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Most UX teams live with a quiet anxiety: they think they know what their users want, but they're not entirely sure. They build features, run some usability testing, and hope for the best. But hoping isn't knowing.
The only thing worse than skipping UX research is doing the wrong UX research. If your research leads you down the wrong path, you're not just wasting time -- you're confidently solving the wrong problems.
Here are five steps to build and execute a research plan that delivers real results for your users, your customers, and your business.
What Is the First Step in UX Research?
Define your objectives before you do anything else. The most important question to answer at the start of any research project is: why are you doing this research?
Without a clear answer, user research becomes expensive, frustrating, and time-consuming -- and it won't deliver much for the effort.
Two ways to sharpen your objectives:
- Talk to stakeholders -- really talk to them. Don't throw the word "stakeholders" around loosely. Think about it literally. What are the actual stakes? How can research help them answer their most important questions? What would success look like for them and their business?
- Review what already exists before you start. Too many research projects skip this step in the rush to generate new insights. Previous research studies, existing analytics data, customer support tickets, and competitors' products can all show you what you already know -- and what you still need to uncover.
How Do You Choose the Right UX Research Methods?
Ask one key question: do you want to hear what people say, or see what they actually do?
That single question will point you toward the right methods.
- If you want to understand opinions and attitudes: Start with a quantitative survey to measure and categorise stated opinions, then follow up with user interviews to go deeper. Just know that surveys are only as reliable as what people tell you they might do in a hypothetical situation, or what they remember doing in the past.
- If you want to understand actual behaviour: Run a moderated usability study, recorded so you can track how users complete specific tasks. Or try an ethnographic (field) study that watches people "in the wild" as they work through the steps your product is designed to support.
Either way, mixing quantitative and qualitative methods gives you a fuller picture. Turns out, we're all human -- and we often say one thing while doing the exact opposite.
Pro tip: Video clips are often the best way to get stakeholders to see issues and feel the user's struggle in specific contexts.
How Do You Recruit the Right Users for UX Research?
You need real users -- not just anyone who "kind of" fits the profile.
Recruitment is often the most time-consuming part of any research project. People don't show up for scheduled sessions, change their minds about participating, or just don't feel like giving feedback. It's a little like herding cats.
To make recruitment as effective as possible:
- Look at your current user base or analytics data to find people who fit the right profile or behaviour pattern for the questions you're trying to answer.
- If you haven't launched yet, do some market research and look at who uses similar products in your space.
- Recruiting the right people means you can talk to fewer of them -- because you'll quickly surface the trends most common to your core user.
Tools like UserZoom, User Interviews, or Respondent.io can help you recruit quickly, but they can get expensive, don't always have the exact user you need, and occasionally deliver people who are a bit too experienced at product testing (the dreaded professional tester). Sometimes guerilla-style recruitment through Facebook groups or your own professional network is the better call.
If you have a large existing user base, consider building a user feedback panel. Give your users the option to sign up as on-call research testers you can tap for feedback on new features or ideas.
A note on compensation: It's extremely rare to find people who'll give you their time and feedback for free. Compensation should reflect the participant's role and time. Professional users responding to research about a work tool will expect something close to their hourly rate. Users opening up their personal lives to research may accept slightly less -- but it still needs to match their expectations for what the ask is worth.
Why Do You Need a Research Plan and Script?
A good research plan ties everything together -- your research questions, your chosen methods, and your recruitment plan -- into a cohesive outline you can actually follow.
Scripts keep researchers focused and on track, ensure all topics are covered, and allow multiple researchers to moderate different sessions with consistency. Qualitative, open-ended questions are what get users talking about how they currently accomplish tasks or solve the problems your product is built around.
The key to great research is having a great plan, putting it into action, and then shutting up and listening. It's easy to overreach -- asking too many questions or steering users toward your own assumptions. The most powerful tool in user research is silence. Users will often fill it with an insight or observation you never would have thought to ask about.
How Do You Run a UX Research Session?
With a plan in place, schedule your sessions and be ready to adapt.
No two user interviews, usability sessions, or ethnographic studies are the same. Just like your product, your research plan needs the flexibility to adjust to real users. You'll learn a lot from your first few sessions about what works and what doesn't. Adjust as needed -- but keep your focus on the core questions you're trying to answer.
A few additional tips to keep in mind:
- Stay as neutral as possible to avoid influencing users during sessions.
- Don't ask leading questions -- these breed confirmation bias and reinforce your own assumptions.
- Do ask open-ended questions -- these surface new and unexpected insights.
- Stick to the script and avoid answering user questions that might prevent you from witnessing a valid pain point in action.
- Focus on actual behaviours, not intended behaviours or what users say they'd do in an ideal situation.
- Invite team members and stakeholders to observe sessions for themselves. Nothing brings the point home better than seeing a problem play out in real life.
FAQ
What is UX research and why does it matter? UX research is the process of studying real users to understand their needs, behaviours, and pain points. It matters because a product is only worth building if it solves a real problem for a real person -- and research is how you make sure you're solving the right one.
What is the difference between quantitative and qualitative UX research? Quantitative research measures what users say -- opinions, preferences, and attitudes, typically gathered through surveys. Qualitative research uncovers why users behave the way they do, through interviews, usability studies, or observation. Using both together gives you the most complete picture.
How many users do I need for UX research? It depends on your method, but recruiting the right users matters more than recruiting a lot of them. With well-targeted participants, you'll start seeing the biggest trends quickly -- without needing a huge sample size.
What is an ethnographic study in UX research? An ethnographic or field study observes users "in the wild" -- watching them go through real tasks in their actual environment, rather than in a controlled lab setting. It's one of the best ways to understand genuine user behaviour rather than what people say they would do.
How do I know if my UX research is working? Go back to your objectives. Before you start, define what success looks like for your team and your stakeholders. If your research answers the questions you set out to answer and surfaces insights that meaningfully shape your product decisions, it's working.
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