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User Experience

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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.

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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

Related resources

User experience 20 min read, user experience surveys 9 min read, ux research tools 8 min read, user analytics 11 min read, rage clicks 11 min read, user experience analytics 10 min read, website user experience 14 min read, request demo.

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The Complete Guide to UX Research Methods

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

By Miklos Philips

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

PREVIOUSLY AT

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

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

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

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

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

What Is UX Research?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top UX Research Methods and When to Use Them

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reasons for Doing UX Research

Here are three great reasons for doing user research :

To create a product that is truly relevant to users

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

To create a product that is easy and pleasurable to use

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

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

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

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

What Results Can I Expect from UX Research?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Further Reading on the Toptal Blog:

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

Understanding the basics

How do you do user research in ux.

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

What are UX methods?

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

What is the best research methodology for user experience design?

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

What does a UX researcher do?

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

Why is UX research important?

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

• UserResearch

Miklos Philips

London, United Kingdom

Member since May 20, 2016

About the author

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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.

• Transcript loading…

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!

All open-source articles on User Research

A simple introduction to lean ux.

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• 3 years ago

How to Do a Thematic Analysis of User Interviews

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How to Conduct User Interviews

7 Great, Tried and Tested UX Research Techniques

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How to Conduct User Observations

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Shadowing in User Research - Do You See What They See?

Creating Personas from User Research Results

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• 4 years ago

How to Conduct Focus Groups

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• 10 mths ago

Learning Experience Design - The Most Valuable Lessons

Ethnography

Chapter 11: Curated List of Research techniques

Personas for Mobile UX Design

Mobile Usability Research – The Important Differences from the Desktop

How to Prepare for a User Interview and Ask the Right Questions

5 Ways to Improve the UX of Your Applications

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The Complete Guide To UX Research (User Research)

UX Research is a term that has been trending in the past few years. There's no surprise why it's so popular - User Experience Research is all about understanding your customer and their needs, which can help you greatly improve your conversion rate and user experience on your website. In this article, we're going to provide a complete guide to UX research as well as how to start implementing it in your organisation.Throughout this article we will give you a complete high-level overview of the entire UX Research meaning, supported by more in-depth articles for each topic.

Introduction to UX Research

Wether you're a grizzled UX Researcher who's been in the field for decades or a UX Novice who's just getting started, UX Research is an integral aspect of the UX Design process. Before diving into this article on UX research methods and tools, let's first take some time to break down what UX research actually entails.

Each of these UX Research Methods has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to understand your goals for the UX Research activities you want to complete.

What is UX Research?

UX research begins with UX designers and UX researchers studying the real world needs of users. User Experience Research is a process --it's not just one thing-- that involves collecting data, conducting interviews, usability testing prototypes or website designs with human participants in order to deeply understand what people are looking for when they interact with a product or service.

By using different sorts of user-research techniques you can better understand not only people desires from their product of service, but a deeper human need which can serve as an incredibly powerful opportunity.

There's an incredible amount of different sorts of research methods. Most of them can be divided in two camps: Qualitative and Quantitative Research.

Qualitative research - Understanding needs can be accomplished through observation, in depth interviews and ethnographic studies. Quantitative Research focusses more on the numbers, analysing data and collecting measurable statistics.

Within these two groups there's an incredible amount of research activities such as Card Sorting, Competitive Analysis, User Interviews, Usability Tests, Personas & Customer Journeys and many more. We've created our The Curated List of Research Techniques to always give you an up-to-date overview.

Why is UX Research so important?

When I started my career as a digital designer over 15 years ago, I felt like I was always hired to design the client's idea. Simply translate what they had in their head into a UI without even thinking about changing the user experience. Needless to say: This is a recipe for disaster. An no, this isn't a "Client's don't know anything" story. Nobody knows! At least in the beginning. The client had "the perfect idea" for a new digital feature. The launch date was already set and the development process had to start as soon as possible.

When the feature launched, we expected support might get a few questions or even receive a few thank-you emails. We surely must've affected the user experience somehow!

But that didn't happen. Nothing happened. The feature wasn't used.

Because nobody needed it.

This is exactly what happens when you skip user experience research because you think you're solving a problem that "everybody" has, but nobody really does.

Conducting User Experience research can help you to have a better understanding of your stakeholders and what they need. This is incredibly valuable information from which you can create personas and customer journeys. It doesn't matter if you're creating a new product or service or are improving an existing once.

Five Steps for conducting User Research

Created by Eric Sanders , the Research Learning Spiral provides five main steps for your user research.

• Objectives: What are the knowledge gaps we need to fill?
• Hypotheses: What do we think we understand about our users?
• Methods: Based on time and manpower, what methods should we select?
• Conduct: Gather data through the selected methods.
• Synthesize: Fill in the knowledge gaps, prove or disprove our hypotheses, and discover opportunities for our design efforts.

1: Objectives: Define the Problem Statement

A problem statement is a concise description of an issue to be addressed or a condition to be improved upon. It identifies the gap between the current (problem) state and desired (goal) state of a process or product.

Problem statements are the first steps in your research because they help you to understand what's wrong or needs improving. For example, if your product is a mobile app and the problem statement says that customers are having difficulty paying for items within the application, then UX research will lead you (hopefully) down that path. Most likely it will involve some form of usability testing.

Check out this article if you'd like to learn more about Problem Statements.

2: Hypotheses: What we think we know about our user groups

After getting your Problem Statement right, there's one more thing to do before doing any research. Make sure you have created a clear research goal for yourself. How do you identify Research Objectives? By asking questions:

• Who are we doing this for? The starting point for your personas!
• What are we doing? What's happening right now? What do our user want? What does the company need?
• Think about When. If you're creating a project plan, you'll need a timeline. It also helps to keep in mind when people are using your products or service.
• Where is the logical next step. Where do people use your product? Why there? What limitations are there to that location? Where can you perform research? Where do your users live?
• Why are we doing this? Why should or shouldn't we be doing this? Why teaches you all about motivations from people and for the project.
• Last but not least: How? Besides thinking about the research activities itself, think about how people will test a product or feature. How will the user insights (outcome of the research) work be used in the  User Centered Design - and development process?

3: Methods: Choose the right research method

UX research is about exploration, and you want to make sure that your method fits the needs of what you're trying to explore. There are many different methods. In a later chapter we'll go over the most common UX research methods .

For now, all you need to keep in mind that that there are a lot of different ways of doing research.

You definitely don't need to do every type of activity but it would be useful to have a decent understanding of the options you have available, so you pick the right tools for the job.

4. Conduct: Putting in the work

Apply your chosen user research methods to your Hypotheses and Objectives! The various techniques used by the senior product designer in the BTNG Design Process can definitely be overwhelming. The product development process is not a straight line from A to B. UX Researchers often discover new qualitative insights in the user experience due to uncovering new (or incorrect) user needs. So please do understand that UX Design is a lot more than simply creating a design.

5. Synthesise: Evaluating Research Outcome

So you started with your Problem Statement (Objectives), you drafted your hypotheses, chose the top research methods, conducted your research as stated in the research process and now "YOU ARE HERE".

The last step is to Synthesise what you've learned. Start by filling in the knowledge gaps. What unknowns are you now able to answer?

Which of your hypotheses are proven (or disproven)?

And lastly, which new exciting new opportunities did you discover!

Evaluating the outcome of the User Experience Research is an essential part of the work.

Make sure to keep them brief and to-the-point. A good rule of thumb is to include the top three positive comments and the top three problems.

UX Research Methods

Choosing the right ux research method.

Making sure you use the right types of user experience research in any project is essential. Since time and money is always limited, we need to make sure we always get the most bang-for-our-buck. This means we need to pick the UX research method that will give us the most insights as possible for a project.

Three things to keep in mind when making a choice among research methodologies:

• Stages of the product life cycle - Is it a new or existing product?
• Quantitative vs. Qualitative - In depth talk directly with people or data?
• Attitudinal vs. Behavioural - What people say vs what people do

Image from Nielsen Norman Group

Most frequently used methods of UX Research

• Card Sorting: Way before UX Research even was a "thing", psychological research originally used Card Sorting.  With Card Sorting, you try to find out how people group things and what sort of hierarchies they use. The BTNG Research Team is specialised in remote research. So our modern Card Sorting user experience research have a few modern surprises.
• Usability Testing: Before launching a new feature or product it is important to do user testing. Give them tasks to complete and see how well the prototype works and learn more about user behaviours.
• Remote Usability Testing: During the COVID-19 lockdown, finding the appropriate ux research methods haven't always been that easy. Luckily, we've adopted plenty of modern solutions that help us with collecting customer feedback even with a remote usability test.
• Research-Based User Personas: A profile of a fictional character representing a specific stakeholder relevant to your product or service. Combine goals and objections with attitude and personality. The BTNG Research Team creates these personas for the target users after conducing both quantitative and qualitative user research.
• Field Studies: Yes, we actually like to go outside. What if your product isn't a B2B desktop application which is being used behind a computer during office hours? At BTNG we have different types of Field Studies which all help you gain valuable insights into human behaviour and the user experience.
• The Expert Interview: Combine your talent with that of one of BTNG's senior researcher. Conducting ux research without talking to the experts on your team would be a waste of time. In every organisation there are people who know a lot about their product or service and have unique insights. We always like to include them in the UX Research!
• Eye Movement Tracking: If you have an existing digital experience up and running - Eye Movement Tracking can help you to identify user experience challenges in your funnel. The outcome shows a heatmap of where the user looks (and doesn't).

Check out this article for a in-depth guide on UX Research Methods.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative UX research methods

Since this is a topic that we can on about for hours, we decided to split this section up in a few parts. First let's start with the difference.

Qualitative UX Research is based on an in-depth understanding of the human behaviour and needs. Qualitative user research includes interviews, observations (in natural settings), usability tests or contextual inquiry. More than often you'll obtain unexpected, valuable insights through this from of user experience research methods.

Quantitative UX Research relies on statistical analysis to make sense out of data (quantitative data) gathered from UX measurements: A/B Tests - Surveys etc. Quantitative UX Research is as you might have guessed, a lot more data-orientated.

If you'd like to learn more about these two types of research, check out these articles:

Get the most out of your User Research with Qualitative Research

Quantitative Research: The Science of Mining Data for Insights

Balancing qualitative and quantitative UX research

Both types of research have amazing benefits but also challenges. Depending on the research goal, it would be wise to have a good understanding which types of research you would like to be part of the ux design and would make the most impact.

The BTNG Research Team loves to start with Qualitative Research to first get a better understanding of the WHY and gain new insights. To validate these new learning they use Quantitative Research in your user experience research.

A handful of helpful UX Research Tools

The landscape of UX research tools has been growing rapidly. The BTNG Research team use a variety of UX research tools to help with well, almost everything. From running usability tests, creating prototypes and even for recruiting participants.

In the not-too-distant future, we'll create a Curated UX Research Tool article. For now, a handful of helpful UX Research Tools should do the trick.

• For surveys : Typeform
• For UX Research Recruitment: Dscout
• For analytics and heatmaps: VWO
• For documenting research: Notion & Airtable
• For Customer Journey Management : TheyDo
• For transcriptions: Descript
• For remote user testing: Maze
• For Calls : Zoom

Surveys: Typeform

What does it do? Survey Forms can be boring. Typeform is one of those ux research tools that helps you to create beautiful surveys with customisable templates and an online editor. For example, you can add videos to your survey or even let people draw their answers instead of typing them in a text box. Who is this for? Startup teams that want to quickly create engaging and modern looking surveys but don't know how to code it themselves.

Highlights: Amazing UX, looks and feel very modern, create forms with ease that match your branding, great reports and automation.

Why is it our top pick? Stop wasting time on ux research tools with too many buttons. Always keep the goal of your ux research methods in mind. Keep things lean, fast and simple with a product with amazing UX.

https://www.typeform.com/

UX Research Recruitment: Dscout

What does it do? Dscout is a remote research platform that helps you recruit participants for your ux research (the right ones). With a pool of +100.000 real users, our user researchers can hop on video calls and collect data for your qualitative user research. So test out those mobile apps user experience and collect all the data! Isn't remote research amazing?

Highlights: User Research Participant Recruitment, Live Sessions,Prototype feedback, competitive analysis, in-the-wild product discovery, field work supplementations, shopalongs.

Why is it our top pick? Finding the right people is more important than finding people fast. BTNG helps corporate clients in all types of industries which require a unique set of users, each time. Dscout helps us to quickly find the right people and make sure our user research is delivered on time and our research process stays in tact.

https://dscout.com/

Analytics and heatmaps: VWO

What does it do? When we were helping the Financial Times, our BTNG Research Team collaborated with FT Marketing Team who were already running experiments with VWO. 50% of the traffic would see one version of a certain page while 50% saw a different version. Which performed best? Perhaps you'd take a look at time-on-page. But more importantly: Which converts better!

Hotjar provides Product Experience Insights that show how users behave and what they feel strongly about, so product teams can deliver real value to them.

Highlights: VWO is an amazing suite that does it all:Automated Feedback, Heatmaps, EyeTracking, User Session Recordings (Participant Tracking) and one thing that Hotjar doesn't do: A/B Testing.

Why is it our top pick? Even tho it's an expensive product, it does give you value for money. Especially the reports with very black and white outcomes are great for presenting the results you've made.

https://vwo.com/

Documenting research: Notion

What does it do? Notion is our command center, where we store and constantly update our studio's aggregate wisdom. It is a super-flexible tool that helps to organise project documentation, prepare for interviews with either clients or their product users, accumulate feedback, or simply take notes.

Highlights: A very clean, structured way to write and share information with your team in a beautiful designed app with an amazing user experience.

Why is it our top pick? There's no better, more structured way to share information.

https://www.notion.so/

Customer Journey Management: TheyDo

What does it do? TheyDo is a modern Journey Management Platform. It centralises your journeys in an easy to manage system, where everyone has access to a single source of truth of the customer experience. It’s like a CMS for journeys.

Highlights: Customer Journey Map designer, Personas and 2x2 Persona Matrix, Opportunity & Solution Management & Prioritisation.

Why is it our top pick? TheyDo fits perfectly with BTNG's way of helping companies become more customer-centric. It helps to visualise the current experience of stakeholders. With those insight which we capture from interviews or usability testing, we discover new opportunities. A perfect starting point for creating solutions!

https://www.theydo.io/

Transcriptions: Descript

What does it do? Descript is an all-in-one solution for audio & video recording, editing and transcription. The editing is as easy as a doc. Imagine you’ve interviewed 20 different people about a new flavor of soda or a feature for your app. You just drop all those files into a Descript Project, and they show up in different “Compositions” (documents) in the sidebar. In a couple of minutes they’ll be transcribed, with speaker labels added automatically.

Highlights: Overdub, Filler Word Removal, Collaboration, Subtitles, Remote Recording and Studio Sound.

Why is it our top pick? Descript is an absolute monster when it comes to recording, editing and transcribing videos. It truly makes digesting the work after recording fast and even fun!

https://www.descript.com/

Remote user testing: Maze

What does it do? Maze is a-mazing remote user testing platform for unmoderated usability tests. With Maze, you can create and run in-depth usability tests and share them with your testers via a link to get actionable insights. Maze also generates a usability study report instantly so that you can share it with anyone.

It’s handy that the tool integrates directly with Figma, InVision, Marvel, and Sketch, thus, you can import a working prototype directly from the design tool you use. The BTNG Design Team with their Figma skills has an amazing chemistry with the Research Team due to that Figma/Maze integration.

Highlights: Besides unmoderated usability testing, Maze can help with different UX Research Methods, like card sorting, tree testing, 5-second testing, A/B testing, and more.

Why is it our top pick? Usability testing has been a time consuming way of qualitative research. Trying to find out how users interact (Task analysis) during an Interviews combined with keeping an eye on the prototype can be... a challenge. The way that Maze allows us to run (besides our hands on usability test) now also run unmoderated usability testing is a powerful weapon in our arsenal.

https://maze.co/

Calls: Zoom

What does it do? As the other video conferencing tools you can run video calls. But what makes Zoom a great tool? We feel that the integration with conferencing equipment is huge for our bigger clients. Now that there's also a Miro integration we can make our user interviews even more fun and interactive!

Highlights: Call Recording, Collaboration tools, Screen Sharing, Free trial, connects to conferencing equipment, host up to 500 people!

Why is it our top pick? Giving the research participants of your user interviews a pleasant experience is so important. Especially when you're looking for qualitative feedback on your ux design, you want to make sure they feel comfortable. And yes, you'll have to start using a paid version - but the user interface of Zoom alone is worth it. Even the Mobile App is really solid.

https://zoom.us/

In Conclusion

No matter what research methodology you rely on if it is qualitative research methods or perhaps quantitative data - keep in mind that user research is an essential part of the Design Process. Not only your UX designer will thank you, but also your users.

In every UX project we've spoken to multiple users - no matter if it was a task analysis, attitudinal research or focus groups... They all had one thing in common:

People thanked us for taking the time to listen to them.

So please, stop thinking about the potential UX research methods you might use in your design process and consider what it REALLY is about:

Solving the right problems for the right people.

And there's only one way to get there: Trying things out, listening, learning and improving.

Looking for help? Reach out!

See the Nielsen Norman Group’s list of user research tips: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-research-cheat-sheet/

Find an extensive range of user research considerations, discussed in Smashing Magazine: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/01/comprehensive-guide-ux-research/

Here’s a convenient and example-rich catalogue of user research tools: https://blog.airtable.com/43-ux-research-tools-for-optimizing-your-product/

Related Posts

How to generate UX Insights

The importance of User Research

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What is ux research.

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World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience

When to use which user-experience research methods.

July 17, 2022 2022-07-17

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The field of user experience has a wide range of  research methods  available, ranging from tried-and-true methods such as lab-based usability testing to those that have been more recently developed, such as unmoderated UX assessments.

While it's not realistic to use the full set of methods on a given project, nearly all projects would benefit from multiple research methods and from combining insights. Unfortunately, many design teams only use one or two methods that they are most familiar with. The key question is what to use when.

In This Article:

Three-dimensional framework, the attitudinal vs. behavioral dimension, the qualitative vs. quantitative dimension, the context of product use, phases of product development (the time dimension), art or science, 20 ux methods in brief.

To better understand when to use which method, it is helpful to view them along a  3-dimensional framework  with the following axes:

• Attitudinal vs. Behavioral
• Qualitative vs. Quantitative
• Context of Use

The following chart illustrates where 20 popular methods appear along these dimensions:

This distinction can be summed up by  contrasting "what people say" versus "what people do"  (very often the two are quite different). The purpose of attitudinal research is usually to understand or measure people's stated beliefs, but it is limited by what people are aware of and willing to report.

While most  usability studies should rely on behavior , methods that use self-reported information can still be quite useful to designers. For example,  card sorting  provides insights about users' mental model of an information space and can help determine the best information architecture for your product, application, or website.  Surveys  measure and categorize attitudes or collect self-reported data that can help track or discover important issues to address.  Focus groups tend to be less useful for usability  purposes, for a variety of reasons, but can provide a top-of-mind view of what people think about a brand or product concept in a group setting.

On the other end of this dimension, methods that focus mostly on behavior seek to understand "what people do" with the product or service in question. For example  A/B testing  presents changes to a site's design to random samples of site visitors but attempts to hold all else constant, in order to see the effect of different site-design choices on behavior, while  eyetracking  seeks to understand how users visually interact with a design or visual stimulus.

Between these two extremes lie the two most popular methods we use: usability studies and  field studies . They utilize a mixture of self-reported and behavioral data and can move toward either end of this dimension, though leaning toward the behavioral side is generally recommended.

The distinction here is an important one and goes well beyond the narrow view of qualitative as in an open-ended survey question. Rather, studies that are qualitative in nature generate data about behaviors or attitudes based on observing or hearing them  directly , whereas in  quantitative studies , the data about the behavior or attitudes in question are gathered  indirectly , through a measurement or an instrument such as a survey or an  analytics tool . In field studies and usability testing, for example, researchers directly observe how people use (or do not use) technology to meet their needs or to complete tasks. These observations give them the ability to ask questions, probe on behavior, or possibly even adjust the study protocol to better meet study objectives. Analysis of the data is usually not mathematical.

In contrast, the kind of data collected in quantitative methods is predetermined — it could include task time, success, whether the user has clicked on a given UI element or whether they selected a certain answer to a multiple-choice question. The insights in quantitative methods are typically derived from mathematical analysis, since the instrument of data collection (e.g., survey tool or analytics tool) captures such large amounts of data that are automatically coded numerically.

Due to the  nature of their differences ,  qualitative  methods are much better suited for answering questions about  why  or  how to fix  a problem, whereas  quantitative  methods do a much better job answering  how many  and  how much  types of questions. Having such numbers helps prioritize resources, for example to focus on issues with the biggest impact. The following chart illustrates how the first two dimensions affect the types of questions that can be asked:

The third distinction has to do with how and whether participants in the study are using the product or service in question. This can be described as:

• Natural  or near-natural use of the product
• Scripted  use of the product
• Limited  in which a limited form of the product is used to study a specific aspect of the user experience
• Not using  the product during the study (decontextualized)

When studying  natural use  of the product, the goal is to minimize interference from the study in order to understand behavior or attitudes as close to reality as possible. This provides greater external validity but less control over what topics you learn about. Many ethnographic field studies attempt to do this, though there are always some observation biases. Intercept surveys and data mining or other analytic techniques are quantitative examples of this.

A  scripted  study of product usage is done in order to focus the insights on specific product areas, such as a newly redesigned flow. The degree of scripting can vary quite a bit, depending on the study goals. For example, a benchmarking study is usually very tightly scripted, so that it can produce reliable  usability metrics by ensuring consistency across participants.

Limited  methods use a limited form of a product to study a specific or abstracted aspect of the experience. For example, participatory-design methods allow users to interact with and rearrange design elements that  could  be part of a product experience, in order discuss how their proposed solutions would meet their needs and why they made certain choices. Concept-testing methods employ an expression of the idea of a product or service that gets at the heart of what it would provide (and not at the details of the experience) in order to understand if users would want or need such a product or service.  Card sorting and tree testing focus on how the information architecture is or could be arranged to best make sense to participants and make navigation easier.

Studies where the  product is not used  are conducted to examine issues that are broader than usage and usability, such as a study of the brand or discovering the aesthetic attributes that participants associate with a specific design style.

Many of the methods in the chart can move along one or more dimensions, and some do so even in the same study, usually to satisfy multiple goals. For example, field studies can focus a little more on what people say (ethnographic interviews) or emphasize studying what they do (extended observations); concept testing, desirability studies, and card sorting have both qualitative and quantitative versions; and eyetracking can be natural or scripted.

Another important distinction to consider when making a choice among research methodologies is the phase of product development and its associated objectives.  For example, in the beginning of the product-development process, you are typically more interested in the strategic question of what direction to take the product, so methods at this stage are often generative in nature, because they help generate ideas and answers about which way to go.  Once a direction is selected, the design phase begins, so methods in this stage are well-described as formative, because they inform how you can improve the design.  After a product has been developed enough to measure it, it can be assessed against earlier versions of itself or competitors, and methods that do this are called summative. This following table describes where many methods map to these stages in time:

While many user-experience research methods have their roots in scientific practice, their aims are not purely scientific and still need to be adjusted to meet stakeholder needs. This is why the characterizations of the methods here are meant as general guidelines, rather than rigid classifications.

In the end, the success of your work will be determined by how much of an impact it has on improving the user experience of the website or product in question. These classifications are meant to help you make the best choice at the right time.

Here’s a short description of the user research methods shown in the above chart:

Usability testing (aka usability-lab studies): Participants are brought into a lab, one-on-one with a researcher, and given a set of  scenarios that lead to tasks  and usage of specific interest within a product or service.

Field studies : Researchers  study participants in their own environment (work or home), where they would most likely encounter the product or service being used in the most realistic or natural environment.

Contextual inquiry : Researchers and participants collaborate together in the participants own environment to inquire about and observe the nature of the tasks and work at hand. This method is very similar to a field study and was developed to study complex systems and in-depth processes.

Participatory design : Participants are given design elements or creative materials in order to construct their ideal experience in a concrete way that expresses what matters to them most and why.

Focus groups : Groups of 3–12 participants are led through a discussion about a set of topics, giving verbal and written feedback through discussion and exercises.

Interviews : a researcher meets with participants one-on-one to discuss in depth what the participant thinks about the topic in question.

Eyetracking : an eyetracking device is configured to precisely measure where participants look as they perform tasks or interact naturally with websites, applications, physical products, or environments.

Usability benchmarking : tightly scripted usability studies are performed with larger numbers of participants, using precise and predetermined measures of performance, usually with the goal of tracking usability improvements of a product over time or comparing with competitors.

Remote moderated testing :  Usability studies are conducted remotely , with the use of tools such as video conferencing, screen-sharing software, and remote-control capabilities.

Unmoderated testing: An automated method that can be used in both quantitative and qualitative studies and that uses a specialized research tool to capture participant behaviors and attitudes, usually by giving participants goals or scenarios to accomplish with a site, app, or prototype. The tool can  record a video stream of each user session, and can gather usability metrics such as success rate, task time, and perceived ease of use.

Concept testing : A researcher shares an approximation of a product or service that captures the key essence (the value proposition) of a new concept or product in order to determine if it meets the needs of the target audience. It can be done one-on-one or with larger numbers of participants, and either in person or online.

Diary studies : Participants are using a mechanism (e.g., paper or digital diary, camera, smartphone app) to record and describe aspects of their lives that are relevant to a product or service or simply core to the target audience.  Diary studies  are typically longitudinal and can be done only for data that is easily recorded by participants.

Customer feedback : Open-ended and/or close-ended information is provided by a self-selected sample of users, often through a feedback link, button, form, or email.

Desirability studies : Participants are offered different visual-design alternatives and are expected to associate each alternative with a set of attributes selected from a closed list. These studies can be both qualitative and quantitative.

Card sorting : A quantitative or qualitative method that asks users to organize items into groups and assign categories to each group. This method helps  create or refine the information architecture  of a site by exposing users’  mental models .

Tree testing : A quantitative method of testing an information architecture to determine how easy it is to find items in the hierarchy. This method can be conducted on an existing information architecture to benchmark it and then again, after the information architecture is improved with card sorting, to demonstrate improvement.

Analytics : Analyzing data collected from user behavior like clicks, form filling, and other recorded interactions. It requires the site or application to be instrumented properly in advance.

Clickstream analytics:  A particular type of analytics that involves analyzing the sequence of pages that users visit as they use a site or software application.

A/B testing  (aka  multivariate testing , live testing, or bucket testing): A method of scientifically testing different designs on a site by randomly assigning groups of users to interact with each of the different designs and measuring the effect of these assignments on user behavior.

Surveys : A quantitative measure of attitudes through a series of questions, typically more closed-ended than open-ended .  A survey that is triggered during the use of a site or application is an intercept survey, often triggered by user behavior. More typically, participants are recruited from an email message or reached through some other channel such as social media.

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Sep 1, 2022

The best user research questions and how to ask them

To get the right insights, you need to ask the right questions. Here’s the best user research questions to start gathering feedback right away.

Lorelei Bowman

Content Editor at Maze

Knowing the right user research questions to ask is vital to the success of your UX research. Research is an invaluable source of input for product development, but before you can get started, you need to make sure the questions lined up will get the insights you need, without influencing the data.

Think of this article as your guide to all-things user research questions: what to ask, how to ask it, and how to create your own questions. Let’s get started.

What kind of user research questions are there?

The kind of questions you ask will depend on your research goals—are you looking to gather user feedback, or find out if a particular feature is (or would be) useful? Are you trying to discover what problems bother your user, or whether they’d prefer one solution over another?

Before planning your questions and diving head-first into research, look at your overarching research plan and objectives. Consider this on a project-by-project basis, as your end questions will be drastically different depending on where you are in the product development process . For instance, if you’re in early product discovery , you may want to discover user intent and pain points. Or, if you’re working on a high-fidelity prototype, you might want to see how users interact with the prototype, and how easy it is to use. Asking questions at different stages of your process is a big part of continuous product discovery and ensuring your product remains the best it can be.

💡 If you’re looking to understand the types of question format used in surveys or user questionnaires, take a look at our guide on how to write survey questions .

User research questions can be categorized in many ways—by objective, research scenario, or point in the product journey, to name a few. Since different questions may apply in multiple situations, we’re going to consider questions organized by their research focus.

Questions for user research can typically be categorized three ways:

• Questions about the problem e.g., what are users’ pain points, what task are they trying to complete, what solution do they want
• Questions about the people e.g., who they are, how they use products, what they want to accomplish, how likely are they to use the product
• Questions about the product e.g., how users’ feel about content or design, can they navigate the product, how usable is it, what features do they like or dislike

Now we know what kinds of questions there are, let’s delve into the value of pre-made questions, and some examples of each question type.

Using pre-made user research questions

To elevate your research, you can opt to use pre-existing questions from a question bank. As with all research tools , there are many benefits to this, including saving time and effort, and having many questions to choose from. Using a question bank also ensures questions are always carefully considered, easily understandable for users, and unbiased.

Meet the Maze question bank

An open-source question repository for product teams, our question bank is aimed at helping you ask the best user research questions to gather insight that will help build truly user-centered products.

A good question bank will be multifunctional, with questions you can use when running moderated to unmoderated testing, conducting generative or evaluative research, or gathering quantitative or qualitative data. So you can have one place to go for all your user research question needs.

🚀 Boost your research with Maze templates

If you’re a Maze user, you can also use the question bank as a handy companion to fuel your team’s research with Maze—check out the templates column and question block suggestions for maximum efficiency when building mazes.

Ultimately, a pre-made question bank can help save you a lot of time, and allow you to focus on conducting the research and processing analysis.

If you’d like to create your own questions, let’s get into the different user research question types, what questions they include, and how to ask them.

Click on the image to head straight to the question bank 👆

Questions about the problem

To support product and design decisions behind any solution, you need to be familiar with the problem you (and your users) are trying to solve. Whether you’re starting product discovery and want to understand user pain points, or you’re testing new features and want to gauge which will be most popular— you can’t begin working on a solution until you’ve honed in on what the problem is.

What’s bothering your users? How can you make their lives easier? What’s their key challenge, and what are they trying to achieve that’s being blocked by that problem?

Only once you’ve narrowed down a key problem statement can you translate solutions into the user experience, and identify opportunities for product development .

Questions focusing on the problem you’re trying to solve are key in product discovery stages and concept validation . The reason for using a particular product or feature may vary between users—consider Instagram’s Explore tab: it could be used to find friends, connect with like-minded people, or find inspiration.

Questions that can help hone into the problem at hand include:

• What problems do you face when you do [task]?
• Please complete this sentence: "The most frustrating part of trying to complete [task] is…”
• What is your main goal when trying to complete [task]?
• What is your personal measure of success when it comes to [goal]?
• How are you currently solving [problem]?
• Describe your ideal solution to [problem]

Questions about the people

Understanding the problem you’re trying to solve goes hand in hand with the people who are facing this problem—who they are and how they think, how they adopt and use products, their wants, needs and dislikes.

Put simply, there’s no point building a product if it solves the problem your user is having—but not in the way they wanted it to.

To really understand how your users think, and the way they approach a product, you need to understand their mental models. Broadly speaking, a mental model determines how someone forms their thinking process—it might impact the way they approach a problem, the kind of solution they’d like, and how they expect certain features to work.

UX research methods like card sorting are a good way to understand people’s mental models, but you can also gather this insight through thoughtful user interviews or research questions.

User-focused questions also cover understanding attitudes towards product adoption, use habits and circumstances, pricing models, and demographics.

Some example questions you could ask to learn more about your target users include:

• Are there any products that you prefer to use to do [task]?
• What does your job look like in your company?
• How do you prefer to be trained on new products?
• How much would you pay for [product]?
• Please describe who you might collaborate with when [task]?
• How often do you do [task]?

Questions about the product

Once you understand the problem your product will solve, and the people who’ll be using it, it’s time to circle back to the product itself. Questions about the product may be about its usability, what features you’re including, how users feel about content or design, and whether it does what they need it to.

Just like all research, it’s a good idea to ask product-related questions multiple time during the research phase, as both questions and answer will vary depending on what development stage you’re at—from prioritizing which feature to focus on developing first, to assessing how navigable a certain product section is, or reviewing the appeal of specific design aspects.

To gain a well-rounded understanding of how users find using your product or feature, usability testing is imperative. And, if you’re trying to nail down product navigation and identify any bumps in the user journey, tree testing is the research method of choice.

Whatever your focus, questions relating to the product are useful in both evaluative and generative research , and critical for creating a user-centered, solution-focused product.

Sample questions you can use to learn more about the product and features could include:

• How did you find the language (including but not limited to copy, phrasing, tone) used on the website?
• What’s the single most important thing we could do to make [product] better?
• On a scale of 1-10, how was your experience when [task]?
• Was the product navigation as expected?
• If you could change one thing about the design what would it be and why?
• Thinking about what [product] offers, which of the following best describes your feelings about it?

🤔 To dive into the questions you should be asking during usability testing, check out how to ask effective usability testing questions .

Regardless of what questions you ask, it’s worth bearing in mind that this information should be considered a guide, not a rule—as sometimes what people think they’ll do is not what they always do in practice . This is why it’s so important to continue research and testing in all stages of product development, so you can always be working off the most reliable and up-to-date insight.

Guidelines for crafting the right user research questions

Research questions set the standard of the data you’ll gather with them, so it’s crucial to properly craft each question to maximize insight and ensure accurate results.

Using a pre-made question bank is one way to keep questions effective, but if you’re writing your own questions, bear in mind that everything from the language you use to the structure or format of questions can influence the user’s answer.

The best questions for user interviews and research are clear , precise , and unbiased . Let’s go over some ultimate tips for crafting questions that fulfill this.

Stay neutral: avoid leading questions

One of the most important points when it comes to any research is being a neutral party, which means removing cognitive bias from your work. Research isn’t helpful if it’s biased, so ensure your questions are as impartial as possible—after all, just because you like Concept A over Concept B, doesn’t mean everyone will.

The key to staying neutral is avoiding leading questions where you subconsciously favor one thing over another, or plant an opinion or idea in the user’s mind, such as “How would you use concept A?”—this assumes they preferred concept A, which they may not have. Instead, try asking which concept they would use, followed by how they would use it.

Take it one question at a time

The majority of us think best when our minds are clear and able to focus on one thing, so avoid bombarding research participants with multiple questions phrased together.

Rather than asking a question like “What did you think about the design, copy and layout of the page?”, ask individually about the design, copy, and layout. Otherwise, you risk users merging their thoughts into one answer, when in fact they may feel very differently about each element.

Of course some questions lend themselves to being combined (e.g., “Which concept did you prefer and why?”), but it’s best to keep things separate when possible, and ask “Why?” in follow up questions, to allow users space to think and form individual answers for each question.

Ask open-ended questions

Similar to ensuring questions are unbiased, it’s also a good idea to ask open-ended questions—that is, to avoid questions which result in simply a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.

The benefit of open-ended questions is that they give participants an opportunity to expand on their answer, work through their experience, and share details with you that may otherwise be missed. Consider that, while asking “Did you like the product?” may answer whether a user liked it, you’ll be left wondering what it is they like about it. Instead, try framing questions in a way that provides space for additional information, e.g. “What did you think about the product?”.

Pro tip ✨ If you do ask closed-ended questions, always keep follow up questions aside to dig deeper gather and extra insight from your participants.

Help users find their own voice

The language we use is incredibly powerful. Used well, words can move us, sway our opinions, educate us, and more.

By helping your research participants to find their own voice, you can unlock powerful statements and user insights which will truly impact your product. Formatting questions with the user at the center—using ‘you’ and asking emotive questions—builds empathy with the user and encourages them to find and share their own opinions through honest answers.

Ask questions you think you know the answer to

Our final question-crafting tip is to use research questions to test and validate your own assumptions and opinions. Ask questions you think you know the answer to—if you believe all users will prefer one new feature over the other, see if you’re right. If you think a certain design element works better on a different page, ask research participants to determine where they prefer it.

As with any research, while you may be user-adjacent, you are not your users. You are the expert in your product; they are the expert in using your product. Trust their opinions, and use their knowledge and experience to confirm your suspicions, or disprove them. Either way, you gain valuable insights.

User research is as effective as the questions you ask

Whether you’re investigating user preferences or conducting usability testing, research is only as effective as the questions you ask—and how you ask them.

Focus on questions that fit your research objectives, phrase your questions in the best way possible, and work to build empathy with your user; you’ll be able to gather valuable insights in no time.

Frequently asked questions and user research questions

What makes a good user research question?

A good research question is open-ended , unbiased , clear , and precise . It helps research participants share their thoughts, feedback, and opinions with researchers, without influencing or limiting their responses.

What type of user research questions are there?

User research questions can broadly be broken down into three categories:

How do you create a user research question?

There are several ways to create a user research question: you can either write your own question, or select premade questions from an existing research question bank.

If you choose to write your own research questions, it’s important to keep them clear and precise above all else—focus on asking questions that encourage users to open up, share additional information, and speak honestly.

Continue Reading

How to avoid leading questions in UX research (+ examples)

UX research best practices: Building and researching products with ethics in mind

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User Experience Research: Definition, Types, Steps, + Uses

Have you ever noticed how your favorite applications and websites appear to read your mind? How do they smoothly anticipate your wants and make you feel like a tech-savvy superhero? It isn’t magic; it is the result of User Experience Research!

UX research is a dynamic and ongoing process that is essential in developing effective and user-friendly products or services. It fills the gap between user expectations and design decisions, resulting in higher product satisfaction and better business-related results.

Continue reading to learn more about user experience research, how to do it, and how researchers may use it.

What is User Experience research?

User Experience research or UX research is defined as users’ systematic study to discover behaviors, needs, motivations, and trends through observations, analysis, and other user feedback.

UX researchers use different methods to understand problems and draw opportunities to stand out amongst their competition. Organizations conduct UX research to precisely understand how real customers react to the products or services in the real world.

Types of UX research methods

We can divide UX research into two dimensions depending on the product type, its environment, the research size, and your timelines. Let’s look at both measurements.

Quantitative vs. qualitative research

Quantitative research is the study of a population through the use of surveys and questionnaires. Quantitative research helps to generalize findings and understand what a specific population likes and dislikes. This data collection technique is generally mathematical in nature.

Qualitative research helps researchers gather information by observing users in field studies or focus groups. Qualitative research brings sense to the motivations and reasons for consumer behavior. The users are generally in small numbers belonging to diverse backgrounds and help answer the ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about consumer behavior.

LEARN ABOUT: Qualitative Research Questions and Questionnaires

Attitudinal vs. behavioral research

“Attitudinal research” applies to what users say, while “behavioral” applies to what they really do. What users and customers usually say and what they do are sometimes pretty different. Researchers often conduct attitudinal research to measure customers’ needs and beliefs.

However, researchers lean towards behavioral research for insights as data on what users tend to do is more relevant. Website A/B testing is an excellent example of behavioral research because it gives researchers critical insights into how users perceive and act on different versions of the same site.

Steps to conduct user experience research

Conducting user experience research is a structured procedure that helps discover significant insights for improving the user experience. Here are the five steps to conducting user experience research:

Step 1: Define objectives

Always define the goals of your research before you act. Understand what you want to discover about your customers and their requirements.

By defining the objectives of your study, you can set the foundation for targeted and purposeful studies. Your goals should include a thorough understanding of your clients and their individual needs. This first stage acts as a compass to ensure that your research efforts are focused on measurable outcomes.

Step 2: Set a hypothesis

Set a hypothesis on what you feel you know about the users. This hypothesis serves as a preliminary assumption, a starting point that you will test and modify during the study process. A well-crafted hypothesis helps guide your research efforts and serves as the foundation for structured inquiry.

Step 3: Choose a suitable method(s)

Choosing the best research techniques is similar to choosing the right tools for a job. The method you’ll adopt is heavily influenced by factors such as project kind, available resources, research team size, and deadlines.

Whether you use surveys, interviews, usability testing, or a combination of methodologies, the goal is to customize your options to the specific context of your research, assuring effective data collecting and insight development.

Step 4: Apply the research method(s)

Conduct research using the research method(s) you chose and start collecting user data about their preferences, likes, dislikes, and needs. Conducting user experience research involves actively engaging with your target users and collecting valuable data.

This step entails creating surveys, setting up usability testing, conducting user interviews, or deploying any other chosen methodologies. UX researchers use a number of user research methods to conduct UX research. By directly interacting with users, you gain firsthand insights into user behaviors, preferences, and pain points.

Step 5: Synthesize feedback

Compiling and synthesizing the feedback is critical as data from your research activity comes in. This involves thoroughly examining user data and discovering trends, patterns, and variations. Collect and analyze the user-feedback data to fill in your knowledge gaps. Use this knowledge to improve and enhance your offering.

You can develop and improve your offers based on actual consumer demands by using synthesized feedback as a source of insights to direct your decision-making.

Uses of User Experience Research

UX research is a comprehensive toolkit for researchers. It allows them to navigate different stages of design and development while uncovering a variety of user insights. Researchers use UX research for the following:

Discovery means understanding what the users find relevant. Researchers either interview the user in their environment or ask them to maintain a record of their daily interaction with a design. Researchers look for insights into user habits, needs, and preferences during this phase.

UX researchers may conduct interviews with users in their natural surroundings or ask them to keep a record of their everyday experiences with a specific design to do this. Researchers can better empathize with users’ experiences and discover insights that help drive the design process by immersing themselves in their reality.

Exploration involves investigating many options and solutions to meet the different requirements of customers. During this phase, researchers look at possibilities to address the needs of all users. Card sorting is one of the interactive UX research methods to understand precisely what people like and dislike.

This interaction method helps researchers better understand users’ mental models and how they expect information to be organized. By investigating these preferences, UX designers may create interfaces and structures that fit customers’ needs, resulting in more intuitive and user-friendly designs.

Usability Testing

Usability Testing is an important stage in the UX research process because it allows designs and prototypes to be thoroughly tested. Testing helps you evaluate the design process thoroughly. UX researchers evaluate the product’s usability, functionality, and overall experience.

Usability testing involves observing real users interact with a prototype, product, or service. A UX researcher can modify the design and make informed decisions to produce a more seamless user experience by identifying pain points, problems, and places of misunderstanding. Companies test products to ensure they’re easy to use and accessible to everyone.

Listening to user feedback and viewpoints is essential for getting insights and putting design issues into context. Listening assists UX researchers in putting issues in perspective. It helps them find unseen problems to fix quickly.

Surveys and Questionnaires are useful tools that help researchers track user feelings. UX researchers can frequently seek user feedback via surveys, questionnaires, and feedback sessions. This method enables researchers to measure user sentiments, identify potential problems that may not be obvious at first, and fix them as soon as possible.

Benefits of UX research

The benefits of conducting UX research are numerous, contributing to both product quality and business success. Here’s a closer look at the main benefits of incorporating UX research into your design and development processes:

Better products

Involving your potential customers directly helps you gain a lot of knowledge on what the customers prefer, what their pain points are, and what will help the overall improvement of the product.

Happy users

UX research helps you collect unbiased feedback directly from your customers – your most reliable feedback source. It is the best actionable feedback source because it is not influenced by company leaders, investors, or other outsiders.

Business growth

Understanding what your customers seek helps organizations spend less money and time correcting flawed designs. It helps to speed up the product development process and boosts customer satisfaction.

User Experience research is an ongoing process. It connects user expectations and design decisions to create seamless product experiences. It discovers user behaviors and preferences using approaches such as quantitative and qualitative research, as well as attitudinal and behavioral insights.

QuestionPro research enables you to effectively develop, distribute, and analyze surveys, acquire useful insights, and make data-driven decisions across a wide range of research areas. It speeds up the research process, increases user interaction, and ultimately helps you better understand your target audience and improve your products or services.

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User Experience Research

What is user experience research.

User Experience (UX) research is the process of understanding users' behaviors, needs, and preferences in order to improve the design and functionality of digital products and services. It involves collecting and analyzing data from users to gain insights that inform decision-making throughout the design and development process.

User experience researchers employ various methods, such as user interviews, usability tests, surveys, and data analysis, to gather qualitative and quantitative data about how users interact with a product or service. This research helps uncover problems, identify opportunities, and validate design decisions, ultimately enhancing the overall user experience.

By conducting user experience research, businesses can create user-centered solutions that meet the needs and expectations of their target audience. It enables companies to refine their offerings, optimize usability, and increase user satisfaction and engagement.

The Importance of Assessing User Experience Research Skills

Assessing a candidate's ability in user experience research is crucial for successful hiring at large organizations. By evaluating their understanding and application of user experience research principles, you can identify candidates who possess the necessary skills to create impactful and user-centered digital products and services.

When you assess a candidate's knowledge and experience in user experience research, you can ensure that they have the capability to gather valuable insights from users and translate them into actionable improvements. This not only enhances the overall user experience but also helps drive customer satisfaction and engagement.

By evaluating a candidate's familiarity with user experience research techniques, you can gauge their ability to identify user pain points, conduct thorough analyses, and make informed design decisions. This ensures that you hire individuals who can contribute to the development of intuitive, seamless, and user-friendly digital solutions.

Additionally, by assessing a candidate's expertise in user experience research, you can build a team of professionals who can effectively collaborate with stakeholders, understand user needs, and align design goals with business objectives. This alignment can lead to improved customer satisfaction, increased user retention, and ultimately, greater success for your organization.

Assessing User Experience Research Skills with Alooba

Alooba offers a range of assessment options to evaluate candidates' proficiency in user experience research, helping you make informed hiring decisions at large organizations. Here are two relevant test types that can effectively assess user experience research skills:

1. Concepts & Knowledge Test

This multi-choice test assesses a candidate's understanding of fundamental concepts and knowledge related to user experience research. With customizable skills and autograded responses, it provides insights into a candidate's grasp of key principles and methodologies in this field.

2. Written Response Test

The written response test allows candidates to showcase their ability to articulate and communicate user experience research findings. By providing a written response or essay, candidates can demonstrate their analytical skills, attention to detail, and ability to effectively convey insights gathered through user research.

Using Alooba's intuitive assessment platform, you can easily customize, administer, and evaluate these user experience research tests. The platform provides features like auto-graded responses, customizable skills, and in-depth subjective evaluations for certain test types, enabling you to assess candidates accurately and efficiently.

By utilizing these assessment options, you can identify top talent with a strong understanding of user experience research principles and methodologies, ensuring that you onboard individuals who can contribute effectively to creating exceptional user experiences.

Components of User Experience Research

User experience research encompasses various subtopics and components, each contributing to the understanding and improvement of digital products and services. Here are some key aspects covered in user experience research:

1. User Interviews: This involves conducting interviews with users to gather insights into their needs, goals, and behaviors. Understanding user perspectives helps uncover pain points and areas for improvement.

2. Usability Testing: Usability testing involves observing users as they interact with a product or service to assess its ease of use. This helps identify usability issues, navigation challenges, and opportunities for enhancements.

3. Surveys and Questionnaires: Surveys and questionnaires provide a structured way to gather quantitative and qualitative feedback from users. These tools help collect data on user satisfaction, preferences, and perceptions.

4. Persona Development: Persona development involves creating fictional representations of different user types, based on research insights. Personas help designers and developers empathize with users and tailor experiences to meet their specific needs.

5. User Journeys: User journey mapping visualizes the path that users take when engaging with a product or service. These maps identify touchpoints, pain points, and opportunities for improving the overall user experience.

6. Card Sorting: Card sorting is a technique used to organize information and navigate through complex systems. By involving users in the process, designers can create intuitive information architectures and navigation structures.

7. A/B Testing: A/B testing compares two or more variations of a design to determine which performs best. This data-driven approach helps optimize user experiences by identifying the most effective design choices.

8. Heatmaps and Analytics: Heatmaps and analytics tools provide visualizations of user behavior and interactions. These insights help identify popular areas, user flow patterns, and areas of high engagement or drop-off.

By considering these components in user experience research, organizations can gain a comprehensive understanding of users' needs, behaviors, and preferences. This knowledge enables informed decision-making in the design and development process, leading to user-centered and impactful digital products and services.

Utilizing User Experience Research

User experience research is an invaluable tool in optimizing digital products and services to meet the needs and expectations of users. Here's how user experience research is used in practice:

1. Informing Design Decisions: User experience research provides valuable insights that inform design decisions. By understanding user preferences, pain points, and behaviors, designers can create interfaces, features, and interactions that align with user expectations, resulting in a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.

2. Iterative Design Process: User experience research is employed throughout the iterative design process. By continuously testing and gathering feedback from users, designers can refine and improve their designs, ensuring that they are responsive to user needs and preferences.

3. Optimizing Usability: Usability testing and user feedback are instrumental in identifying usability issues and refining the user interface. By addressing these issues, organizations can create a seamless and frustration-free experience, increasing user satisfaction and engagement.

4. Validating Design Hypotheses: User experience research helps validate design hypotheses and concepts. By conducting user interviews, surveys, and testing, organizations can gather data-driven insights to confirm whether a design solution meets user expectations and solves their problems effectively.

5. Enhancing User Engagement: User experience research aids in enhancing user engagement with digital products and services. By understanding user motivations, preferences, and goals, organizations can tailor experiences to drive increased engagement, such as through personalized recommendations or gamification elements.

6. Driving Innovation: User experience research can fuel innovation by uncovering new opportunities and identifying emerging trends. By staying attuned to user needs and aspirations, organizations can develop innovative solutions that differentiate themselves in a competitive market.

By leveraging user experience research, organizations can create user-centered and impactful digital experiences. Incorporating user feedback and insights throughout the design and development process ensures that products and services resonate with users, resulting in increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and business success.

Roles that Benefit from User Experience Research Skills

Several roles on Alooba require good user experience research skills to excel in their respective domains. Here are some notable positions where a strong understanding of user experience research is beneficial:

Data Engineer : Data engineers involved in developing and maintaining data infrastructure can leverage user experience research to understand user needs, preferences, and feedback when designing data pipelines and systems.

Product Analyst : Product analysts responsible for analyzing user behavior and product performance can apply user experience research techniques to gather qualitative and quantitative data, enabling them to make data-informed decisions and optimize product experiences.

Operations Analyst : Operations analysts can utilize user experience research to identify pain points, bottlenecks, and areas of improvement within operational processes, leading to streamlined and efficient workflows.

Product Manager and Product Owner : Product managers and owners rely on user experience research to understand user needs, conduct market research, and align product strategies with user expectations, ensuring the development of successful and user-centric products.

Visualization Analyst and Visualization Developer : These roles require professionals to design and develop visualizations that effectively communicate complex data insights to users. Strong user experience research skills allow them to create intuitive and user-friendly visualizations.

UX Analyst : As the name suggests, UX analysts play a crucial role in conducting user experience research, evaluating user interactions, and generating insights to drive UX improvements and usability enhancements.

Web Analyst : Web analysts with user experience research proficiency can analyze website user behavior, identify conversion bottlenecks, and optimize user journeys to improve website usability and engagement.

Social Media Analyst and SEO Analyst : Professionals in these roles can leverage user experience research to understand user preferences, conduct sentiment analysis, and optimize social media campaigns and search engine optimization strategies accordingly.

CRM Analyst : CRM analysts can leverage user experience research to gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and interactions, enabling them to enhance customer relationship management strategies effectively.

By possessing strong user experience research skills in these roles, professionals can enrich their decision-making, optimize outcomes, and align their strategies and deliverables with the needs and expectations of users.

Associated Roles

Crm analyst.

CRM Analysts specialize in analyzing customer relationship management (CRM) data to enhance customer engagement, optimize marketing strategies, and drive sales growth. They play a key role in understanding customer behaviors, segmenting audiences, and aiding in the development of targeted marketing campaigns. CRM Analysts are adept at using CRM platforms, interpreting data analytics, and providing actionable insights to support business objectives.

Data Engineer

Data Engineers are responsible for moving data from A to B, ensuring data is always quickly accessible, correct and in the hands of those who need it. Data Engineers are the data pipeline builders and maintainers.

Operations Analyst

Operations Analysts are pivotal in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes. They work across various departments, such as supply chain, logistics, and human resources, utilizing their expertise in data analysis and project management. These professionals are adept in extracting and interpreting data, identifying trends, and providing actionable insights to enhance operational performance. They typically employ tools like SQL, Excel, and PowerBI, and are skilled in communication and problem-solving to support decision-making processes.

Product Analyst

Product Analysts utilize data to optimize product strategies and enhance user experiences. They work closely with product teams, leveraging skills in SQL, data visualization (e.g., Tableau), and data analysis to drive product development. Their role includes translating business requirements into technical specifications, conducting A/B testing, and presenting data-driven insights to inform product decisions. Product Analysts are key in understanding customer needs and driving product innovation.

Product Manager

Product Managers are responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition of a product or product line. They work at the intersection of business, technology, and user experience, focusing on delivering solutions that meet market needs. Product Managers often have a background in business, engineering, or design, and are skilled in areas such as market research, user experience design, and agile methodologies.

Product Owner

Product Owners serve as a vital link between business goals and technical implementation. They work closely with stakeholders to understand and prioritize their needs, translating them into actionable user stories for development teams. Product Owners manage product backlogs, ensure alignment with business objectives, and play a crucial role in Agile and Scrum methodologies. Their expertise in both business and technology enables them to guide the product development process effectively.

SEO Analyst

SEO Analysts specialize in enhancing a website's visibility on search engines through various optimization techniques. They analyze and implement strategies to improve a website's search engine rankings, focusing on keyword research, on-page optimization, and technical SEO. SEO Analysts work with cross-functional teams, leveraging tools like Google Analytics and SEO software to monitor performance and make data-driven decisions. Their goal is to increase organic traffic and improve the website's overall online presence.

Social Media Analyst

Social Media Analysts specialize in analyzing data from social platforms to inform business strategies and marketing decisions. They play a pivotal role in understanding customer behavior and trends on social networks, enabling brands to optimize their online presence. Social Media Analysts use a variety of tools and techniques, including social listening tools, web analytics, and native analytics tools of platforms like Meta Business Suite, to provide comprehensive insights. Their expertise helps in crafting compelling narratives, identifying growth opportunities, and improving the overall impact of social media campaigns.

UX Analysts focus on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies. This role is pivotal in bridging the gap between users and development teams, ensuring that user interfaces are intuitive, accessible, and conducive to a positive user experience. UX Analysts use a variety of tools and methods to collect user insights and translate them into actionable design improvements, working closely with UI designers, developers, and product managers.

Visualization Analyst

Visualization Analysts specialize in turning complex datasets into understandable, engaging, and informative visual representations. These professionals work across various functions such as marketing, sales, finance, and operations, utilizing tools like Tableau, Power BI, and D3.js. They are skilled in data manipulation, creating interactive dashboards, and presenting data in a way that supports decision-making and strategic planning. Their role is pivotal in making data accessible and actionable for both technical and non-technical audiences.

Visualization Developer

Visualization Developers specialize in creating interactive, user-friendly visual representations of data using tools like Power BI and Tableau. They work closely with data analysts and business stakeholders to transform complex data sets into understandable and actionable insights. These professionals are adept in various coding and analytical languages like SQL, Python, and R, and they continuously adapt to emerging technologies and methodologies in data visualization.

Web Analyst

Web Analysts play a crucial role in generating insights and analytics related to digital commerce and web performance. They focus on creating dashboards, reports, and advanced analytics that directly influence digital campaigns and the customer journey, ultimately optimizing website performance and conversion rates.

Related Skills

Other names for User Experience Research include UX Research , and User Research .

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7 powerful examples of UX research in action

After a lengthy planning and designing process, you’ve turned your website or app vision into a reality. But maybe you've noticed that despite its visual appeal, conversions are low while bounce rates keep soaring. Often, a poor user experience (UX) is to blame, affecting your brand perceptions and customer conversions.

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So, how can you create a frictionless, user-centric experience? Strong UX research and smart use of UX research tools are key.

While the research process can be a challenge, analyzing how other brands have successfully conducted UX research can inspire your own approach. This article dives into seven detailed case studies and shows you how to use UX research tools to identify and solve UX challenges and delight your customers.

Empower your team to do great UX research

Use Hotjar for effective end-to-end UX research campaigns that help you deeply understand user needs

Why and when should you perform UX research?

UX research is the strategic process of analyzing target users to understand their needs, behavior, and experience. Teams use UX research, feedback tools, and experimentation techniques to collect contextual insights.

Then, they translate these insights into a user-centric design that generates strong conversions and higher user retention rates.

UX research offers several other benefits, including:

Helping create customer delight: by understanding how users behave, you can design your product more accessibly and empathetically. UX research equips teams to create tailored experiences, maximizing customer satisfaction and improving product experience (PX). 

Replacing guesswork with data-driven insights : UX research involves collecting and assessing qualitative and quantitative data to make decisions based on comprehensive insights, rather than gut feelings.

Providing insight into the user’s needs : the better you know your audience's pain points, the better you can design a product that truly addresses their needs. UX research tells you exactly where your users struggle—so you can come up with solutions. 

Helping you achieve critical KPIs : research methods like concept validation and user feedback ensure every iteration moves you toward better user engagement, conversions, increased retention, and reduced churn, positively impacting your revenue.

The benefits of UX research are clear. So when should you start the process? 

Since you are creating a product for someone else and not for yourself, any time is good to start UX research. The beginning doesn't have to be sophisticated. It can start simple and evolve, adapting to the amount/complexity of the questions about the users and the resources of your business.

You only need curiosity, some time, and a willingness to base your product on facts and not assumptions.

Let’s take a look at how seven companies aced UX research and produced incredible results.

7 UX research examples to get inspired

UX research offers you opportunities for conversion rate optimization and personalization that can significantly increase business growth and enhance customer satisfaction.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t always need a dedicated UX research team: a cost-effective tech stack can do most of the heavy lifting. Product experience insights tools like Hotjar help you assess your users’ experience, measure their behavior, and garner constructive feedback for UX analysis . 

Here are seven examples of great UX research with the help of product experience insights tools to get you inspired.

1. Zenprint: 7% reduction in bounce rate

Zenprint provides order and wholesale digital printing services in the Australian market.

Zenprint’s biggest challenge was identifying factors leading to drop-offs on their website. The brand’s marketing team struggled to figure out:

Where people spent their time

What users were interested in 

What caused them to drop off

They wanted actionable insights into how users interacted with their site . 

Action plan

Zenprint’s marketing team leveraged Hotjar (👋) to analyze web performance and understand user behavior at a granular level. They used:

Funnels to locate the exact drop-off points in the customer journey

Session Recordings to understand how each user behaved on the site, tracing mouse and scroll movements to see which elements users click on

Heatmaps to view color-coded representations of popular and unpopular site elements to help discover areas where users spend the most time and determine those that need improvement

This action plan helped the team zero in on their pricing table as a major blocker.

Once Zenprint identified the problem, the next step was split testing multiple layouts to optimize the pricing table. With a simple change in their pricing plan, the Zenprint team reduced drop-off rates by 7% and boosted its conversion rate by 2%. 

Key takeaways

For stellar UX research, collect real-time insights from users across different stages of the conversion funnel to identify bottlenecks. Supplement quantitative analytics with qualitative feedback by analyzing Hotjar Recordings and Heatmaps to understand user behavior.

2. Matalan: 400% ROI

Matalan is a British fashion and homeware retail and ecommerce brand.

Without qualitative UX research to interpret data points, Matalan's UX team was forced to make decisions based on gut feelings, relying on quantitative data alone, which gave them limited visibility. The checkout process was showing high drop-offs and they weren’t sure why. 

When Matalan migrated to a responsive website, its UX team used Hotjar to record and assess user responses to this change, and compare performance through A/B testing. They also viewed Session Recordings that flagged bugs and glitches early in the migration process.

They used Hotjar's Feedback tools to collect user feedback in real-time to capture the customer’s voice and make product changes to improve the user experience. Combined with user recordings, these provided a complete overview of the user journey, which helped eliminate areas of friction.

Using recordings to closely monitor user behavior, Matalan optimized its checkout process and increased conversions by 1.23%.

They created a bespoke experience dashboard by combining qualitative insights gathered by Hotjar with Google Data Studio analytics for a comprehensive UX research process. 

Instead of relying solely on numbers, collect user perspectives to add depth to your UX research . This concrete feedback can make your team aware of flaws in the user experience so you can proactively offer fixes.

3. Materials Market: 3x conversions

Materials Market is a UK-based marketplace for construction material manufacturers and customers.

Materials Market’s co-founder wanted to optimize their website experience by improving three problem areas:

Poorly placed calls to action (CTAs), where mobile users couldn’t see the CTA clearly enough to click on it

Customer drop-offs at the checkout step because users only wanted to check the delivery time

A complicated cookie policy that caused visitors to bounce as soon as they landed on the website

Materials Market used Hotjar Recordings and Heatmaps to dig deeper into these UX research issues . The result was a gradual upgrade of the website to meet—and exceed—customer expectations. Here’s what happened:

They improved the visibility of CTAs with changes to font, color, and design. The team also included a rating widget next to the CTAs to display social proof. 

They removed the need to set up an account to place an order and added an estimated delivery date for every product

They implemented design changes in the cookie policy pop-up to make it 30% bigger with better color and copy. They also placed the banner on the top of the page. 

Redesigning the checkout flow decreased drop-offs by 86%. On the flip side, the conversion rate more than tripled to 1.6% —massively boosting yearly revenue by more than £10,000.

UX research tools like recordings are a great way to understand user behavior on your website—you can sort and filter recordings with Hotjar by relevance. This can boost your UX research efforts without relying heavily on technical expertise and development knowledge.

4. Totally Promotional: increased sales while enhancing UX

Totally Promotional is a US-based manufacturer and retailer that produces customized promotional products for brands.

Totally Promotional wanted to evaluate on-site user behavior and improve the brand's UX quality but was struggling to collect meaningful user data that offered a complete insight into the user experience.

Relying on Google Analytics alone, the team lacked qualitative feedback to interpret customer needs and design empathetically.

The team added Hotjar to its tech stack to get a better view of user interaction and web experience. They used Hotjar Heatmaps to assess where users spent their time and dropped off—identifying underperforming pages and bugs. 

Hotjar’s Feedback and Survey tools were useful in capturing Voice of the Customer (VoC) insights, allowing Totally Promotional to examine why users behaved the way they did. They also watched Session Recordings to pinpoint where buyers felt stuck in the order process. 

This mix of UX research tools removed the guesswork from Totally Promotional’s website optimization process. The team took an evidence-based approach and incorporated both minor tweaks and significant updates in the ecommerce storefront design. 

However, the most crucial action they took was changing the order process for their branded pens page, which tripled sales for this product.

Behavioral data and user perspectives are both necessary for excellent UX research. Intuitive tools like Hotjar’s Feedback widget can help you collate meaningful information to supercharge your UX research campaign and implement strategic website changes. 

5. Hussle: fixed one bug every week

Hussle is a subscription-based network of gyms, spas, and digital fitness solutions. 

Hussle’s biggest challenge was high customer churn: the brand’s product team wanted to better understand why this was happening and deploy UX research to reduce churn with an unparalleled product experience. 

Hussle’s team leveraged Surveys and Recordings to find answers as to why users were leaving. 

It turned out there were three core reasons behind churn:  

High subscription cost

Changes in the user’s location 

Purchase of direct gym membership 

Deploying UX research tools to understand churn led to an improved UX and user interface and boosted Hussle’s growth. The team saw great results, including: 

A preemptive bug fix that would’ve hindered the buying process 

Streamlined the bug-fixing process by detecting and deleting at least one bug weekly

Gathered meaningful insights from users through 1000+ survey responses and over 73,000 seconds of Hotjar Session Recordings

The team has continued to use Session Recordings and Heatmaps to stay one step ahead—whether detecting bugs or finding where users get stuck. 

User feedback is a great way to understand the reasons behind churn so you can address them and improve retention . Additionally, you can also gather data to proactively fix bugs and improve UX.

6. Turum-burum: +55% conversion rate

Turum-burum is a digital UX design agency that provides conversion rate optimization strategies for clients like Intertop, one of Ukraine's biggest shoe retailers.

Intertop saw a rapid increase in traffic on their website and used Turum-burum’s services to maximize conversions from this influx of visitors. They used UX research to address three crucial challenges:

Simplifying and enhancing the customer journey once a visitor lands on Intertop’s homepage

Testing and implementing UX changes as quickly as possible

Anticipating and mitigating any potential risks resulting from UX changes

Using Hotjar’s exit-intent Surveys , the Turum-burum team identified a major problem in the conversion funnel: their complicated checkout process.  

Hotjar helped the team in two main ways:

They used the user feedback coming in through Surveys to prioritize improvements 

They used Heatmaps and Session Recordings to understand customer blockers and pain points 

Drawing on these UX research insights, the team decided to add a few small but crucial details to Intertop’s storefront, such as filters, intuitive product lists, and an improved checkout flow.

Product experience insights helped the team pinpoint exact bottlenecks and run feedback-driven experiments.  

These changes skyrocketed Intertop's conversion rate by 54.68% and reduced bounce rates by 13.35%. They also enhanced the product page and lists to increase conversion from the cart to the checkout page by 36.6%.   

Mapping the customer journey through your sales funnel is a critical part of successful ecommerce UX research. Monitor user needs at every stage through heatmaps, recordings, and feedback tools. 

7. eShopWorld: better UX and conversion fluctuation awareness 

eShopWorld delivers global ecommerce solutions to help brands scale their business at the international level. 

One of eShopWorld’s key services is conversion rate optimization. They monitor conversions for every client to identify drops and discrepancies. 

However, the team didn't have a reliable tool for evaluating user behavior and countering occasional dips in the conversion rate.

eShopWorld used Hotjar Feedback tools on its checkout page to collect real-time user opinions: customers were able to flag issues right before ordering, and the eShopWorld team could dig deeper into understanding the context behind their comments via Session Recordings .

Heatmaps also provided actionable insights into customer behavior so the team could holistically review user issues and prioritize them according to their impact on the UX.

eShopWorld studied all the user feedback to get to the root of key problems. They used research data to plan and communicate UX design and user flow changes to tackle each blocker.

The team also analyzed Hotjar Heatmaps and watched Session Recordings to assess whether UX redesigns and changes produced the intended effect for users.

UX research is a continuous process of striving to understand your customers and their preferences at every stage of design and development. By using research tools to identify key issues and dig deeper into their context, teams can produce user-centric interfaces and make data-informed decisions.

UX research is paramount to product success

For your site to attract quality traffic, deliver seamless buying experiences, and move the needle on conversion rates, you need to understand how your users behave and what they expect.

UX research tools can help you stay on top of your customer needs. Feature-packed PX insights tools allow you to easily observe user behavior, synthesize user feedback, and perform experiments to drive product growth. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What does ux research involve.

UX research is the process of studying the target audience to examine user behavior and identify opportunities for improving designs and workflows. UX research typically involves:

Monitoring user behavior 

Assessing what users like and dislike based on their activity

Collecting feedback and suggestions for potential bugs or friction areas

Experimenting to see user reactions and validate any design improvements

Asking users for feedback to bring the users’ voice into the design and development process.

What are some UX research methods?

UX research varies in terms of methodology. You can use qualitative, quantitative, behavioral, and attitudinal methods for conducting your research. Each method uncovers unique insights about the user experience, such as:

Qualitative : why and how users behave on a page

Quantitative : numerical assessment of their activity

Behavioral : what users do on a website/product

Attitudinal : how users perceive a website/product

Why do you need UX research?

UX research lays the groundwork for successful UX design strategies. It helps you understand your customers and their needs to create more empathetic designs tailored to your audience. 

It’s an essential factor for achieving goals such as lowering churn, bounce rate, cart abandonment, and improving UX. By helping you iterate your site or product informed by user feedback, UX research allows you to create a bulletproof website that meets user expectations.

UX research tools

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UX research methods

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30+ User Research Questions To Ask For Building Better Products

10 min read

The right user research questions will help you collect relevant data about your target audience and make informed decisions to propel growth.

However, if done wrong, you risk encountering confusion and skewed results. This article serves as your guide to avoid such pitfalls by showing you:

• How to craft your questions the right way and collect valuable feedback .
• Examples of questions you can copy or tweak.
• Best practices to adopt for effective results.
• User research questions are quantitative or qualitative questions you ask users to uncover insights about their mental models, needs, behavior, and experience with your product.

Broadly speaking, you can trigger research questions to:

• Understand user problems .
• Uncover user preferences.
• Gather information about the product experience.

Examples of user research questions to understand user problems:

• What problems are you looking to solve with this product?
• What is the main goal when completing [a task in the product]?
• How hard is it to accomplish [task]?

Examples of problem research questions to understand user needs:

• Describe the problem you are trying to solve as a [user persona].
• What tasks do you accomplish during an average workday?
• On a scale from 1 to 5, how difficult is it to accomplish [a task]?

Examples of UX research questions to improve user experience:

• What were your initial expectations when you started using our product, and how did the actual experience compare?
• How would you describe the organization and clarity of our menu and interface labels? Are there any terms or options that are unclear to you?
• On a scale of 1-10, how was your experience with [task]?

Adopt these best practices to crush your UX research goals:

• Ask concise questions and be specific.
• Avoid asking leading questions so research participants can provide honest answers.
• Use a mix of closed-ended and open-ended questions for comprehensive insights.

Channels to collect UX research responses:

• Use in-app user feedback surveys to gauge satisfaction.
• Conduct user interviews to understand needs, preferences & experiences.
• Carry out user testing to dig deeper into how users interact with your tool.
• Effective user research hinges on employing the right questions, user interview strategies, and continuous experimentation to discover which techniques resonate best with your audience. Userpilot can help with that. Book a demo to learn more.

What are user research questions?

User research questions are quantitative or qualitative questions you ask users to uncover insights about their perception, needs, behavior, and experience with your product.

By analyzing the responses to these questions, you can make informed decisions about product design and development. Ultimately, research helps you build a product that users love, thereby driving customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Types of user research questions

User research is as broad as it comes, but generally speaking, there are three categories when surveying SaaS users:

User research questions to understand the problems

The questions in this category help you uncover the pain points and challenges your ideal customers face.

By triggering these questions and analyzing responses from the research participants, you’re better positioned to make continuous iterations and ensure your product evolves to meet user needs.

Use this category of questions when you want to:

• Brainstorm new product ideas .
• Design a product sprint.
• Design feature enhancements.
• Improve product usability.

User research questions to understand user preferences

These questions enable you to glean proper information about your target audience . By asking them, you’ll know what makes your audience tick, the factors that influence their buying decisions, and what tasks they accomplish each day.

Trigger surveys about user preferences early in the product development stage to:

• Design data-driven user experiences .
• Identify features that will drive product adoption.
• Understand the preferred pricing structure and your users’ WTP (willingness to pay).

User research questions about the product experience

The overall product experience shapes how users perceive your brand and determines whether they continue doing business with you. By conducting surveys about the user experience, you will uncover insights to:

• Improve the product experience and usability .
• Guide new features and enhancements.
• Discover churn reasons .

Examples of user research questions to understand the problem

Trigger the questions below to gain insights into problems your users face and identify solutions that will improve their experience.

Qualitative research question examples

• Can you describe a time when you were struggling to use [product/feature] and how you eventually overcame the challenge?
• Are there any recurring issues or problems that, if resolved, would significantly enhance your overall satisfaction with our product?
• What features or functionality are missing from our product that would make it more useful for you?

Quantitative research question examples

• On a scale of 1 to 7, how challenging do you find [specific features of your product] to use?
• How likely are you to recommend our product to others based on your current experience?
• What is the likelihood that you will switch to a competitor product in the next six months?
• How often do you have to contact our customer support team for assistance?
• Indicate your level of agreement with the statement: “The current version of [product] adequately addresses my primary pain points.”

Examples of problem research questions to understand user needs

Curious about user needs, preferences, and willingness to pay? Trigger the following qualitative and quantitative survey questions at the right points in the user journey:

Qualitative research questions

• What tasks do you accomplish in an average workday?
• Can you describe one particular feature you find most valuable in a product like ours?
• Are there any missing features you’ll be willing to pay extra for?
• How do you currently address gaps or limitations in our product? Are there workarounds you’ve developed?
• How important is mobile accessibility in your workflow, and what features would you consider essential for a mobile version of our product?
• When it comes to integrations with other tools or platforms, which integrations would be most beneficial for your workflow?
• What has been the biggest hurdle in using [feature]?

Quantitative research questions

• What are the top three tasks you complete most often with our product? (List the most common tasks in your tool to make it easy for users to simply click an option)
• To what degree do you value product updates and new feature announcements in maintaining your interest in a SaaS product?
• How likely are you to consider upgrading to a higher pricing tier for access to premium features?
• How much would you be willing to pay for a solution to [problem]?

Examples of product research questions to improve user experience

Trigger the following to learn more about the user experience and identify ways to improve usability and retention.

Qualitative UX research questions

• How can we improve your experience with the product?
• Are there any features you rarely use, and if so, can you explain why?
• Can you describe a time when you were struggling to use our product and how you eventually overcame the challenge?
• Have you used similar products or competitors in our industry, and if so, what aspects of their user experience do you find better or worse than ours?
• If you were to stop using the product, what would be the main reason?

Quantitative UX research questions

• On a scale from 1 to 5, rate how easy it is to use [product].
• How often do you encounter problems completing the following tasks with our product? (List the tasks)
• On a scale from 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?
• How easy is it to find the information you need to complete tasks with our product?
• Indicate your agreement with the statement: “My overall satisfaction with [product] has increased over time.” (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree)
• How would you rate your overall experience with [product]?

Best practices when conducting user research

To avoid distorting your research results, it’s important you choose your survey questions carefully. One word or phrase could influence user responses and give you inaccurate data.

Below are three best practices when rolling out user research questions:

Ask concise questions and be specific

Concise questions help participants clearly understand the information you’re seeking. They prevent confusion and ensure participants can provide relevant insights.

Stay away from product or industry jargon, as not all participants might be familiar with them.

That said, focus on asking specific questions—ideally, one idea per question. This makes it easier for users to respond, and it also helps you analyze better and faster.

Here’s an example of an incorrect survey question: “How satisfied are you with the ease of navigation and the responsiveness of customer support in our product?”

This question combines two distinct ideas—satisfaction with ease of navigation and satisfaction with customer support responsiveness—into a single question. Respondents may have differing opinions on each aspect, making it challenging to pinpoint specific areas for improvement. It also doesn’t allow participants to express nuanced feedback on each element separately.

Avoid asking leading questions

Leading questions are intentionally or mistakenly worded in a way that suggests or pushes respondents toward a certain answer.

Example: “Was the product very easy to navigate?”

This question is leading because it suggests a positive outcome and assumes agreement with the statement. Respondents may feel compelled to respond positively even if they don’t genuinely believe the product has easy navigation. This can introduce bias and result in inaccurate data.

A better phrasing would be, “How would you describe your experience with navigating the product?”

Let’s consider another example.

What do you think about the survey question below?

“Is feature A better than feature B? (Yes/NO)”

Leading or not?

Binary questions can be tricky because the phrasings inherently imply comparison; however, the above question is leading.

A better way to frame it for unbiased responses is to ask: “Do you prefer feature A or B?”

Use a mix of closed-ended and open-ended questions

This is known as mixed-method research, and experts use it to get both qualitative and quantitative feedback for better insights.

Closed-ended questions provide quantitative data that you can quickly analyze to generate actionable insights. On the other hand, open-ended questions offer qualitative feedback, uncovering the “why” behind quantitative responses.

When designing your survey, strike a balance between closed-ended and open-ended questions. Ensure closed-ended questions cover key metrics , while open-ended questions delve into user perceptions and experiences.

Sometimes, it’s effective to start with quantitative questions to gather baseline data and then ask open-ended follow-up questions to explore nuances and gather rich qualitative data.

For example, you can trigger an NPS survey that asks users on a scale of 1-10, how likely they are to recommend your new feature, then send a follow-up asking the reasons for their scores.

How to collect responses to user research questions

There are multiple user research channels. The ones you choose boil down to your audience and research goals. For SaaS participants, in-app surveys, user interviews, and usability tests work great.

Let’s go over them in detail.

Use in-app user feedback surveys to gauge satisfaction

Meet customers where they are with contextual in-app surveys that let you collect input on the spot. This real-time feedback is valuable for understanding immediate user experiences and satisfaction levels.

For instance, triggering a CSAT survey immediately after a user interacts with your new feature lets you get more accurate feedback compared to when you wait to ask them weeks later in a one-on-one interview.

By integrating surveys into your app, you engage users without requiring them to switch to a different platform. This convenience encourages higher participation rates.

Conduct user interviews to understand needs, preferences & experiences

When it comes to understanding user needs and preferences, interviews work better. They help you interact closely with the research participants, ask follow-up questions immediately, and generate in-depth feedback to uncover underlying motivations and reasons behind user behavior.

All these are critical to building products your users will love, especially when building an MVP to test with a new audience.

In addition, direct interactions foster empathy as you can observe non-verbal cues and emotions, gaining a holistic perspective on user experiences beyond what may be expressed verbally.

Carry out usability tests to dig deeper into product usability

Usability tests help you gauge how user-friendly your product is. The tests focus on understanding customer satisfaction with your tool and their perception of its value.

Usability tests help pinpoint specific areas of your product that may cause confusion or frustration for users. By observing users during tests, you’ll gain insights into their natural interaction patterns, allowing you to make adjustments that align with user expectations and behaviors.

Popular usability testing methods include guerilla testing, lab testing, and remote testing. The approach you choose depends on your audience and research objectives.

User research isn’t a one-time task but an ongoing process of learning about users and making improvements.

Regularly conduct user research to keep track of changing customer needs and preferences. Doing this will save you from losing users to churn and ensure your product is competitive.

When you think about it critically, research boils down to asking the right questions. Your phrasing matters as much as the channels and timing. So, A/B tests different research questions to see which gives you better results.

Userpilot can help you trigger and analyze user research questions in-app. With our platform, you can:

• Design different kinds of quantitative and qualitative surveys.
• Segment users to determine who sees what.
• Set event-based triggers so your surveys are contextual. For instance, you can set your surveys to be sent after a user interacts with a new feature. This way, only users who hit that goal will see your surveys.
• A/B test different survey elements and get real-time results.

Book a demo now to get started!

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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

• [email protected]
• Sign up for MAD News!

Putting User Needs on the Map

Mit sloan design club and evan chan bring human-centered design to the community.

In a collaborative workshop, participants learn to transform an interview and sticky notes into journey maps, a communicative tool of human-centered design.

By Michelle Luo

Apr 26, 2024.

Over forty attendees from MIT and the public joined the MIT Sloan Design Club and guest designer Evan Chan, founder and director of the Human-Centered Design (HCD) Lab, in the workshop “User Journeys” on April 8. In this first collaboration, Chan introduced journey mapping, a visualization tool in human-centered design which traces the experience of a person using steps, phases, and emotional peaks and valleys of a process.

For the main activity of the evening, groups developed a “current state” journey map which charts a person’s current — often flawed — experience using sticky notes and large paper charts. Image courtesy of Sloan Design Club

Defining key terms, Chan differentiated HCD from similar fields like user experience and design thinking. In particular, HCD begins with understanding the needs of people experiencing a problem to be addressed — where journey mapping proves useful.

Participants with a shared interest in HCD came together in small groups and mingled over dinner. For the main activity of the evening, groups developed a “current state” journey map which charts a person’s current — often flawed — experience using sticky notes and large paper charts. The first step in developing the journey map is to hear from a user directly, taking detailed notes and quotes. In a live mock interview with Chan, Sloan Design Club Vice President Marissa Cui retold her rocky experience moving from New York to Cambridge. Cui scoped the extent of her moving process from the moment she decided to attend MIT Sloan to when she unpacked the last box.“Moving sucks!” says Cui, anticipating the move and dealing with delays from her movers. But by the end of the move, the gift basket that her family dropped off lifted her spirits.

In this exercise, Cui portrayed a user while Chan modeled insightful interviewing as an HCD designer. From their notes, participants broke out into groups and mapped out the scenario from beginning to end, enumerating steps, grouping steps into phases, and mapping emotions to steps using sticky notes, a useful material because of their ability to be placed and moved around as individuals chimed in to fill gaps, offer new ideas, and pose questions to their groups in service of a shared learning effort. Each group enriched its journey map with numerous details gained from a brief interview, lighting the room abuzz with discussion.

Over forty attendees from MIT and the public joined the MIT Sloan Design Club and guest designer Evan Chan, founder and director of the Human-Centered Design (HCD) Lab, in the workshop “User Journeys” on April 8. Photo courtesy of the Sloan Design Club

In an extension of the activity, participants ideated “lanes,” additional rows of the journey map that track useful information, depending on the audience or goals of the map. Lanes could include notable pain points, key dates, or time taken to complete a step.

In a final reflection and Q&A, a participant noted the challenge in detaching one’s own biases and predispositions during the journey mapping process. Foregrounding the importance of centering the end user’s needs, Chan advised taking careful notes and conducting multiple interviews, which can lead to the formulation of “archetypes,” another HCD tool that helps consider common user experiences.

At the same time, Chan emphasized the importance of “outliers” or “extreme users” — who are characterized by having the opposite experience of most users — as they can illuminate unique needs and gaps to be filled. Following the completion of a current state journey map, a designer could create a “future state” journey map to help envision and communicate a better experience.

For the Sloan Design Club, students benefit from access to design education in order to “connect with others, broaden their understanding of design, and develop tangible design-related skills.” Photo courtesy of the Sloan Design Club

MIT Sloan Design Club leaders Marissa Cui, Becca Sandercock, 2022 Design Fellow Mariama N’diaye, and 2023 Fellow Jenny Cang co-organized the event. N’diaye and Cang serve as co-presidents of the MIT Sloan Design Club, leading the organization’s vision. Cui and Sandercock are incoming co-presidents and currently serve to publicize and facilitate events such as “User Journeys” and future hands-on workshops.

“As part of our mission, we have strived to bring design-based knowledge to MIT Sloan, which is unfortunately not available within the Sloan community,” say Sloan Design Club leaders. They highlight that students benefit from access to design education in order to “connect with others, broaden their understanding of design, and develop tangible design-related skills.” They add:

Through their programming, the MIT Sloan Design Club aims “to bridge the gap between the Sloan students curious in design and the greater MIT design ecosystem. Photo courtesy of the Sloan Design Club

As a human-centered designer and director of the Human-Centered Design Lab (HCD Lab), Chan works to facilitate conversation and collaboration for better design, bringing his experience from government and business contexts to MIT. Feedback from “User Journeys” attendees highlighted the dynamic and interactive learning experience facilitated by Chan. Kicking off his work as director of the HCD Lab by collaborating with the Sloan Design Club, Chan aims to help foster space for community-building around HCD, which he identifies as an “unmet need” in the Greater Boston area.

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