a variety of research methods and in-depth case studies in their portfolio.
• Assess Research Skills : Ensure they have expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research. Test their ability to analyze data and extract meaningful insights. This could be through discussing past projects or through a practical test.
• Evaluate Communication Skills : Assess their ability to articulate findings and influence design decisions clearly. The candidate should be able to clearly articulate their findings and how they’ve impacted design decisions in past projects.
• Test for Adaptability and Curiosity : Check for a continuous learning mindset and problem-solving capabilities. The best UX researchers are those who are curious and constantly learning. Ask about how they’ve adapted to new tools or methodologies.
• Prioritize Cultural Fit : Since UX researchers often work closely with designers, product managers, and developers, it’s important they can collaborate effectively. 
• Consider a Practical Assignment : A practical assignment can give you insight into the candidate’s thinking process, their approach to research, and how they present their findings. This could be a small research task related to your product or a case study presentation of their previous work.

UX research is necessary for the most fundamental business goals: better customer satisfaction, conversion rate, and profitability. Behind it all is the UX researcher, someone who understands how users interact with the product and why they feel what they feel and uses data-driven strategies to improve the overall UX.

However, great UX research skills are not enough for an effective UX strategy. A savvy UX researcher will also know how to leverage tools to make quantitative and qualitative user research easier and more effective.

Whether you’re a beginner in the UX research career or want to supplement your current team’s arsenal, put FullSession at the top of your list. FullSession is an intuitive web analytics tool that gives you access to everything you need to analyze your target users, including:

• Interactive heatmaps
• Session recordings and replays
• Customer feedback tools
• Market segmentation and filtering tools

The FullSession platform offers a 14-day free trial. It provides two paid plans—Basic and Business. Here are more details on each plan.

• The Basic plan costs $39/month and allows you to monitor up to 5,000 monthly sessions.
• The Business plan costs $149/month and helps you to track and analyze up to 25,000 monthly sessions.
• The Enterprise plan starts from 100,000 monthly sessions and has custom pricing.

If you need more information, you can get a demo.

It takes less than 5 minutes to install tools that improve your website’s user experience with FullSession , and it’s completely free!

How important is UX research for small businesses?

Incredibly important. Understanding your users can help you punch above your weight, making your offerings more competitive and tailored to your audience’s needs.

Is UX research expensive?

It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many low-cost methods to gain valuable insights, and the return on investment in understanding your users can be substantial.

Do I need a degree to become a UX researcher?

Not necessarily. While a degree in fields like psychology, human-computer interaction, or design can be helpful, many UX researchers come from diverse backgrounds and transition into the field through bootcamps, online courses, and self-study. What’s crucial is a solid understanding of research methodologies, user empathy, and the ability to analyze and communicate findings effectively.

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What is UX Research: The Ultimate Guide for UX Researchers

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User experience research is a crucial component of the human-centered design process and an essential part of creating solutions that meet user expectations and deliver value to customers. This comprehensive guide to UX research dives into the fundamentals of research and its various methods and includes tips and best practices from leading industry experts.

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UX research: Your ultimate guide to nailing user experience and exceeding expectation

User experience research, or UX research , is the process of gathering insights about users' behaviors, needs, and pain points through observation techniques and feedback methodologies. It’s a form of user research that looks at how users interact with your product, helping bridge the gaps between what you think users need, what users say they need—and what they actually need.

The goal of UX research is to understand your users and gain context and perspectives to help make informed decisions and build user-centered products. It’s an essential part of designing, developing, and launching a product that will be an instant hit—but it should also be used throughout the product’s lifecycle post-launch to keep updated, and ensure new features are relevant to your audience.

As Sinéad Davis Cochrane , UX Manager at Workday, explains: “UX research represents insights gathered directly from users and customers, that helps you make product decisions at every stage of the development process.”

Is UX research the same as user research?

The terms ‘user research’ and ‘UX research’ are often used interchangeably, but they do differ. User research is the parent of UX research; it’s a broader research effort that aims to understand the demographics, behaviors, and sentiments of your users and personas.

UX research, on the other hand, is a type of user research that’s specific to your product or platform. Where user research focuses on the user as a whole, UX research considers how they interact with, respond to, and feel about your product or concept itself.

In both cases, the overarching goal is to get to know your users, understand what they need from your product, gain context to help make informed decisions, and build human-centered experiences.

Involve your users at every stage of your design process

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Why is conducting UX research important?

In an ideal world, users would find your product easy to navigate, your net promoter score (NPS) would be off the charts, and you’d see adoption and activation rates skyrocket. In reality, however, this can be a challenging dream to achieve—but it is possible. The only way to build a product that users really resonate with is by involving them throughout the development process and building with them.

UX research is more than just a single ‘step’ in the development process: it should happen continuously, throughout the product lifecycle—so whether you’re building new products or iterating on existing ones, every decision is informed by user insights.

Here’s what you can achieve with continuous UX research:

Make informed decisions based on data

Our 2023 Continuous Research Report shows that 74% of people who do research (PWDR) believe research is crucial to guiding product decisions. Plus, 60% of respondents find that user recommendations inspire new product ideas.

Getting stakeholder buy-in to product decisions can be challenging, but when you suggest changes based on UX research, you have data to back up your suggestions. Your users inform your product, becoming the decision-makers as well as the customer.

UX research helps reduce and mitigate the risk of building the wrong thing—or building the right thing in the wrong way.

Sinéad Davis Cochrane , UX Manager at Workday

Reduce bias in the UX design process

There are hundreds of cognitive biases identified by psychologists, many of which unknowingly influence our decisions and the products we build. But a key principle of great UX design is to put aside existing beliefs, and learn from your users.

“You have to be humble, optimistic, and open-minded,” says Bertrand Berlureau , Senior Product Designer at iMSA. Using effective UX research, you can root out bias or assumptions, and follow real human behavior to inform product decisions.

According to Sinéad, you should consider these questions early in the design process:

• “What are your assumptions?”
• “What are some of the assumptions you’ve been making about your end-users and product without any evidence?”
• “What are the anecdotes or coincidental pieces of information that you hold, and how can you challenge them?”

Biases can subconsciously affect research and UX design, and it can be tricky to identify them. The first step to overcoming cognitive biases is by being aware of them. Head to chapter three of our cognitive biases guide to discover how.

Test and validate concepts

The power of UX research is that it can prove you right or wrong—but either way, you’ll end up knowing more and creating a product that provides a better user experience. For Bertrand, an idea without a test is just an idea. So, before the design process, his team starts with these user research methods:

• Face-to-face and remote user interviews
• Focus groups
• Co-creativity sessions through design sprints, quick prototyping, and hypothesis concepts
• User testing

UX research is the only way to unequivocally confirm your product is solving the right problem, in the right way. By speaking directly to real users, you can pinpoint what ideas to focus on, then validate your proposed solution, before investing too much time or money into the wrong concept.

Work on solutions that bring real value to customers

Another main benefit of UX research is that it allows product teams to mitigate risk and come up with products users want to use. “One of the main risks we need to control is whether users actually want to use a solution we've implemented,” explains Luke Vella , Group Product Manager at Maze. “UX research helps us reduce this risk, allowing us to build solutions that our customers see as valuable and make sure that they know how to unlock that value.”

Luke works on pricing and packaging, an area that requires constant user research. On one hand, he and his team want to understand which problems their users are facing and come up with plans to satisfy those different needs. On the other hand, they need to make sure they can monetize in a sustainable way to further invest in the product. You can only get this perfect balance by speaking to users to inform each step of the decision.

Market your product internally and externally

UX research also plays a crucial role in helping product marketers understand the customer and effectively communicate a product's value to the market—after all, a product can only help those who know about it.

For example, Naomi Francis , Senior Product Marketing Manager at Maze, uses different research methods to inform marketing strategy. Naomi conducts user interviews to build personas, using user research to collect insights on messaging drafts, product naming, and running surveys to gather user feedback on beta products and onboarding.

Understanding how and why customers need and use our product pushes marketing launches to the next level—you can get a steer on everything from messaging to language and approach.

Naomi Francis , Senior Product Marketing Manager at Maze

Types of UX research

All UX research methods fit into broader UX research techniques that drive different goals, and provide different types of insight. You can skip to chapter seven for a rundown of the top 9 UX research methods , or keep reading for a deep dive on the main types of UX research:

• Moderated and unmoderated
• Remote and in-person
• Generate and evaluate
• Qualitative and quantitative
• Behavioral and attitudinal

Where moderated/unmoderated and remote/in-person refer to the way research is conducted , the other types of UX research reflect the type of data they gather.

The most powerful insights come from a mixture of testing types—e.g. attitudinal and behavioral, generative and evaluative, and quantitative and qualitative. You don’t need to run all types of research at all times, but you’ll benefit from gathering multiple types of data throughout different stages of product development.

Moderated research

Moderated research is any research conducted with a facilitator or researcher present. A moderator may observe research sessions and take notes, ask questions, or provide instruction to participants where needed.

Like all research, it’s crucial a moderator doesn’t overly guide participants or influence results. Due to certain types of cognitive biases , people may behave differently while being observed, so researchers often opt for unmoderated methods to avoid results being impacted.

UX research methods for moderated research

• User interviews to speak directly with your target user face-to-face
• Focus groups to gather feedback on a variety of topics
• Moderated usability testing to hear the thought process behind the actions

Unmoderated research

As the name suggests, unmoderated research refers to the lack of a moderator. Often used in tandem with remote research , users complete tasks independently, guided by pre-written instructions.

Unmoderated research is helpful to ensure users are acting entirely of their own volition, and it has a lower cost and quicker turnaround than moderated research—however it does require efficient planning and preparation, to ensure users can navigate the tasks unaided.

UX research methods for unmoderated research

• Unmoderated usability testing to see how easily users navigate your product
• Live website testing to witness users interacting with your product in real time
• Surveys to have users answer specific questions and rate design elements

Remote research

An incredibly flexible approach, remote research is often favored due to its time-to-results and cost savings. Remote research can be moderated or unmoderated, and is conducted using UX research tools which record user behavior, feedback, and screen recordings.

Another key benefit is its reach and accessibility—by moving research to a virtual platform, you can access users from anywhere in the world, and ensure research is inclusive of those with different abilities or requirements, who may otherwise be unable to take part in traditional in-person research.

UX research methods for remote research

• Usability testing to evaluate how accessible your product is
• Card sorting to understand how users categorize and group topics
• Concept testing to assess what ideas users are drawn to
• Wireframe or prototype testing to invite users to test a rough version of the design

In-person research

Research conducted in-person is typically more expensive, as it may require travel, accommodation, or equipment. Many traditionally in-person research methods can easily be performed remotely, so in-person research is often reserved for if there’s additional needs for accessibility, or if your product requires physical testing, safety considerations or supervision while being tested.

UX research methods for in-person research

• Guerrilla research to speak to random users and gather feedback
• User interviews to connect with users and read body language
• Field studies to gauge how your product fits into a real world environment

Generative research

Generative research provides a deep understanding of your target audience’s motivations, challenges, and behaviors. Broadly speaking, it pinpoints a problem statement, identifies the problem to be solved, and collects enough data to move forward.

It should happen before you even begin designing, as it helps you identify what to build, the types of problems your user is facing, and how you can solve them with your product or service.

UX research methods for generative research

• Field studies to get familiar with users in their authentic environment
• User interviews to ask open-ended questions about pain points
• Diary research to keep a log of users’ behaviors, activities, and beliefs over time
• Open card sorting to have users define and name their own categories

Evaluative research

Evaluative research focuses on evaluating a product or concept in order to collect data that will improve the solution. Evaluative research usually happens early on and is used in a continuous, iterative way throughout the design process and following launch. You can use this type of UX research to assess an idea, check navigation, or see if your prototype meets your user’s needs.

UX research methods for evaluative research

• Usability testing to see if your platform is easy and intuitive to use
• A/B testing two versions of a design to see which one works best
• Tree testing to assess if your website’s information architecture (IA) makes sense
• Five-second tests to collect first impressions

Behavioral research

This type of research refers to observation—it’s human nature that sometimes what we say, or what we think we’ll do doesn’t match up to what we actually do in a situation. Behavioral research is about observing how users interact with your product or how they behave in certain situations, without any intervention.

UX research methods for behavioral research

• Observation in labs or real environments to witness behavior in real time
• Tree testing to view which paths users take on a website
• Diary research to see how users interact with your product in real life

Attitudinal research

Attitudinal research is the companion to behavioral research—it’s about what people say, and how they feel. In attitudinal research, you ask users to share their own experiences and opinions; this may be about your product, a concept, or specific design element. With a mix of attitudinal and behavioral research, you can get a broader picture of what your user truly needs.

UX research methods for attitudinal research

• Focus groups to understand users’ perspectives on your product
• User interviews to ask people questions about your product directly
• Surveys to gather insights on user preferences and opinions

Quantitative research

Quantitative and qualitative research methods are two types of research that can be used in unison or separately. Quantitative research comes from data and statistics, and results in numerical data.

It allows you to identify patterns, make predictions, and generalize findings about a target audience or topic. “[At iMSA] We analyze a lot of metrics and specific data like traffic analytics, chatbot feedback, user surveys, user testing, etc. to make decisions,” explains Bertrand. “The convergence of all the data, our user’s needs, governs the choices we make.”

Types of quantitative results you can find through UX research include:

• Time spent on tasks
• Net promoter score (NPS)
• System usability score (SUS)
• Number of clicks taken to complete a task
• Preference percentage on A/B tests

UX research methods for quantitative research

• A/B testing to see which option your users likes best
• Tree testing to get data on which paths users follow on your website
• Usability testing to get a score on system usability
• Heatmaps to spot where users spend most of their session time

Qualitative research

Qualitative research is about understanding the why behind the data. It comes from comments, opinions, and observations—this type of research answers why and how users think or act in a certain way. Qualitative data helps you understand the underlying motivations, thoughts, and attitudes of target users. For this reason, attitudinal research is often qualitative (though not always).

UX research methods for qualitative research

• Interviews to discover your users’ motivations and frustrations
• Open question surveys to learn users’ pain points in their own words
• Focus groups to observe users’ interacting with your product
• Think aloud usability tests to hear commentary behind each user decision

💡 Product tip:

Maze allows you to record your participants' screen, audio, and video with Clips, so you can collect qualitative and quantitative insights simultaneously.

When should you conduct UX research?

The truth is, you should always be researching. When NASA wants to send a new shuttle into space, they don't build a rocket and launch it right away. They develop a design, test it in simulations and lab environments, and iterate between each stage. Only once they’ve run all the foreseeable scenarios do they put a person on the ship. Why should your product be any different?

With an overwhelming 83% of product professionals surveyed in our 2023 Continuous Research Report believing research should happen at all stages, it’s surprising that just 36% run tests after launch. While time and budget can make continuous research a challenge, testing at different stages gives you access to unique insights about your users and how they interact with your product.

That being said, if you can only afford to research a few times throughout the development process , here are some key moments to focus on:

Before developing the product

This is when you need to conduct the most extensive and detailed part of your research. During this phase, you’ll want to conduct generative research to get to know exactly:

• Who your user is
• The types of problems they’re facing (and what kind of product they want to solve them)
• What their expectations on a product or service like yours are
• What they like or dislike about your competitors
• Where they currently go to solve the mentioned problems
• What needs to happen for them to change companies (if they’re using a different product)

You can use a variety of UX research methods like focus groups and surveys to gather insights during this stage.

Remember: This step applies even if your product is already live, if you’re thinking of introducing a new feature. Validate your idea and investigate potential alternatives before you spend time and money developing and designing new functionality.

When you want to validate your decisions

This is the point where you’ll run through a few cycles of researching, building, and iterating, before launching your product. The Maze Product team does this through continuous product discovery, via a dual-track habit:

Conduct research regularly while developing and building your product to see if you’re headed in the right direction. Let the research findings feed your deliverables.

Gather qualitative insights on user sentiment through surveys or focus groups. Test your wireframe or sketches to get quantitative answers in the form of clicks, heatmaps, or SUS. Use card sorting to generate ideas, tree testing to assess IA, or prototype testing to assess the usability of a beta version. The options are endless, so there’s no reason to miss maximizing your research at this stage and gather insights to power product decisions.

To evaluate product accessibility

Your product will be used by a multitude of diverse, unique users. Your research participants should be representative of your real audience, which means including all usage scenarios and user personas. Usability testing is one form of UX research that can be used here to ensure your product works for all its users, regardless of ability or need.

There are many ways to ensure your design is inclusive and accessible , including:

• Testing alt-texts, screen-reading capabilities, and color combinations
• Avoiding screen flashes or sudden pop-ups that may be triggering for certain conditions
• Being intentional in what language and imagery is used

Once your product is live

Research doesn’t end once you push your platform to production. Conduct Live Website Testing to evaluate how well your product is meeting your users' expectations and needs. This type of research invites you to answer the question: did we nail it?

Testing your live website also allows you to see how your users interact with your design in a real environment, so you can identify and solve mistakes fast. Pay close attention to loading times, error messages, and other quantitative data that may indicate bugs. You can also conduct regular sentiment checks by embedding feedback surveys into your product itself, to assess user satisfaction and NPS in a few clicks.

TL;DR: Why, how, and when to conduct UX research

The more you understand your customers, the better you can create products that meet expectations, tailor your strategy to their specific needs, and increase your chances for success. Plus, UX research allows you to create unbiased products that put your customers at the center of your business.

To conduct UX research, you’ll need to mix the stage of your product lifecycle with the right research type and methods. Meaning, while you need to conduct UX research continuously, you should look for different types of insights depending on the development stage you’re at and what your current objective is.

For example, if you want to test your live product, you should conduct a mix of quantitative and qualitative evaluative research. That means you might want to perform:

• Usability tests
• Feedback surveys
• Five-second tests
• Prototype testing

Now we’ve covered the what and why of UX research, let’s get into the how. Continue to the next chapter to learn how to create a UX research strategy that blows your competitors away.

Frequently asked questions

What are some examples of UX research?

Some examples of UX research include:

• A/B testing
• Prototype or wireframe testing
• Card sorting
• User interviews
• Tree testing
• 5-second testing
• Usability testing

What are the basics of UX research?

The basics of UX research are simple: you just need a clear goal in mind and a mix of quantitative and qualitative tests. Then, it's a case of:

• Determining the right testing methods
• Testing on an audience that’s an accurate representation of your real users
• Doing continuous product discovery
• Performing unbiased research to build an unbiased design
• Iterating and building user-centric products

UX research gets easier when you use a product discovery platform like Maze. This tool allows you to run multiple types of product research such as usability, prototype, card sorting, and wireframe tests—and get answers within hours.

Is UX research hard?

UX research isn’t hard, especially when you use an intuitive tool for product discovery—like Maze. Maze allows you to build tests using its multiple available templates. It also lets you bring your own users or recruit from its panel and creates an automated, ready-to-share metrics report. Maze gives you answers to tests within hours so you can improve your UX based on real user feedback fast.

Building a UX research strategy

What is a UX researcher? Roles, skills, and best practices

Last updated

18 January 2023

Reviewed by

Jean Kaluza

Not only does it play a significant role in customer service and satisfaction, but it also informs your design decisions and brings more value and trust to your brand. To do this properly, employers count on the skills and expertise of a UX researcher.

Here's everything you need to know about the position of UX researcher.

Don't let UX problems go unnoticed

Use Dovetail to analyze all your customer interviews and uncover hidden UX issues that are costing your business every day.

• What is UX research?

UX research involves collecting, organizing, and analyzing data about the users of a company's products or services to inform the product design process and enhance user experience. It can be used to:

Understand a targeted demographic

Clarify priorities

Understand pain points in an existing process

Flush out new concepts into clear wireframes

For anything in a production process that needs clarification or validation, there is a UX research methodology to help.

What is UX research used for?

To better understand targeted users and their needs, UX researchers conduct a wide range of data-gathering tactics such as:

Ethnographic studies

User testing

They relay that information and insight to the product team who, in turn, can deliver a seamless experience to users.

Learn more about UX research platforms

Does ux research require coding and other specialized knowledge.

Knowledge of coding languages, such as Javascript or Python, is not necessary for a career in user research . However, many UX researchers have found it beneficial to have a basic understanding of both development and UI/UX design, since they often work closely with all members of the team.

Additionally, it’s helpful to understand the feasibility of a concept or feature, the existing design architecture, and business objectives and limitations. A good UX researcher doesn’t just deliver insights but also knows how to interpret them into useful and actionable data for their team.

What are the benefits of UX research?

UX research offers the following benefits to help lead a company to success:

Improved understanding of users

Development of a predictable, organic lifecycle of users

High ROI (UX investment can generate a 9,900% ROI)

Informed design-thinking process

More business objectives are reached with more predictable outcomes

Customers benefit from UX research in the following ways:

Better user experience

They can quickly locate what they're looking for

Trust in the business brand; feeling that the company “gets them”

Needs are met and, in many cases, exceeded

UX researchers benefit too:

The average UX research salary is higher than that of a UI designer

The job market will continue to grow (by at least 14.9% over the next ten years )

It is currently one of the most in-demand fields and is expected to continue into the future

• Best practices for UX research

Like any scientific role, UX research requires team members to follow expert practices identified as the most effective and efficient.

Let’s look at three of the most important UX research practices.

Go beyond what's right in front of you

One of the best things you can do as a UX researcher is to look beyond expected user behavior and what’s happening in front of you. User feedback and interviews can give you direct insight into why a typical user may behave a certain way. However, why are the other 20%–30% of users behaving differently?

There are other ways to go beyond the obvious. For example, sometimes during user testing, users express things that contradict their actions. They may say, “This is so easy to use,” while taking a long time to find the button to complete the task at hand. A good UX researcher will recognize discrepancies like this and investigate, without bias, why it’s happening.

In short, constantly look out for the unexpected and dive deeper into why surprising behaviors occur.

Early and frequent user feedback is essential

The sooner you discover what your users like and dislike about your products or services, the sooner you can make improvements, saving significant time and money. It may even become clear that users don't like what you’re offering.

The benefit of testing early and often is that you become aware of these issues early enough to stand back and reevaluate your offer. This can save millions of dollars in development and resources and will keep you ahead of competitors in terms of speed and user intelligence.

In return, you have the unique opportunity to bring something bigger and better to the table, increasing customer satisfaction in the process.

Conduct research at every stage

Conducting UX research at every step of a product's development and design cycle is crucial for a successful user experience. Carrying out this research during phases of discovery, development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline will provide you with a more holistic view of your scope and an in-depth understanding of how to meet your customers’ expectations.

Conducting research and collecting insights at every stage from people who represent your ideal user also allows you to examine progress over time and ensure you're on the right path. Usability naturally changes over time, and you want to address issues and concerns (especially those that need quick and easy fixes) as soon as possible to prevent terrible user experiences and costly, unnecessary reworking.

• What is a UX researcher?

User experience researcher jobs are very user-centric, as they examine the ideal user journey and identify ways to improve a customer’s experience.

They carry out tests and analysis on a specific group of people that have been identified as belonging to a targeted persona. Collecting this data can help to determine the worst problems that users experience, so the product team can rectify them.

UX researchers need to do the following and more to gain this insight:

Question the specific type of people or persona

Analyze data into user stories

Identify user errors and suggest improvements

Create objectives to assess a pass or fail of the product or service during testing

Obtain insights and metrics from business strategy

Evaluate the effectiveness of design improvements

Listen from a user perspective

Build personas to help identify shared characteristics of ideal users

Is a user researcher the same as a UX researcher?

Whether user research and UX research are the same depends on whom you ask. Some people consider them the same thing. Others separate them by categorizing user research as a broader examination of consumer behaviors and UX research as consumer experience with a product/service.

UX researcher vs. UX designer

Despite the common confusion, a user experience researcher and a user interface designer are different. A UX researcher conducts studies and interviews to examine the best ways to enhance the user experience by better understanding prospective users.

A user interface or UX designer , however, deals more with the aesthetics and visual design of the product. They work closely with the development team to put the insight they've acquired from the UX research team into action and tend to focus more on the pixels.

However, a flair for design can be useful to a user experience researcher. They can help create the design by developing wireframes based on data, or even implementing existing elements from a design library.

They also require a good amount of design thinking to address the needs of their users and explore the best ways to meet them. A designer uses this insight to improve the experience, so having a fair amount of design background can go a long way in improving the design experience, despite UX researchers not being as hands-on in the design process.

• UX research methods and approaches

There are two important approaches to take in a user experience researcher job when conducting your research: quantitative and qualitative . The first approach answers the question “What is happening?” while the second answers “Why is it happening?”

Quantitative

Quantitative research refers to methods that are number-based and universal. These will be the tests that deliver measurable results.

Quantitative methods include:

In-app data collection (such as Google Analytics)

Online polls

Systematic observations

Important skills you need to conduct quantitative research include:

Basic knowledge of statistics

Survey design

Survey analysis (Python or other data visualization coding a plus)

Proficiency in data analysis tools (Google Analytics, Tableau)

Ability to communicate results and give actionable suggestions (reporting)

Qualitative

Qualitative is more individual and personal than quantitative data collection. It focuses on an individual’s unique experience to assess and color the quantitative data.

Quantitative calculates how many/how much, what is happening, and how often. Qualitative addresses the ever-important “why” behind user behaviors to better know what to do about it. This approach can be used for many reasons, including:

Assessing “why” a problem keeps happening

Ensuring that  a user’s motivations are front and center

Identifying missed details and opportunities that quantitative capturing can miss

Common qualitative research methods include:

Face-to-face interviews

Focus groups

Ethnographic research

Cognitive walkthroughs

Diary study

Voice-of-customer sessions

To properly conduct qualitative research, experts recommend the following skills:

Staying curious

Understanding and recognition of all types of bias

Quick establishment of rapport and trust with users

Listening with intention (active listening)

Qualitative interviewing techniques

Ability to find the relationships between qualitative findings and quantitative

Advocating for users

• UX researcher role and responsibilities

A lot goes into the role and responsibilities of a UX researcher. Let’s look at the most important aspects.

Research planning and recruitment

Every great researcher begins the research process with extensive planning. This includes:

Creating a solid problem statement

Defining business objectives with measurable goal metrics

Aligning the proper research methods with those goals

Selecting participants who align with the business’s personas

Crafting your test plan

Locking in the timeline of your research project

Presenting your results and findings (prepare ahead of time so you can use the appropriate channels for your stakeholders)

Recruitment of users is a crucial part of UX research to get right because you don't want to base research insights on the wrong people. Multiple tools and skills are needed for this stage of the process, especially the skills to build relationships with end users and communicate effectively.

Data collection

Your role will require a mix of methods for data-collection strategies. This goes beyond gathering data from user interviews and surveys. It also includes, but is not limited to, assessing information from:

Survey results

Diaries from diary studies

Card sorting

Social media polling

Qualitative session recordings

Partnering with customer service teams for their insights

Social media posts

User-forum posts

Help section behaviors

Net Promoter Score (NPS) or other micro surveys

In-app paths and behaviors

In-app search queries

Google Analytics

Data analysis

In UX research—or any research—data analysis is the key to data-driven success. Collecting data is fine, but if you can't inspect, cleanse, and transform the data you retrieve to define actionable suggestions, you won't get the most reliable results.

You can have all the data in the world, but if you don't know how to turn it into helpful insights, it won't do the company (or user experience) any good.

Presentation of insights

The presentation of your insights can come in several ways, including reports, slides, and other online tools. Which data and the method you choose to present will depend on whom you're delivering your findings to, as you want to ensure they fully understand the results and insights you've uncovered.

According to the UX Design Institute , there are six components of an excellent presentation that shares designs with stakeholders:

Introduction

Research goals

Business value

Methodology

Key learnings

Recommendations

You must be able to develop and implement UX research strategies that aim to enhance user experience in a given timeline. These strategies will vary from company to company, as the right strategy differs by company size, business objectives, and business requirements.

According to Nielsen Norman Group , a solid UX strategy includes:

Proper planning: the path you will take

Goals: how you will determine progress

Vision: the future state of your user experience

• What skills are required for a career in UX research?

As the link between product and users, UX researchers need an arsenal of tools and skills. People who have natural empathy and critical-thinking skills, and who can identify and check their own bias, are perfectly primed for a career in UX research.

Design thinking

As a core component of improving user experience through innovation, the research process is more insightful and successful when backed by design-thinking skills. This is because design thinking takes you beyond user needs, to acknowledge what’s feasible for the development team to build and what your company can and should bring to market.

Design thinking helps you to understand the overarching design process, including:

Empathizing with your users

Defining the problem you plan to solve

Coming up with solutions

Testing prototypes of solutions

Testing and iterating until you have your solution

User-centered design research

The user-centered design process requires skills that allow you to tailor solutions to the needs and expectations of users. This puts the user at the forefront of the entire design process, including collaboration between teams to ensure the result adds value to your customers.

Persona creation

Creating a persona of your ideal users and participants allows you to pinpoint the right (and wrong) people to study and collect data from. This process requires a thorough understanding of certain aspects and how they relate to the company, such as:

Demographics

Psychographics

Motivations

Behavioral analysis

Geographics

Well-defined personas can start as hypotheses but should be validated through ethnographic studies.

UX mapping or user journeys

A visual representation of your end user’s experience is one of the best ways to understand where a customer may be coming from before entering your product’s experience.

You can find the answers to questions such as:

Are they already frustrated?

What do they already know?

Where are they hoping to go from here? 

The answers will help you patch together a UX map, also known as a user journey map , with actionable insights. This can give important relevant context to mobile solutions, such as users not having access to data when using specific features.

User testing, or usability testing, plays an important role in user-centered interaction design. You need the skills to test user flows on target users and collect feedback. This is usually done on a cycle basis, tweaking the process or design each time until results are within the desired metric or outcome.

Usability testing templates

InVision is a tool for building and testing your prototypes and exploring concepts. It's great for rapid prototyping. The tool was created by designers, for designers, to enhance the presentation of your work and give you more control over your design.

Figma is another popular tool, which allows multiple designers to work on the same design, pull from style libraries, more easily export designs to development teams, and more. Figma also allows you to share prototypes with users for their feedback.

User research tool

Soft skills.

UX researchers need to have soft and foundational skills like:

Strong empathy for groups you may not have otherwise interacted with

Communication and language skills

Time management

Critical thinking

Creative problem-solving

Ability to adapt to new or contradictory findings

Courage to share less-than-popular findings and data

Ability to navigate difficult political struggles that can come with championing your users

• How to become a UX researcher

To become a UX researcher, you must pursue the right courses and obtain a relevant degree (as detailed below). You will also need to develop and sharpen your user-research skills through CPD activities such as additional training and certifications, podcasts, blogs, and more.

Research experience is also important, so consider volunteering with smaller businesses or experimenting with your own ideas to build your portfolio.

What degree do you need to be a UX researcher?

To be a UX researcher, you will need one or more of the following degrees (bachelor's, M.S., or Ph.D.):

Human-computer interaction or human factors

Information science

Cognitive science, cognitive psychology, psychology, experimental psychology, behavioral science, social science, or anthropology

• UX researcher salary and job demand

There is significant demand for skilled UX researchers in today's job market, and this demand is expected to continue. As consumers constantly expect improved product or service experiences, companies prioritize making this happen.

LinkedIn's research suggests a growing demand for UX researchers, with 81% of executives reporting that user research makes their company more efficient and 86% citing that UX research improves the quality of their products or services.

The average salary for qualified UX researchers is on the higher end of wages in the U.S., with 50% of user researchers earning $88,600 (according to Onward Search's 2020 Salary Guide ). On average, those in the 75 percentile can expect $108,300 or more. The level of salaries will vary by location, seniority, and experience. Additional research puts the most common range between $88,000 and $134,000 .

A UX researcher collects, organizes, and analyzes data about the users of a company's products or services. This data informs the product design process and enhances user experience. 

UX researchers are in high demand as there is a potentially huge ROI to be gained from learning about what users want and how their experience can be improved.

If you are naturally empathic, have excellent communication skills, and can solve problems creatively, you may be well suited to the role of UX researcher.

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UX Researcher Job Description Template

A good UX researcher must have the ability to find out what consumers need from a product. They must be able to conduct research in the following areas: primary, secondary, quantitative and qualitative, market, and ethnographic. UX researchers understand consumer motivation and behavior and work with cross-functional teams such as Product Design, Product Management, and Product Development.

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UX researchers play a critical role in the design process. They are responsible for providing answers to challenging and often unexplored questions about a product’s design. To do this, the UX researcher will conduct several types of research, work with cross-functional teams, and play a significant role in assisting the entire user experience (UX) team in ensuring that the consumer has an experience with a product that is fun, intuitive, accessible, and joyful.

To identify a great UX researcher, it is necessary to employ an effective recruiting process that covers the different types of research available, tools used for UX research, research plans, presenting solutions, and how to continue to inform the design process after the launch of a product.

Because the field is still new and expanding and there are only a small number of educational programs specific to UX research, a lot of UX researchers will have relevant job experience without accompanying educational degrees or certificates.

UX Researcher Job Description and Ad Template

Copy this template, and modify it as your own:

Company Introduction

{{Write a short and catchy paragraph about your company. Make sure to provide information about the company’s culture, perks, and benefits. Include office hours, remote working possibilities, and anything else you think makes your company interesting.}}

Job Description

We are looking for an experienced UX researcher to join our team. You will be responsible for helping define and drive the future of our products. You will reveal what our users need from our products by conducting research, working with cross-functional teams, and performing usability studies. These responsibilities also include inspiring change, delivering oral and written presentations, evaluating qualitative and quantitative data, and helping the UX team better understand what would make a user’s experience more intuitive, accessible, and seamless. {{Add any specific experience here.}}

Responsibilities

• Conduct primary and secondary user research.
• Conduct and evaluate quantitative and qualitative research.
• Perform market and ethnographic research.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to identify and evaluate research topics.
• Plan and implement user research strategies and methodologies.
• Advocate research findings to diverse audiences through written and oral presentations.
• Mentor and coach junior UX researchers on the team.
• Perform usability studies with consumers.
• Ask questions, gather data, and analyze data.
• Use a diverse set of UX research tools.
• {{Add other relevant responsibilities here}}

Requirements

• Five or more years of UX research experience
• Bachelor’s or MS in a human behavior related field (or equivalent and demonstrable work experience)
• Ability to quickly and effectively share research results
• Ability to perform all research-related tasks including research, planning, evaluating, and iteration
• Ability to formulate specific, answerable, and practical questions
• Ability to collaborate effectively with stakeholders and act as a strategic partner in product decisions
• Experience with remote testing tools
• A strong desire for creative problem-solving with a positive attitude
• Excellent time-management skills
• {{List education level or certification you require}}

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Find the right ux research interview questions.

Read a list of great community-driven UX Research interview questions. Read them, comment on them, or even contribute your own.

Hire a Top UX Researcher Now

Toptal is a marketplace for clients to find top user experience researchers from around the world. Each Toptal freelance UX research consultant is thoroughly vetted and trusted by top companies for their most critical UX research design projects.

Lander Muruaga

Lander is a UX design expert with over 15 years of experience helping companies conceptualize, design, and launch easy-to-use products and services through research and strategy. He works worldwide with corporations, governments, and startups helping them grow their products and services.

Arthur Sam Badalian

Arthur helps transform clients' online presence with high-impact web designs that drive conversions. He creates refined, sophisticated, and premium designs, and his process-driven approach to web creation is meticulous, leveraging data and research at every stage. Arthur ensures that your brand is optimized for what really matters.

Zeltonique Damon

Renowned for blending innovation with usability, Zel excels in digital product design, focusing primarily on health insurance and fintech sectors. With over a decade in the industry, Zel has collaborated with top-tier enterprises and YC-backed startups such as SafetyWing, Habitual, Sasol, Vitality, Discovery Limited, Accenture, and Goodpoint. Dedicated to crafting user-centered design, Zel continuously enhances the digital landscape, delivering joy and simplicity through each project.

Discover More UX Researchers in the Toptal Network

Toptal Connects the Top 3% of Freelance Talent All Over The World.

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World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience

A guide to using user-experience research methods.

August 21, 2022 2022-08-21

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For further detail, see When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods .

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User Research

What is user research.

User research is the methodic study of target users—including their needs and pain points—so designers have the sharpest possible insights to make the best designs. User researchers use various methods to expose problems and design opportunities and find crucial information to use in their design process.

Discover why user research is a crucial part of the design process.

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User Research – Get to know your Users, and What They want

To call user research a crucial part of an interaction design process might seem overly obvious. Indeed, it’s the only way to discover exactly what these users need, having first found out precisely who they are. To set out to generate these facts, you must gather data from your users through a structured approach . First, you must choose methods that 1) suit your research’s purpose and 2) will yield the clearest information. Afterwards—to get the insights you want—you’ll need to interpret your findings from all that data, which can be tricky . You can apply user research anytime during the design process. Typically, researchers begin with qualitative measures, to discover users’ needs and motivations . They might later test their results by using quantitative measures .

“Research is creating new knowledge.” – Neil Armstrong, the First person to walk on the Moon

User research essentially splits into two subsets:

Qualitative research – Ethnographic field studies and interviews are examples of methods that can help you build a deep understanding of why users behave the way they do (e.g., why they leave a website so quickly). For instance, you can interview a small number of users and get sharp insights into their shopping habits by asking them open-ended questions. Usability testing is another dimension of this type of research (e.g., examining users’ stress levels when they use a certain design). Qualitative research requires great care. As it involves collecting non-numerical data (e.g., opinions), your own opinions might influence findings.

Quantitative research – With more-structured methods such as surveys, you gather measurable data about what users do and test assumptions you developed from qualitative research. An example is to use an online survey to ask users questions about their shopping habits (e.g., “Approximately how many items of clothing do you buy online per year?”). You can use this data to find patterns within a large user group. In fact, the larger the sample of representative test users is, the more likely you’ll have a statistically reliable way of assessing the target user population. Regardless of the method, with careful research you can gather objective and unbiased data. Nevertheless, quantitative data alone cannot expose deeper human insights.

We can also split user research into two approaches:

Attitudinal – you listen to users’ words (e.g., in interviews).

Behavioral – you watch their actions through observational studies.

Usually, you can get the sharpest view of a design problem when you apply a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative research as well as a mixture of attitudinal and behavioral approaches.

© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0

Leverage User Research Methods throughout Development

Industry-leading user experience consulting organization the Nielsen Norman Group names appropriate user research methods for you to use during your project’s four stages . Here are key methods:

Discover – Determine what’s relevant for users.

Diary studies – Have users log their performance of activities or record their daily interactions with a design.

Contextual inquiries – Interview suitable users in their own environment to find out how they perform the task/s in question.

Explore – See how to address all users’ needs.

Card sorting – On cards, write words and phrases and then let participants organize these in the most meaningful way and label categories to ensure your design is logically structured.

Customer journey maps – Create user journeys to reveal potential pitfalls and crucial moments.

Test – Evaluate your designs.

Usability testing – Make sure your design is easy to use.

Accessibility evaluations – Test your design to ensure everyone can use it.

Listen – Put issues in perspective, uncover any new problems and spot trends.

Analytics – Gather analytics/metrics to chart (e.g.) website traffic and generate reports.

Surveys/Questionnaires – Track how users’ feel about your product/design via these.

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However you approach user research, always consider the pros and cons of each technique . Card sorting is cheap and easy, for example, but may prove time-consuming when you proceed to analysis. Moreover, it might not provide in-depth contextual meaning. The resources available to you are another constraint. These will decide when, how much and which type of user research you can actually do. Therefore, carefully choose only the most relevant method/s for your research . Also, get stakeholders from your organization involved early on . They can reveal precious insights and help keep your research on track regarding business goals. Overall, user research is a valuable way to validate the assumptions the design team makes concerning users in the field , cut the expense of the best deliverables and keep your product’s demand high and ahead of competitors’ in the marketplace.

User research methods have various pros and cons and involve activities ranging from observations of users in context to controlled experiments in lab settings.

Learn More about User Research

For a fuller grasp of user research, take our course here .

See the Nielsen Norman Group’s list of user research tips .

Find an extensive range of user research considerations , discussed in Smashing Magazine.

Here’s a convenient and example-rich catalogue of user research tools.

Questions related to User Research

User Research is a fulfilling career for individuals driven to comprehend user behaviors and work collaboratively with teams. As a User Researcher, you're instrumental in steering teams towards crafting user-centric solutions. If you're intrigued by a career that combines both analytical and creative insights, consider delving into this field. For a comprehensive understanding, explore the User Researcher Learning Path on our platform.

User Researchers are seeing competitive pay in the industry. On average, they can earn from $92,000 to $146,000 annually. In some smaller firms, user research duties might be combined with a broader UX role. To understand how salaries can differ by region or delve into a broader perspective on UX-related pay, check out this detailed guide on UI UX Designer Salaries for 2023 or Glassdoor's breakdown of User Experience Researcher salaries .

While both are integral to the user experience, User Research and UX Design serve different purposes. User Research delves deep into understanding user preferences and needs, paving the way for informed design strategies. In contrast, UX Design is about sculpting a product based on that insight, ensuring it's both user-centric and aesthetically pleasing. 

Sometimes, especially in compact teams, the roles might blur with a designer handling research. Want a comprehensive insight? Dive into User Experience: The Beginner's Guide to explore their interconnected dynamics.

Yes, there is! Think of UX research as a subset of user research. While both focus on understanding users, user research casts a broader net, examining topics like pricing or delivery preferences. UX research, meanwhile, zeroes in on how users interact with a product and their experience doing so. In short, user research looks at broader interactions, while UX research specifically studies product use. To dive deeper, check out our course on User Research Methods and Best Practices .

User research utilizes varied techniques such as usability testing, A/B tests, surveys, card sorting, interviews, analytics analysis, and ethnographic studies. Every approach brings unique insights and is ideal for specific situations. It's essential to choose the proper technique based on your research goals and your audience. Discover these techniques further in 7 Great, Tried and Tested UX Research Techniques . 

For a comprehensive understanding of usability testing, a popular user research method, check out our course on User Research Methods and Best Practices .

While a related degree can be beneficial, it's not strictly required to become a user researcher. Many successful user researchers have degrees in diverse fields like psychology, design, anthropology, statistics, or human-computer interaction. What's crucial is a mix of relevant education, hands-on experience, and continuous learning. Even if some employers might favor candidates with a bachelor's degree, it can be in something other than a UX-focused area. Only some degrees specifically target user research. To strengthen your knowledge, consider courses like Data-Driven Design: Quantitative Research for UX or User Research Methods and Best Practices .

While each user research project is unique, some standard steps guide most endeavors:

Determine the research question.

Choose the proper research technique.

Find participants.

Execute the research.

Evaluate the gathered data.

Share the results.

For a thorough understanding of these steps and more, check out User Research – Methods and Best Practices .

There's a wide array of user research tools to pick from, tailored to your research goals, organizational size, and project specifics. Some popular choices include:

For surveys: Typeform or Google Forms.

Card sorting: Tools like Optimal Workshop, Maze or Trello.

Analyzing user activity: HotJar or CrazyEgg for heatmaps.

Usability evaluations: Platforms like Userlytics or Lookback.

Analyzing qualitative data: Miro or Lucidchart for affinity diagramming.

Crunching numbers: Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel for quantitative insights.

Usability testing on prototypes: Tools like Adobe XD or Figma.

Presenting findings: Use Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Prezi.

These tools often boast extra features to amplify your research.

Dive deeper into their applications with User Research – Methods and Best Practices .

User research is paramount in creating products that align with users' genuine needs and preferences. Instead of basing designs on assumptions, it provides factual insights into how users feel and interact with products. By engaging in user research, designers can spot usability challenges, collect feedback on design ideas, and validate their design decisions. For businesses, this not only refines product offerings but also strengthens brand loyalty and reputation. A standout user experience gives a company a competitive edge and lowers the chances of product setbacks. Dive deeper into the significance of user research in design with Data-Driven Design: Quantitative Research for UX and User Experience: The Beginner’s Guide .

Literature on User Research

Here’s the entire UX literature on User Research by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about User Research

Take a deep dive into User Research with our course User Research – Methods and Best Practices .

How do you plan to design a product or service that your users will love , if you don't know what they want in the first place? As a user experience designer, you shouldn't leave it to chance to design something outstanding; you should make the effort to understand your users and build on that knowledge from the outset. User research is the way to do this, and it can therefore be thought of as the largest part of user experience design .

In fact, user research is often the first step of a UX design process—after all, you cannot begin to design a product or service without first understanding what your users want! As you gain the skills required, and learn about the best practices in user research, you’ll get first-hand knowledge of your users and be able to design the optimal product—one that’s truly relevant for your users and, subsequently, outperforms your competitors’ .

This course will give you insights into the most essential qualitative research methods around and will teach you how to put them into practice in your design work. You’ll also have the opportunity to embark on three practical projects where you can apply what you’ve learned to carry out user research in the real world . You’ll learn details about how to plan user research projects and fit them into your own work processes in a way that maximizes the impact your research can have on your designs. On top of that, you’ll gain practice with different methods that will help you analyze the results of your research and communicate your findings to your clients and stakeholders—workshops, user journeys and personas, just to name a few!

By the end of the course, you’ll have not only a Course Certificate but also three case studies to add to your portfolio. And remember, a portfolio with engaging case studies is invaluable if you are looking to break into a career in UX design or user research!

We believe you should learn from the best, so we’ve gathered a team of experts to help teach this course alongside our own course instructors. That means you’ll meet a new instructor in each of the lessons on research methods who is an expert in their field—we hope you enjoy what they have in store for you!

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User experience (ux) research: definition and methodology.

17 min read To build outstanding products and services for your customers, you need a thorough understanding of who they are, what they need and where their pain points and priorities lie. UX research helps you fully step into your customers’ shoes.

What do we mean by user experience?

User experience (UX) is a customer’s-eye view of your business as it relates to completing tasks and using interactive platforms and services.

It’s closely tied to the idea of customer experience (CX) , but rather than being a holistic view of your brand, it’s more focused on utility and usability testing – the hands-on side of things. You can think of UX as a sub-discipline of CX .

For example, CX research might consider how customers perceive a company’s customer service levels and how confident they feel in having their issues resolved. Meanwhile, UX research would focus on how successfully those customers navigate a self-service website, whether the language on that site is clear and how easy it is to use.

Free eBook: The essential website experience & UX playbook

What is user experience (UX) research?

User experience (UX) research is about diving deep into how customers interact with your brand on a practical, functional level, and observing how easily they can complete their tasks and meet their goals.

User research is the process of discovering the behaviors , motivations, and needs of your customers through observation, task analysis, and other types of user feedback . It can involve working directly with members of your target audience through UX testing sessions, remote session observation using digital tools, surveys to collect user feedback, and many more UX research methods and techniques.

Why is UX research important?

So what exactly is the value of user experience research? After all, you understand your business and its workings better than anyone. How can uninformed external users help you learn more?

The fresh perspective of your end-users is exactly why UX research is so valuable. Because they’re not already immersed in your language, processes, and systems, user testing participants are in the best position to help you see where things might be confusing to a newcomer who isn’t involved with your business.

Better yet, they can show you where confusion or frustration might lead a new or potential customer to miss out on product benefits, fail to convert, or even give up and look toward your competitors instead.

In areas like new product design and development , user research allows you to head off potential issues with products and services before they even hit the shelves. You can design the product correctly the first time, instead of having to fix it later when customers are unhappy.

Simply put, UX research is critical because it keeps you from wasting time, money, and effort designing the wrong product or solution. It’s valuable for all areas of your business and yields clear benefits for your product, your users, and your bottom line.

• Product benefits By asking your customers for direct feedback about a potential product, you can discover how and when customers prefer to use a product, what pain points your product will solve, and how to improve your product design .
• User benefits UX research is unbiased feedback, straight from the most valuable source: your customers. Because this type of research is not biased by investors, company leaders, or outside influences, it is the best resource for getting actionable product feedback.
• Business benefits Knowing what your users value helps you spend less time and money fixing flawed designs, speeds up the product development process , and increases customer satisfaction.

UX research helps brands and organizations to:

• Understand how users experience products, websites, mobile apps, and prototypes
• Evaluate and optimize prototypes and ideas based on UX research discoveries – and nail the design and experience early in a product’s life cycle
• Unearth new customer needs and business opportunities
• Find and fix hidden problems with products and services that arise in real-world use cases
• Make informed decisions through the product development process by testing various aspects of product designs
• Provide user experiences that outperform other businesses in your sector ( UX competitor research )
• Understand each user interaction across complete customer journeys
• Build a richer, more useful picture of your target audiences for better marketing and advertising

What’s the ROI of performing UX research?

The ROI of UX research is tricky to pin down because there often isn’t a direct, easy-to-spot correlation between time spent on it and resulting revenue. UX research can and does drive revenue, but it more directly influences metrics that show customer satisfaction, customer retention, and behavioral goals like user signups.

A simple way to draw a straight (if basic) line between UX research and its associated ROI is to calculate your conversion rate, where ‘conversion’ simply means completing the action you had in mind:

Number of people who took your desired action

—————————————————————       x 100

Total visitors/users

That percentage can be calculated and revisited over time to see how UX changes resulting from your research are having an effect.

Generally, when we talk about ROI, we’re talking about the highest possible rates of return you can attribute to an investment. But – while PWC research suggests that ROI on UX research can rise to as high as 301% – it’s better not to get caught up in absolutes with operational data like revenue.

Instead, it’s worth thinking more about the benefits that come out of tracking human behavior associated with improving your UX in general.

For example, IBM research states that 3 out of 5 users think that a positive user experience is more influential than strong advertising, while Forrester Research estimates that as many as 50% of potential sales fall through because users can’t find the information they need.

Thorough UX research can also cut a project’s development time by up to 50% .

Ultimately, when trying to track the ROI of your time spent doing quantitative and qualitative research on UX, you want to look at behavior and sentiment. If your main goal is website use, you should notice a decline in bounce rate as a sign of positive ROI. If you sell services, run regular CSAT surveys to determine how satisfied customers are with everything.

You might also find that data in unusual places. For example, if you spot a decline in chatbot requests around how to do or perform certain actions, or for information, then you know your new UX implementations are working as desired.

Those kinds of behavioral data points will shine a light on how worthwhile your UX research has been more readily than changes in revenue.

User experience research methods

The type of UX research techniques you choose will depend on the type of research question you’re tackling, your deadline, the size of your UX research team, and your environment.

There are three research dimensions to consider as you decide which methods are best for your project:

Attitudinal and behavioral

“Attitudinal” refers to what people say, while “ behavioral ” refers to what people actually do – and these are often very different. Attitudinal research is often used in marketing because it measures people’s stated beliefs and needs. However, in product design and user experience research, what people do tends to be more relevant.

For example, A/B testing shows visitors different versions of a site at random to track the effect of site design on conversion and behavior.

Another behavioral method is eye tracking, which helps researchers understand how users interact and visually engage with the design of an interface by following their gaze.

Qualitative and quantitative methods

Quantitative UX research studies collect and analyze results, then generalize findings from a sample to a population. They typically require large numbers of representative cases to work with and are structured in their approach.

Quantitative research uses measurement tools like surveys or analytics to gather data about how subjects use a product and are generally more mathematical in nature. This type of inquiry aims to answer questions like ‘what,’ ‘where’ and ‘when’.

Qualitative research methods, on the other hand, gather information about users by observing them directly, as in focus groups or field studies.

Qualitative research aims to understand the human side of data by gaining a sense of the underlying reasons and motivations surrounding consumer behavior. It tends to use small numbers of diverse (rather than representative) cases, and the data collection approach is less structured. Qualitative methods are best suited to address the ‘how’ or ‘why’ of consumer behavior.

Qualitative UX research methods

Several UX research methodologies can help UX researchers answer those big ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions, and influence the design process of any product or service you’ve got cooking. Here are just a few …

1. Participatory design

In participatory design, people are asked to draw or design their own best-case version of the tool, product, or service in question. This gives UX researchers the ability to ask qualitative questions about why specific choices have been made. If multiple participants make similar choices, it’s easy to spot patterns that should be adopted.

You might ask participants how they would redesign your website. While their responses will naturally vary, you might spot that several of them have moved your site’s navigation to a more prominent spot, or have moved the checkout from the left of the screen to the right.

2. Card sorting

Card sorting involves giving participants a range of cards that represent business-specific topics and asking them how they would sort them into groups. UX researchers are then able to probe into why their audience might group certain things, and make changes to existing offerings as a result.

If you have a wide range of products and solutions, card sorting would be a useful way to gauge how your target audience would naturally bucket them on your website. A furniture seller, for example, might use this technique to find that people are naturally inclined to group items by room, rather than by furniture type.

3. Diary studies

If you’d like to know how the UX of your product or service varies over time or throughout the length of its use, a diary study can help. Here, participants are given a way to record their thoughts as they set about using the product or service in question, noting things that occur to them as they go. This is useful as it provides real-world insight over a longer period than a one-off focus group.

Giving people access to an early build of an app and asking them to keep usability testing notes can highlight pain points in the user interface. In a one-off focus group, having to tap three times to get to an oft-used screen might seem fine – whereas participants are more likely to find it annoying in the day-to-day. This kind of longer-term usability test can provide really valuable insights.

Both quantitative and qualitative UX research methodologies can be useful when planning the design and development of your brand presence, as well as for usability testing when it comes to product and service design.

Context-of-use

By collecting and analyzing information about users, the intended use of the application, the tasks they perform with the application, and the technical constraints presented by the application, context-of-use analysis allow UX researchers to better understand the overall experience.

Typically, context-of-use analysis data is collected through research surveys, focus groups, interviews, site visits, and observational studies.

Context-of use-analysis is one method for identifying the most important elements of an application or product in the context of using that application or product. This type of UX research is typically done early in the product lifecycle and continued as data identifies which components of the product and UX are most critical.

Types of user research tools

There are many types of user research methods for discovering data useful for product design and development. Below are some common examples of tools user experience researchers may use to gather information and draw insights into mental models, or users’ thought processes.

UX research surveys or questionnaires can discover data at scale through in-person or remote polling, with specific questions designed to collate useful information about user experience.

User groups or focus groups are a form of a structured interview that consults members of a target audience on their experience, views, and attitudes towards the product or solution. They usually involve neutral parties, such as a moderator and note-taker, and are led by a researcher who asks open-ended questions focused on specific aspects of an investigation.

User interviews are one-on-one structured interviews with a target audience member, led by a UX researcher to understand more about personal experiences with the product. These user interviews can be directed to compare and contrast answers between users, or non-directed, where users lead the conversation.

Ethnographic interviews take place within the target users’ typical environment to get a better context-of-use view. Field studies and site visits are similarly observational in nature, and take place in situ where the product or service is used, but may involve larger groups.

This is not a comprehensive list of research techniques but represents some of the main ways UX researchers might perform usability testing or trial UX design.

When to conduct user experience research

Before launching a new product or service, understanding user preferences that could impact your design or development is key to success. The earlier user experience research is performed, the more effective the end product or service will be, as it should encompass the insights learned about your target audience.

As a product and service’s use and value evolve over its lifecycle, the user experience will change over time. User research should be undertaken on an ongoing basis to determine how to adapt to users’ new needs and preferences.

Five basic steps to conducting UX research

If you’re new to UX research, here’s a step-by-step list of what to consider before you begin your UX testing program:

• Objectives What do you need to find out about your users and their needs?
• Hypothesis What do you think you already know about your users?
• Methods Based on your deadline, project type, and the size of your research team, what UX research methods should you use?
• Process Using your selected UX research method(s), begin collecting data about your users, their preferences, and their needs.
• Synthesis Analyze the data you collected to fill in your knowledge gaps, address your hypothesis and create a plan to improve your product based on user feedback.

Qualtrics makes UX research simple and easy

User experience research and user testing are multifaceted and can involve a lot of both quantitative and qualitative data. To ease the process and make sure it is efficient and scalable, it’s best conducted using a highly responsive platform that allows you to collect data, analyze trends and draw conclusions all in one place.

Whether you need attitudinal or behavioral insights, Qualtrics is your go-to solution for collecting all kinds of UX data and making use of it in the context of your wider CX program .

Conduct in-person studies or send beautifully designed surveys easily and quickly, and view your results via custom dashboards and reports using the most sophisticated research platform on the planet.

Free eBook: The essential website experience & UX playbook

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Microsoft and LinkedIn release the 2024 Work Trend Index on the state of AI at work

May 8, 2024 | Jared Spataro - CVP, AI at Work

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One year ago, generative AI burst onto the scene and for the first time since the smartphone, people began to change the way they interact with technology. People are bringing AI to work at an unexpected scale — and now the big question is, how’s it going?

As AI becomes ubiquitous in the workplace, employees and businesses alike are under extreme pressure. The pace and intensity of work, which accelerated during the pandemic, has not eased, so employees are bringing their own AI to work. Leaders agree AI is a business imperative — and feel the pressure to show immediate ROI — but many lack a plan and vision to go from individual impact to applying AI to drive the bottom line.

At the same time, the labor market is set to shift and there’s a new AI economy. While some professionals worry AI will replace their job, the data tells a more nuanced story — of a hidden talent shortage, more employees eyeing a career change, and a massive opportunity for those willing to skill up.

“AI is democratizing expertise across the workforce,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft. “Our latest research highlights the opportunity for every organization to apply this technology to drive better decision-making, collaboration — and ultimately business outcomes.”

For our fourth annual Work Trend Index, out today, we partnered with LinkedIn for the first time on a joint report so we could provide a comprehensive view of how AI is not only reshaping work, but the labor market more broadly. We surveyed 31,000 people across 31 countries, identified labor and hiring trends from LinkedIn, analyzed trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals and conducted research with Fortune 500 customers. The data points to insights every leader and professional needs to know — and actions they can take — when it comes to AI’s implications for work.

1. Employees want AI at work — and won’t wait for companies to catch up.

Three in four knowledge workers (75%) now use AI at work. Employees, overwhelmed and under duress, say AI saves time, boosts creativity and allows them to focus on their most important work. While 79% of leaders agree AI adoption is critical to remain competitive, 59% worry about quantifying the productivity gains of AI and 60% worry their company lacks a vision and plan to implement it. While leaders feel the pressure to turn individual productivity gains into organizational impact, employees aren’t waiting to reap the benefits: 78% of AI users are bringing their own AI tools to work. The opportunity for every leader is to channel this momentum into ROI.

2. For employees, AI raises the bar and breaks the career ceiling .

We also see AI beginning to impact the job market. While AI and job loss are top of mind for some, our data shows more people are eyeing a career change, there are jobs available, and employees with AI skills will get first pick. The majority of leaders (55%) say they’re worried about having enough talent to fill open roles this year, with leaders in cybersecurity, engineering, and creative design feeling the pinch most.

And professionals are looking. Forty-six percent across the globe are considering quitting in the year ahead — an all-time high since the Great Reshuffle of 2021 — a separate LinkedIn study found U.S. numbers to be even higher with 85% eyeing career moves. While two-thirds of leaders wouldn’t hire someone without AI skills, only 39% of users have received AI training from their company. So, professionals are skilling up on their own. As of late last year, we’ve seen a 142x increase in LinkedIn members adding AI skills like Copilot and ChatGPT to their profiles and a 160% increase in non-technical professionals using LinkedIn Learning courses to build their AI aptitude.

In a world where AI mentions in LinkedIn job posts drive a 17% bump in application growth, it’s a two-way street: Organizations that empower employees with AI tools and training will attract the best talent, and professionals who skill up will have the edge.

3. The rise of the AI power user — and what they reveal about the future.

In the research, four types of AI users emerged on a spectrum — from skeptics who rarely use AI to power users who use it extensively. Compared to skeptics, AI power users have reoriented their workdays in fundamental ways, reimagining business processes and saving over 30 minutes per day. Over 90% of power users say AI makes their overwhelming workload more manageable and their work more enjoyable, but they aren’t doing it on their own.

Power users work for a different kind of company. They are 61% more likely to have heard from their CEO on the importance of using generative AI at work, 53% more likely to receive encouragement from leadership to consider how AI can transform their function and 35% more likely to receive tailored AI training for their specific role or function.

“AI is redefining work and it’s clear we need new playbooks,” said Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn. “It’s the leaders who build for agility instead of stability and invest in skill building internally that will give their organizations a competitive advantage and create more efficient, engaged and equitable teams.”

The prompt box is the new blank page

We hear one consistent piece of feedback from our customers: talking to AI is harder than it seems. We’ve all learned how to use a search engine, identifying the right few words to get the best results. AI requires more context — just like when you delegate work to a direct report or colleague. But for many, staring down that empty prompt box feels like facing a blank page: Where should I even start?

Today, we’re announcing Copilot for Microsoft 365 innovations to help our customers answer that question.

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• Catch Up, a new chat interface that surfaces personal insights based on your recent activity, provides responsive recommendations , like “You have a meeting with the sales VP on Thursday. Let’s get you prepared — click here to get detailed notes.”

These features will be available in the coming months, and in the future, we’ll take it a step further, with Copilot asking you questions to get to your best work yet.

LinkedIn has also made free over 50 learning courses to empower professionals at all levels to advance their AI aptitude.

Head to WorkLab for the full Work Trend Index Report , and head to LinkedIn to hear more from LinkedIn’s Chief Economist, Karin Kimbrough, on how AI is reshaping the labor market.

And for all the blogs, videos and assets related to today’s announcements, please visit our  microsite .

Tags: AI , LinkedIn , Microsoft Copilot , Work Trend Index

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Researcher develops AI-infused active noise-cancellation headphones — Tech can isolate user-specified environmental sounds in real-time

The demo showed it can filter background noises effectively in real time

AI expert Shyam Gollakota from the University of Washington, together with his team of researchers, found a way to use artificial intelligence in real-time active noise cancellation, which can remove specific sounds without altering the headphone's audio . He presented this idea on May 16 at a conference held by the Acoustical Society of America and the Canadian Acoustical Association , where he showed a working prototype. 

Gollakota and his team used a smartphone-based neural network to identify, train, and filter 20 different environmental sound categories, such as sirens and alarm clocks, that one would typically hear daily. This requires the user to select a certain category on the smartphone, which then begins the process of filtering out the environmental sound. This would make headphones incredibly useful in many scenarios where avoiding environmental sound is not possible. 

"Imagine you are in a park, admiring the sounds of chirping birds, but then you have the loud chatter of a nearby group of people who just can't stop talking," said Gollakota. "Now imagine if your headphones could grant you the ability to focus on the sounds of the birds while the rest of the noise just goes away. That is exactly what we set out to achieve with our system."

The prototype shows microphones attached on both sides of the headphone earcups that are connected via USB to an OrangePi board that also provides audio to the headphones via the audio jack. Based on the board's layout, it is likely to be the OrangePi 5B , which uses the Rockchip RK3588S SoC (an eight-core 64-bit processor with a built-in neural processor with 6Tops computing power, which performs real-time filtering). The phone is likely connected wirelessly to the Pi board, where the user can make specific environmental choices. OrangePi has been actively producing boards with an integrated neural chip and recently worked with Huawei to create a development board . 

AI used effectively to enhance user experience

The words 'Artificial Intelligence' are becoming more associated with audio gear, but enabling it for noise cancellation will appeal to many users. This would require a neural network trained to target external sounds and to ensure it does not dampen the actual sound played through the headphones hence having the ability to learn and improve in time.

Since this is performed in real-time in under a hundredth of a second, the processing needed to be done on a connected device rather than by a cloud server, making such Pi boards perfect for such processing. All it needs is to somehow make a PCB with an NPU that can be integrated into the headphones. It also shows this processing can be done by any computing device with an AI accelerator, possibly using existing headphones on a capable system, provided there's a microphone to pick up background sound.

The team believes this technology can be implemented on audio devices and is ready for commercialization. If a new generation of audio headgear recognizes and can integrate this, it could enhance the audio experience, bringing an innovation in noise cancellation. As predicted and published in an IBM blog post , AI will likely play an important role apart from active noise cancellation and equalization. Hence, it is only a matter of time before we hear many such innovations in the audio space.

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19 years later, X-Fi is still kicking — Creative announces Super X-Fi Gen4 audio profile, leverages AI for head and ear mapping

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Two Raspberry Pi Picos power this sleek dual clock with an LED matrix

• FoxtrotMichael-1 Interesting technology, but I won't be able to enjoy it. I'm one of the (seemingly few) people who receive a nasty headache from active noise cancelling technology. I'm not sure how they wouldn't give you a headache, considering how they work. Reply
• Alvar "Miles" Udell Sounds like the same kind of tech that some cars have used for some time to eliminate engine, road, and other external noise while leaving radio and other internal noise unaffected. Reply
• Notton So it's like RTX voice, but runs on an NPU? If it sips power, then I think it would be a great way to quiet down laptops and gaming PCs. Reply
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Smart to the Touch: Tactile Cues Improve User Experience on ThinkPad Keyboard

After three years of research, development and implementation, Lenovo is the first laptop manufacturer to integrate additional tactile cues in its keyboards to increase accessibility 1 .   Tactile markings were first integrated into ThinkPad design in 1992 to support users’ keyboard navigation, especially for users who are visually impaired. Lenovo is aligning the additional cues added to the Lenovo ThinkPad™ X1 Carbon Gen 12 with Microsoft’s Accessibility Team as it works toward new industry standards in keyboard design.   

Enhancing keyboard accessibility with tactile cues was the first project assigned to D i ana Gierdowski when she joined Lenovo. “One of the things that really drew me to Lenovo was the newly formed Product Diversity Office,” shared Gierdowski, who is now Senior Manager of UXD Research and Insights. “I’m a former educator, and the Product Diversity Office’s mission really resonated with the accessibility issues that are important to me.” Lenovo’s Product Diversity Office (PDO) was formed in 2020 and seeks to integrate inclusion and feedback from diverse groups early in the product development process, ensuring that Lenovo’s technology is truly smarter for all.    

“Innovating for those with visual impairments requires an understanding of their lived experiences. You need insight into what users’ day-to-d ay lives are like and how they interact with their technology. You need to be customer centric and data driven. We call this phase of our innovation discovery research. The research is generative, foundational, exploratory and exciting!  In most cases we’re innovating to create solutions that don’t exist.”  

To begin the discovery research, Gierdowski interviewed 20 people who had various types of visual impairments, ranging from blindness to low vision.    

“I needed to understand their pain points and learn how technology solutions work for them – and how they don’t. I enjoyed asking them what changes they would make if they had a magic wand – how would they transform their experience? One thing I learned early on – and this might be hard to believe – but the users I interviewed were not used to sharing their experiences, or the technology problems that most affected them. Going in with an inquisitive mind and valuing their opinions rather than presenting them with a roster of predetermined ‘expert’ solutions evoked a surprising level of appreciation and gratitude. It was extremely rewarding.”  

The discovery research process was illuminating for Gierdowski. “I quickly learned many hallmarks of their user experience that now seem obvious, but that I hadn’t thought of before. For example, I always asked to see their tech setup at home, and I was surprised by how many users with blindness had just placed a towel or a T-shirt over their monitors like dust covers. Why? Because if you’re blind, you’re not using it. They’d say, ‘Yeah, I had to have a screen, so I just went and bought the cheapest one because it’s not important to me.’ But for users with low vision, screens and monitors were crucially important – they wanted really big screens to accommodate their vision ability. So, the spectrum of needs was one of the big takeaways to consider. Just because a user has a vision impairment does not mean they have the same needs as other users with vision impairment.  Each user has unique needs.”  

Based on her research, Gierdowski found that keyboard accessibility was incredibly important for all users with vision impairment. More specifically, she found that having a consistent keyboard layout was absolutely crucial. Accuracy is incredibly challenging for users with visual impairments, and inconsistency in keyboard layouts created chaos for users that depend on typing accuracy in their jobs. Continued efforts from device companies to make devices smaller has further disrupted keyboard consistency for users.   

“We’re manipulating features and moving keys around to make them fit because we want the product to be portable. However, that exacts a cost for those who are relying on muscle memory rather than sight to know where those keys are. It doesn’t matter if you have a lightweight laptop to carry around if you can’t reliably use it as a communication tool. We shouldn’t make users choose between portability or reliability. They need both,” commented Gierdowski.  

 One Lenovo and Smarter Technology  

Inspired by Gierdowski’s discovery research, Lenovo’s ThinkPad product portfolio team began enhancing the accessibility of the legendary ThinkPad  keyboard. Collectively, the team including Hayley Bernard, ThinkPad Portfolio Manager; Jujuan Mitchell, Innovation Product Manager; John Lee, Accessibility Design & Research Consultant; Mengwei Tang, Hardware User Experience; and Joel Collins, Sr. Human Factors Engineer decided to focus their efforts on improving the keys that control the most commonly used screen readers (e.g. JAWS). The group iterated across prototype versions, leveraging different styles of tactile markings on the keyboard and putting them to the test with a full range of users, both with and without visual impairments. They also collaborated with the Governor M orehead School for the Blind in North Carolina to gather tangible feedback on the preferred styles, which informed key implementations of the final product.  

Four specific changes occurred in the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 and will be included in future ThinkPad devices.  These changes will enhance the ThinkPad experience for all users – no matter their vision ability.   

• Volume up / down: Because volume is crucial to visually impaired users, Lenovo placed tactile markings on the F2 and F3 (volume adjustment) keys. 
• Insert key: Being able to confidently find this key may be the single most important tactile cue, as every screen reader software interface relies on it. A tactile mark on the insert key has also eliminated what has long been a time-wasting and document-ruining problem for the visually impaired: the insert and delete keys sit side-by-side in the upper-right corner of the ThinkPad keyboard. Too often, visually impaired users have deleted or inserted material when they meant to do the opposite and have also been unable to realize the error. The insert key’s new tactile mark will allow all users to verify that they have chosen the function they desire.  
• Function key: Like the insert key, the FN key is essential for those using screen readers. The FN key is also crucial because it allows the users to turn off the special keys marked with images (e.g., a microphone) and use them as function keys (e.g., F1 through F12) that are important for navigation. Unfortunately, FN and CTRL keys were easy to confuse in the bottom left corner of the ThinkPad keyboard, which leads to major difficulties for the blind or visually impaired. The new design reduces guesswork for a key that is the gateway for other accessibility features.  
• Enter key: Why is a tactile mark crucial on the enter key? Typically, these keys are not uniformly shaped from keyboard to keyboard. The tactile mark eliminates the confusion stemming from keyboard layout inconsistency. Without that distinctive cue, visually impaired users have often found themselves inserting backslashes instead of paragraph breaks.   

A Thrilling Impact  

Gierdowski’s discovery research informed what is a months-long product design cycle at Lenovo. Because she’s always moving on to new research projects, she isn’t always aware of the day-to-day trajectory of work she’s done, especially with hardware. “We may not be in the room when discussions are happening or decisions are being made, but the PDO kept me up to date on how the tactile cue research was being implemented.”  

 “At a global tech company like Lenovo, it’s extremely rewarding to connect across departments to improve our innovations. Several months ago, I was in a meeting, and when I learned that the new keyboard was going to be a reality, I just wanted to jump out of my seat with joy. Knowing that the work I’d done on my first project was bearing fruit was just thrilling to me. It makes my entire team even more excited and motivated about future opportunities to increase accessibility for all our users.”  

1 Based on research conducted by Lenovo in November 2023 of laptops sold by major PC manufacturers shipping >1 million units annually.  

Video - Stuart Wright - Open Research Conference 2024 (Subtitled)

MANC-RISK-SCREEN: Development of an open and transparent model to evaluate risk-based breast cancer screening in the UK

The MANC-RISK-SCREEN model is a simulation model which evaluates the clinical and economic outcomes of different risk-based breast cancer screening strategies in the UK. Through the past 2 years, my co-authors and I have been through a process aiming to update and improve the openness and accessibility of the model. This presentation will detail the steps we have taken to address these aims.

To improve the openness of the MANC-RISK-SCREEN model four steps were taken. The model code was made openly available on GitHub for re-use or adaptation by other research groups. To improve the transparency of the model and its assumptions, a full validation of the model was undertaken and published as a pre-print, with a full journal article under review. To allow non-technical users to access the model, the researcher worked with Research IT to develop an app to allow users to change the input parameters and observe the impact on the results of the model. Finally, the research team are now working with developers of other models of risk-based screening to evaluate screening and compare results to improve evidence for decision making.

These steps have proved beneficial for the research The model is now being adapted by a PhD student at the University of Aberdeen to evaluate the use of artificial intelligence in breast cancer screening. The student highlighted several minor errors in the model, which were corrected. Feedback from decision makers suggests that the validation of the model has improved their trust in its results. Based on the experience of developing the app, the research team have developed grant applications including this approach with more user input. Based on the experience of working with other researchers, the lead model developer has established a national network to improve the quality of evidence generated by economic models.

Additional information can be found here: • https://github.com/stuwrighthealthecon/MANC-RISK-SCREEN • Validation of a decision-analytic model for the cost-effectiveness analysis of a risk- stratified National Breast Screening Programme in the United Kingdom • MANC-RISK-SCREEN - 0.12.2.0 • UK National Screening Committee Blog – Experts discuss models for personalised breast screening based on risk

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School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

College of engineering, undergraduate research excellence celebrated at ors symposium.

In celebration of student research and innovation, the Opportunity Research Scholar's (ORS) Symposium was held on April 24, 2024. ORS is the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s (ECE) undergraduate research program designed to enhance and expand the traditional classroom experience through long-term projects.

The annual symposium is the culmination of two semesters of research through the ORS program. Starting each fall, students in groups of three to four, conduct the research with the help of a graduate advisor and a faculty member.

At the end of the Spring semester, each group submits their research as a conference paper to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ORSS, which decides the first and second place Best Paper Winners for the ECE ORSS. 

“The ORS Symposium is testament to the dedication, passion, and hard work of our student researchers,” ORS Director Shanthi Rajaraman said. “To witness the progress and growth of these young minds is rewarding and inspiring."

Students also present their research via posters at the symposium, with a People’s Choice Award given out to the best overall poster as decided by student participants and mentors.

Additionally, students have the opportunity to peer review other teams’ projects. For the past three years, the ORS Symposium has been open to teams beyond ECE. This year, there were 25 teams that participated, with 22 coming from Georgia Tech and three from Kennesaw State University.

Since its establishment, over 1,000 students have participated in the ORS program, with nearly twice as many ORS Ph.D. graduates going on to a career in a academics than the general ECE Ph.D. population, according to Rajaraman.

All the pictures from the symposium can viewed here.

The 2024 winners were:

Best Paper Award

From left to right: Avanish Narumanchi, Seongjin Kim, William Montello, Md. Nahid Haque Shazon (Mentor)

Title:   Investigating the Impacts of Device Geometry and an Alternative Write Current Scheme on Write Time and Switching Energy of SOT-MRAMs  Student Researchers: Seongjin Kim, William Montello, Avanish Narumanchi, Md. Nahid Haque Shazon Faculty Advisor: Azad Naemi

From left to right: Karsten Richardson, Cullen Lonergan, Luke Hanks

Title: Analog High-Level Synthesis for Field Programmable Analog Arrays Student Researchers: Luke Hanks, Cullen Lonergan, Karsten Richardson, Afolabi Ige, Pranav Mathews  Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Hasler

People’s Choice Award

From left to right: Emma McClelion, Hannah Xiao, Viktor Raykov

Title: Rectenna Characterized Under Varying 2-D Transmitter Positions & Power Beaming Amplitude Levels at 5.8 GHz Student Researchers: Hanna Xiao, Emma McClelion, Victor Raykov, Hanna Xiao, Kaitlyn Graves Faculty Advisor: Greg Durgin

Appointments at Mayo Clinic

Kratom: unsafe and ineffective.

Users swear by kratom for mood enhancement and fatigue reduction, but safety issues and questions about its effectiveness abound.

If you read health news or visit vitamin stores, you may have heard about kratom, a supplement that is sold as an energy booster, mood enhancer, pain reliever and antidote for opioid withdrawal. However, the truth about kratom is more complicated, and the safety problems related to its use are concerning.

Kratom is an herbal extract that comes from the leaves of an evergreen tree (Mitragyna speciosa) grown in Southeast Asia. Kratom leaves can be chewed, and dry kratom can be swallowed or brewed. Kratom extract can be used to make a liquid product. The liquid form is often marketed as a treatment for muscle pain, or to suppress appetite and stop cramps and diarrhea. Kratom is also sold as a treatment for panic attacks.

Kratom is believed to act on opioid receptors. At low doses, kratom acts as a stimulant, making users feel more energetic. At higher doses, it reduces pain and may bring on euphoria. At very high doses, it acts as a sedative, making users quiet and perhaps sleepy. Some people who practice Asian traditional medicine consider kratom to be a substitute for opium.

Some people take kratom to avoid the symptoms of opioid withdrawal and because kratom may be bought more easily than prescription drugs.

Kratom is also used at music festivals and in other recreational settings. People who use kratom for relaxation report that because it is plant-based, it is natural and safe. However, the amount of active ingredient in kratom plants can vary greatly, making it difficult to gauge the effect of a given dose. Depending on what is in the plant and the health of the user, taking kratom may be very dangerous. Claims about the benefits of kratom can't be rated because reliable evidence is lacking.

Side effects and safety concerns

Although people who take kratom believe in its value, researchers who have studied kratom think its side effects and safety problems more than offset any potential benefits. Poison control centers in the United States received about 1,800 reports involving use of kratom from 2011 through 2017, including reports of death. About half of these exposures resulted in serious negative outcomes such as seizures and high blood pressure. Five of the seven infants who were reported to have been exposed to kratom went through withdrawal. Kratom has been classified as possibly unsafe when taken orally.

Kratom has a number of known side effects, including:

• Weight loss
• Chills, nausea and vomiting
• Changes in urine and constipation
• Liver damage
• Muscle pain

Kratom also affects the mind and nervous system:

• Hallucinations and delusion
• Depression and delusion
• Breathing suppression
• Seizure, coma and death

Kratom takes effect after five to 10 minutes, and its effects last two to five hours. The effects of kratom become stronger as the quantity taken increases. In animals, kratom appears to be more potent than morphine. Exposure to kratom has been reported in an infant who was breastfed by a mother taking kratom.

Many of the problems that occur with pain medications happen when these drugs are used at high doses or over a long period of time. It's not known exactly what level of kratom is toxic in people, but as with pain medications and recreational drugs, it is possible to overdose on kratom.

Research shows little promise

At one time, some researchers believed that kratom might be a safe alternative to opioids and other prescription pain medications. However, studies on the effects of kratom have identified many safety concerns and no clear benefits.

Kratom has been reported to cause abnormal brain function when taken with prescription medicines. When this happens, you may experience a severe headache, lose your ability to communicate or become confused.

In a study testing kratom as a treatment for symptoms of opioid withdrawal, people who took kratom for more than six months reported withdrawal symptoms similar to those that occur after opioid use. Too, people who use kratom may begin craving it and require treatments given for opioid addiction, such as naloxone (Narcan) and buprenorphine (Buprenex).

Kratom also adversely affects infant development. When kratom is used during pregnancy, the baby may be born with symptoms of withdrawal that require treatment.

In addition, substances that are made from kratom may be contaminated with salmonella bacteria. As of April 2018, more than 130 people in 38 states became ill with Salmonella after taking kratom. Salmonella poisoning may be fatal, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has linked more than 35 deaths to Salmonella-tainted kratom. Salmonella contamination has no obvious signs, so the best way to avoid becoming ill is to avoid products that may contain it.

Kratom is not currently regulated in the United States, and federal agencies are taking action to combat false claims about kratom. In the meantime, your safest option is to work with your doctor to find other treatment options.

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