Untangling the main types of user research
Making it make sense for the sanity of the design people.
User research plays a vital role in any and every design project. Through research, designers are better able to deliver solutions that satisfy their users’ needs and wants — because they can discover and understand exactly what they require and why.
“UX (user experience) research is the systematic study of target users and their requirements, to add realistic contexts and insights to design processes. UX researchers adopt various methods to uncover problems and design opportunities. Doing so, they reveal valuable information which can be fed into the design process.” — Interaction Design Foundation
But to properly conduct research, one must be able to discern what methodologies are better suited for the challenge at hand. For instance, you need to choose methods that 1) are right for the purpose of your research and 2) will give you the most relevant information possible. Making this choice has proven to be not such an easy task sometimes.
With a wide variety of research methods available, figuring out which ones to apply at any given point of the design process can become confusing and difficult. Moreover, with so many names and nomenclatures, designers might not even fully understand what each research methodology covers and when they should be applied. This complexity, in regard to the theory, later translates into setbacks in the practice.
“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.” — Toptal
With this issue in mind, I wrote this article seeking to offer designers out there a simple — yet comprehensive — outlook of the main types of research methodologies they can employ in their processes in regards to 1) what their main research objective is, 2) what type of questions they need to answer, and 3) what sources available to them. Let’s dive in!
First level of differentiation — The three big types of research concerning the objective to cover.
Explorative research — a.k.a. I need to answer some serious questions about the problem space to kick start my work
This is the most commonly known type of research along with evaluative research. Its methods are usually employed at the start of each project. This methodology is commonly employed as the first step toward understanding the needs and desires of the people you are designing for. It allows teams to build a deep understanding of the actors, context, and variables to have into account in the process of coming up with an appropriate solution. More importantly, it facilitates uncovering and defining the real needs/problems that need to be targeted, thus marking the north of a project.
The goal: Answer the WHO, WHAT, WHY of the problem space you are attempting to intervene in through your design work.
Phase in which is more useful to apply: Discovery
Some methods you can employ:
- If there’s already existing information that can help you solve some of these questions, you can employ secondary research methods such as literature review, case studies review, data analysis, and the like.
- If you have absolutely no starting ground you’ll need to use primary research methods to make sense of the problem space and all its variables. Such methods include contextual interviews, questionnaires, and walk-a-mile immersion, to mention a few.
Generative research — a.k.a. My users know best about their reality so I’ll engage directly with them to define solution attributes
Now, this one is tricky. I often find myself confused by the number of articles and blogs that explicitly equated generative research with exploratory research as if they were the same methodology. I’m here to tell you: They are not. But they are related and can be used in combination to better support the Discovery and Definition phases.
Generative research seeks to better define aspects of the designed solution in terms of possibilities in intervention, limitations within the design space, and particular attributes needed. The basis of this type of research is that you want to ensure the solution you propose is suitable for your user’s needs and requirements as well as it is desirable. Who better to help you define what makes it or not so, than the people who experienced the real problem in their lives?
The goal: Discover, identify, and/or co-define the desired solution attributes by engaging the end-users directly in the generation or co-creation of solution ideas. Such ideas become new understandings through analysis. In turn, those understandings create knowledge that you can apply to your process to better define an appropriate solution.
Phases in which is more useful to apply: Discovery, Definition, and/or Development
Some methods you can employ:
- Brainstorming
- Roleplaying activities
- Cultural probes
- Materializing activities such as collage, video diaries, and drawing exercises.
- Co-design activities and workshops
Evaluative research — a.k.a. It’s time to test the solution and evaluate its outcomes
This is one of the most familiar types of user research for both designers and non-designers. This is easily understandable since this type of research outcome is undoubtedly, the most tangible of all. Evaluative research enables teams to put their solution ideas “into the fire” and observe how well — or bad — they respond. Through its methods, solutions can be tested and their outcomes analyzed and studied to identify issues and opportunities for improvement.
The goal: Test solution ideas by evaluating the outcomes of the user's interactions with the designed solution. Observe how the solution responds to the user’s needs and receive feedback that allows the team to iterate the solution idea.
Phase in which is more useful to apply: Development & Delivery
Some methods you can employ:
- Guerrilla usability testing to quickly evaluate the overall usability of a design.
- Standard usability testing to ensure your design is easy to use.
- Accessibility evaluations to make sure your design it’s easily accessible to everyone.
Second level of differentiation: The methodology in regards to the specific questions you need to answer and the data that will support them.
Qualitative research — Answering WHY and HOW types of questions
This type of research involves close treatment with your users as you seek to get an in-depth understanding of why users do what they do (e.g., why they found the search process frustrating)and/or how they do it (e.g., how are users employing XYZ feature).
The type of data collected involves opinions, thoughts, motivations, among others. Because of its subjective nature, there’s always an underlying risk of personal bias influencing the research findings. As a researcher, you must acknowledge this, and do your best to minimize this risk as much as possible.
Quantitative research — Answering HOW MANY/HOW MUCH type of questions
This type of research focuses on gathering large amounts of user data to identify behavioral trends and patterns. It involves using more structured methods such as surveys, forms, surveys, and analytics. The data collected is numerical and, therefore, objective. This decreases the chances of personal bias in findings. However, quantitative data alone can’t help you reveal more profound human insights.
You can employ this type of research to discover trends among large users groups and/or test assumptions drawn from previous qualitative research. The larger the sample of representative test users, the more statistically reliable will be the data collected assessment.
“To get a full picture of your user experience, you need to understand both what’s happening and why. If you only have quantitative data, you may be missing out on key insights that could make a difference in your understanding of the user experience. And if you only do qualitative research, you won’t be able to tell whether your findings are representative of a larger population. “— UserTesting
Behavioral research — Studying WHAT PEOPLE DO
When you need to learn about your user's actions and behaviors, you employ behavioral research methods. Here you watch what users do through observation. This type of method focuses on analyzing body language, facial expressions, and pauses in the speech, among other non-verbal cues. Some of these methods are fly-on-the wall-observation and field studies.
Attitudinal research — Studying WHAT PEOPLE SAY
In this type of research, the focus is on listening, capturing, and analyzing the opinions, perspectives, and observations of users. It involves methods such as user interviews and focus groups.
“When you use a mix of both quantitative and qualitative research as well as a mix of attitudinal and behavioral approaches, you can usually get the clearest view of a design problem.” — Interaction Design Foundation
Third level of differentiation: In regards to the type of sources you’ll employ in your research.
Primary research – a.k.a. The bottom-up approach
This type of research is carried out when there’s little to no information that you can leverage beforehand to answer one or more of your research questions. Therefore, this type of research seeks to find and collect useful data that can help you better define the problem space and solution domain concerning your particular challenge. In this case, we use what is known as a bottom-up approach.
The bottom-up approach consists of leveraging different research and analysis methods to come up with new understandings regarding the problem space, the possibilities in intervention, the limitations within the design space, and the like. Those new understandings, in turn, create knowledge. And from that knowledge, you can then look at the problem and generate reasoned solutions. In this type of research, your primary source of knowledge is your users.
Secondary research — a.k.a. The top-dow approach
If there’s already existing information or knowledge that can help answer some of your research questions, you can employ secondary research. Some methods included in this approach are literature review from previous case studies, books, articles, ethnographic studies, conferences, and reaching out to expert consultors on a topic.
Basically, in this case, you don’t start crafting a solution from scratch, but, rather support your research on what others have already studied, discovered, and learned before when trying to find a solution.
Finally, you can find more useful knowledge on this topic here:
www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/ux-research
www.toptal.com/designers/user-research/guide-to-ux-research-methods
www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/
www.nngroup.com/articles/quant-vs-qual/
www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-research-cheat-sheet/
xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/user-research/user-research-best-practices-methodologies/
www.usertesting.com/blog/what-is-ux-research
You’ve reached the end of this article! Thank you for reading. If you found this information useful give it a clap to let me know :)
