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What Is User Research, and What Is Its Purpose?

User research, or UX research, is an absolutely vital part of the user experience design process.

Typically done at the start of a project, it encompasses different types of research methodologies to gather valuable data and feedback. When conducting user research, you’ll engage with and observe your target users, getting to know their needs, behaviors, and pain points in relation to the product or service you’re designing.

Ultimately, user research means the difference between designing based on guesswork and assumptions, and actually creating something that solves a real user problem. In other words: Do not skip the research phase!

If you’re new to user research, fear not. We’re going to explain exactly what UX research is and why it’s so important. We’ll also show you how to plan your user research and introduce you to some key user research methods .

We’ve divided this rather comprehensive guide into the following sections. Feel free to skip ahead using the menu below:

What is user research?
What is the purpose of user research?
How to plan your user research.
An introduction to different research methods—and when to use them.

Ready? Let’s jump in.

1. What is user research?

User experience research is the systematic investigation of your users in order to gather insights that will inform the design process. With the help of various user research techniques, you’ll set out to understand your users’ needs, attitudes, pain points, and behaviors (processes like task analyses look at how users actually navigate the product experience —not just how they should or how they say they do).

Typically done at the start of a project—but also extremely valuable throughout—it encompasses different types of research methodology to gather both qualitative and quantitative data in relation to your product or service.

Before we continue, let’s consider the difference between qualitative and quantitative data .

Qualitative vs. Quantitative data: What’s the difference?

Qualitative UX research results in descriptive data which looks more at how people think and feel. It helps to find your users’ opinions, problems, reasons, and motivations. You can learn all about in-depth in this video by professional UX designer Maureen Herben:

Quantitative UX research , on the other hand, generally produces numerical data that can be measured and analyzed, looking more at the statistics. Quantitative data is used to quantify the opinions and behaviors of your users.

User research rarely relies on just one form of data collection and often uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods together to form a bigger picture. The data can be applied to an existing product to gain insight to help improve the product experiences, or it can be applied to an entirely new product or service, providing a baseline for UX, design, and development.

From the data gathered during your user research phase, you should be able to understand the following areas within the context of your product or service:

Who your users are
What their needs are
What they want
How they currently do things
How they’d like to do them

As you consider the why of user research, remember that it’s easier than you might realize to overlook entire groups of users. It’s important to ensure that you’re conducting inclusive UX research and that starts in the earliest stages!

2. What is the purpose of user research?

The purpose of user research is to put your design project into context. It helps you understand the problem you’re trying to solve; it tells you who your users are, in what context they’ll be using your product or service, and ultimately, what they need from you, the designer! UX research ensures that you are designing with the user in mind, which is key if you want to create a successful product.

Throughout the design process, your UX research will aid you in many ways. It’ll help you identify problems and challenges, validate or invalidate your assumptions, find patterns and commonalities across your target user groups, and shed plenty of light on your users’ needs, goals, and mental models.

Why is this so important? Let’s find out.

Why is it so important to conduct user research?

Without UX research, you are essentially basing your designs on assumptions. If you don’t take the time to engage with real users, it’s virtually impossible to know what needs and pain-points your design should address.

Here’s why conducting user research is absolutely crucial:

User research helps you to design better products!

There’s a misconception that it’s ok to just do a bit of research and testing at the end of your project. The truth is that you need UX research first, followed by usability testing and iteration throughout.

This is because research makes the design better. The end goal is to create products and services that people want to use. The mantra in UX design is that some user research is always better than none .

It’s likely at some point in your UX career that you will come across the first challenge of any UX designer—convincing a client or your team to include user research in a project.

User research keeps user stories at the center of your design process.

All too often, the user research phase is seen as optional or merely “nice-to-have”—but in reality, it’s crucial from both a design and a business perspective. This brings us to our next point…

User research saves time and money!

If you (or your client) decide to skip the research phase altogether, the chances are you’ll end up spending time and money developing a product that, when launched, has loads of usability issues and design flaws, or simply doesn’t meet a real user need. Through UX research, you’ll uncover such issues early on—saving time, money, and lots of frustration!

The research phase ensures you’re designing with real insights and facts — not guesswork! Imagine you release a product that has the potential to fill a gap in the market but, due to a lack of user research, is full of bugs and usability issues. At best, you’ll have a lot of unnecessary work to do to get the product up to scratch. At worst, the brand’s reputation will suffer.

UX research gives the product a competitive edge. Research shows you how your product will perform in a real-world context, highlighting any issues that need to be ironed out before you go ahead and develop it.

User research can be done on a budget

There are ways that you can conduct faster and less costly user research , utilizing Guerrilla research outlined later on in this article (also handy if budget and time are an issue). Even the smallest amount of user research will save time and money in the long run.

The second challenge is how often businesses think they know their users without having done any research. You’ll be surprised at how often a client will tell you that user research is not necessary because they know their users!

In a 2005 survey completed by Bain, a large global management consulting firm, they found some startling results. 80% of businesses thought they knew best about what they were delivering. Only 8% of those businesses’ customers agreed.

The survey may be getting old, but the principle and misperception still persist.

In some cases, businesses genuinely do know their customers and there may be previous data on hand to utilize. However, more often than not, ‘knowing the users’ comes down to personal assumptions and opinions.

“It’s only natural to assume that everyone uses the Web the same way we do, and—like everyone else—we tend to think that our own behavior is much more orderly and sensible than it really is.” (Don’t Make Me Think ‘Revisited’, Steve Krug, 2014.) A must on every UX Designer’s bookshelf!

What we think a user wants is not the same as what a user thinks they want. Without research, we inadvertently make decisions for ourselves instead of for our target audience. To summarize, the purpose of user research is to help us design to fulfill the user’s actual needs, rather than our own assumptions of their needs.

In a nutshell, UX research informs and opens up the realm of design possibilities. It saves time and money, ensures a competitive edge, and helps you to be a more effective, efficient, user-centric designer.

3. How to plan your user research

When planning your user research , it’s good to have a mix of both qualitative and quantitative data to draw from so you don’t run into issues from the value-action gap, which can at times make qualitative data unreliable.

The value-action gap is a well-known psychology principle outlining that people genuinely don’t do what they say they would do, and is commonly referred to as what people say vs. what people do.

More than 60% of participants said they were “likely” or “very likely” to buy a kitchen appliance in the next 3 months. 8 months later, only 12% had. How Customers Think, Gerald Zaltman, 2003

When planning your user research, you need to do more than just User Focus Groups—observation of your users really is the key. You need to watch what your users do.

Part of being a great user researcher is to be an expert at setting up the right questions and getting unbiased answers from your users.

To do this we need to think like the user.

Put yourself in your user’s shoes without your own preconceptions and assumptions on how it should work and what it should be. For this, we need empathy (and good listening skills) allowing you to observe and challenge assumptions of what you already think you know about your users.

Be open to some surprises!

4. When to use different user research methods

There’s a variety of different qualitative and quantitative research methods out there. If you’ve been doing the CareerFoundry UX Design course , you may have already covered some of the list below in your course.

It isn’t an exhaustive list, but covers some of the more popular methods of research. Our student team lead runs through many of them in the video below.

Qualitative Methods:

Guerrilla testing: Fast and low-cost testing methods such as on-the-street videos, field observations, reviews of paper sketches, or online tools for remote usability testing.
Interviews: One-on-one interviews that follow a preset selection of questions prompting the user to describe their interactions, thoughts, and feelings in relation to a product or service, or even the environment of the product/service.
Focus groups: Participatory groups that are led through a discussion and activities to gather data on a particular product or service. If you’ve ever watched Mad Men you’ll be familiar with the Ponds’ cold cream Focus Group !
Field Studies: Heading into the user’s environment and observing while taking notes (and photographs or videos if possible).
In-lab testing: Observations of users completing particular tasks in a controlled environment. Users are often asked to describe out loud their actions, thoughts, and feelings and are videoed for later analysis
Card sorting : Used to help understand Information Architecture and naming conventions better. Can be really handy to sort large amounts of content into logical groupings for users.

Quantitative Methods:

User surveys: Questionnaires with a structured format, targeting your specific user personas. These can be a great way to get a large amount of data. Surveymonkey is a popular online tool.
First click testing: A test set up to analyse what a user would click on first in order to complete their intended task. This can be done with paper prototypes, interactive wireframes or an existing website.
Eye tracking: Measures the gaze of the eye, allowing the observer to ‘see’ what the user sees. This can be an expensive test and heatmapping is a good cheaper alternative.
Heatmapping: Visual mapping of data showing how users click and scroll through your prototype or website. The most well-known online tool to integrate would be Crazyegg.
Web analytics: Data that is gathered from a website or prototype it is integrated with, allowing you to see the demographics of users, page views, and funnels of how users move through your site and where they drop off. The most well-known online tool to integrate would be Google Analytics .
A/B testing: Comparing two versions of a web page to see which one converts users more. This is a great way to test button placements, colors, banners, and other elements in your UI.

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User research: the definitive guide for 2024

Last updated

28 February 2023

Reviewed by

Looking to make a change to your current design? Not without well-conducted user research, we hope!

User research is an essential component of design success. An effective method for gaining valuable information about the preferences and behavior of your target audience, user research allows you to act like a fly on the wall. You can listen to your customers, then improve your service or product to specifically meet their needs.

Depending on the project size, scope, and type of information you want to gain, there are many different types of user research tools that you can employ for your UX study. But where to start?

In this definitive 2023 guide, you will learn everything you need to know about user research. We will cover three of the most important things to consider when starting up your next user research project—figuring out the type of research to conduct, picking the right methods and tools to meet your goals, and planning how to best implement the valuable information you will collect.

With so much to explore, let’s get into it.

Analyze user research

Bring all your user research into one place to tag, analyze, and understand

What is user research?

By undergoing a thorough study of your current users, the ultimate goal of user research should be to learn more about the needs, desires, and pain points of using your product or service.

Using this valuable information, you will be able to tailor your design and future offerings to improve customer satisfaction. This process will ultimately:

Drive engagement

Increase revenue

Bring in more daily users

Improve any other KPI you’re targeting

The benefits of getting to know your users

If your team is planning on making changes to your design, making time for user research is an essential first step to ensure success. As experts in your product or service, you know it offers unique benefits to your target audience—but is your design and user experience conveying this to your current users and beyond?

By choosing to start your design-refresh process with user research, you obtain valuable information that can change how you approach this large-scale project. When done correctly, the findings from your UX research can offer your business plenty of benefits.

Let’s take a look at three of the main advantages of user research.

User research helps to design better products

Which of the following two options sounds better?

Building your design based on something you think your target audience needs

Building your design based on direct feedback so you know what your customers want

Companies that prioritize user research are more than three times as likely to achieve their highest annual financial and business goals. It takes the guesswork out of what your users appreciate and lets you focus your time and effort on design updates that will make the user experience more enjoyable.

Moral of the story: better user research = better product, service, and design.

UX research saves your business valuable time and resources

We can all relate to the feeling of spending extra time and effort on a new idea to pitch, just to have it rejected. This disappointment can be avoided with the help of well-conducted user research.

Avoid spending unnecessary time and resources on design plans and options that will ultimately get rejected by going to the source (your users) to understand their needs. With your user research results acting as your North Star, you can use your time and resources more efficiently as you redesign your current service or product model.

Calculate lost revenue due to UX issues .css-5oqtrw{background:transparent;border:0;color:#0C0020;cursor:pointer;display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;font-size:18px;font-weight:600;line-height:40px;outline:0;padding:0;} .css-17ofuq7{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;background:transparent;border:0;color:inherit;cursor:pointer;-webkit-flex-shrink:0;-ms-flex-negative:0;flex-shrink:0;background:transparent;border:0;color:#0C0020;cursor:pointer;display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;font-size:18px;font-weight:600;line-height:40px;outline:0;padding:0;}.css-17ofuq7:disabled{opacity:0.6;pointer-events:none;} .css-7jswzl{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;display:inline-block;height:28px;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;width:28px;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}.css-7jswzl svg{height:100%;width:100%;margin-bottom:-4px;}

Don’t leave money on the table. See how much you could save in lost revenue each year when you solve UX issues and deliver a better experience for your customers.

Value per visit

x Abandoned users

x 0 abandoned users

x $ 0 lost revenue / day

Lost revenue / year

User research can be done on a dime

Conducting user research does not need to carry an expensive price tag. While it’s tempting to purchase specific tools or consult experts, it’s also possible to get plenty of high-value information about your current users on a small budget.

Depending on the scope of your user research project, you could save costs by opting for more community-based approaches. For example, turning to your social media followers is a great way to get feedback while keeping your costs low. Other free tools like Zoom, Google Meet, and Reddit can be used to have more meaningful conversations about your services with voluntary research participants.

Learn more about conducting effective UX research on a budget.

The different types of UX research

Now we’ve piqued your interest in the wonderful world of user research, we’ll explore the different types of research you can use to get results.

The type of UX research you choose should match your desired outcome and the scope of your project. What’s more, the type of user research will change at each stage of your project, adapting to your needs as you learn more about your target audience.

Let’s look at some of the most common UX research types and the best times to use them.

Generative or exploratory user research

Generative UX research methods can help you gain a deeper understanding of your target audience. It will help you explore your customers’ interests, habits, and motivations. When exploratory UX research is done effectively, you will uncover unmet user needs and pain points for which you can begin to find solutions.

This user research is best done before a significant design change for your existing product or service.

Descriptive or explanatory user research

Descriptive UX research is done by studying your current users to discover their wants and needs. Using these valuable insights, your team can directly integrate the findings into your design refresh.

This type of user research is most effective before changing your current product or service design.

Evaluative user research

Evaluative research is a valuable tool during the creation and implementation stage of your design process. Used to see if your project is moving in the right direction, the goal of evaluative user research is to test prototypes while confirming or denying your design assumptions.

This type of UX research offers the most value when it is done during the early planning and creation stages of your project.

Causal user research

Causal research refers to the process of identifying cause-and-effect relationships between your design and your desired outcomes. By exploring the differences between two or more variables, this research style helps determine which path to take during your design process.

This type of user research is only effective if you have a few prototype options to explore and test, similar to A/B testing in marketing research.

When to use the different user research methods to get the best results

In all areas of research, there are two primary types of information that can be collected: qualitative and quantitative data.

Each offers its own unique benefits, so it is important to consider what questions you want to be answered by your research. This will impact how you start and progress through your user research project.

Generally speaking, it is common for user research projects to start with qualitative research methods , as this can help unearth important information about users’ needs and wants. Later, during prototype testing or product trialing, quantitative user research methods may be explored to determine if the proposed design changes are effective or not.

Balancing qualitative and quantitative data in UX research: Our full guide

Qualitative user research methods.

Qualitative UX research refers to studies designed to gain anecdotal evidence from current users of your product or service. Conversations, interviews, and diary studies will collect this kind of data, to gain real-life responses from participants.

Unlike quantitative research, qualitative data is heavily tied to personal experiences and bias (from both the users and researchers ). Therefore, it is important to set clear boundaries for yourself and your team when collecting this type of data. Doing your best to set research parameters (such as avoiding leading questions and sourcing the right participants) that reduce the influence of bias is essential for getting the most accurate, helpful data for your design.

Quantitative UX research methods

Quantitative user research focuses more on collecting numeric data from your users. The goal of this type of research is to collect validating information about your current design assumptions and the habits of your target audience.

Interestingly, it is possible to collect quantitative data from the same research tools used to collect anecdotal, qualitative information. Using surveys, interviews, polls, A/B testing, and usage analytics, the difference between these two research methods lies in the types of questions asked—quantitative research uses questions geared toward statistical results.

For the most accurate information, use larger sample sizes to get a better understanding of the average user experience.

Learn how to calculate the right sample size for your UX research.

The best user research projects often incorporate both methods

When planning your UX research project, it’s important to know you will likely create a research plan involving both qualitative and quantitative user research methods .

As your user research projects begin, focusing on qualitative data can be incredibly valuable as a jumping-off point. What do your current users like about your service or product? What do they wish was different?

It is common for businesses to use their collected qualitative data as a guide during the early stages of design development. Later in the process, when there are design options to be tested and evaluated, quantitative user research can help to provide evidence for which option is preferred by your customers.

How to plan your user research

Keeping everything we’ve just learned in mind, it’s time to jump into the process of starting a UX research project.

Like any other large project, breaking down the process into bite-sized pieces and steps will help to make the entire experience less overwhelming.

Here are the eight steps to successfully completing your first UX research project:

Step 1: Identify your research and project goals

Take the time to determine the 'What' and 'Why' of your UX research project before you begin.

While this may seem like a tedious, unimportant first step (let’s get to the good stuff already!), organizing your thoughts and expectations for your UX research project will help to keep you on track throughout the project.

Questions to consider before you begin:

What are you looking to accomplish with your user research project?

What information do you want to learn about your current users?

What design updates are you planning?

Who is your target audience?

Why is now an important time to learn more about your users?

How will the research findings be used?

Step 2: Choose your research method

Next, decide what type of information you want to collect from your research project.

Qualitative user research

This includes customers’ anecdotal and personal accounts of their experience with your service or product or about the users themselves (their needs and motivations). This type of UX research requires fewer participants than quantitative research but can be more difficult to conduct without bias.

Qualitative user research is most often done during the early stages of a design process to learn more about the needs of your current audience.

Generative and descriptive UX research methods can be used to achieve this goal.

Quantitative user research

Numerical or statistical data can be used to evaluate the value of a particular design update. This type of UX research can be easier to plan but requires more participants to achieve more accurate results.

Quantitative user research is commonly conducted once the design process has begun, as your team evaluates prototype options for your service or product.

Evaluative and causal user research methods are effective tools for gathering this type of participant data.

Step 3: Create a user research plan

Once you’ve decided what method of UX research you’ll be using to collect your data, you need to come up with the plan (aka, the tools you will be using to gather information from your participants).

Depending on your specific needs, some examples of commonly used UX research methods are:

Participant observation: Watching your customers interact with your service or product to learn more about their overall experience

Individual or group interviews: Asking volunteers questions to learn more about their preferences and pain points with your product

Surveys and questionnaires: Collecting qualitative or quantitative data from users by sending out a set list of questions

Diary studies: Asking users to self-document their experience with your product or service over time, giving you insight into their habits and behaviors

Card sorting: Watching participants organize cards into groups based on overarching categories that they self-determine

How to create an effective UX research plan (2024)

Step 4: recruit participants from your target audience.

With your detailed user research plan in place, start recruiting participants. Some of the different ways to recruit participants for your UX research study include:

Reaching out on social media

Using digital communities on Reddit, Facebook, Slack, or Discord

Creating paid advertisements looking for volunteers

Hiring a UX research company to provide study participants

Step 5: Conduct research

Now that everything is in place, it’s time to run your study. We recommend allotting at least a few weeks for this stage of the UX research process —you don’t want to rush the collection of your data.

Step 6: Analyze your results

You now have access to high-quality data about the needs, wants, and/or behaviors of your current audience. Your business can start to look for the following:

Patterns of use

User preferences

Commonly reported pain points

Participant recommendations

Through this analysis, it will become clear what direction you need to take to create a more user-friendly design for your service or product.

Step 7: Share your findings

An important (and often overlooked) step in the UX research process is sharing your findings with your key stakeholders. This will help your team and stakeholders to:

Make better changes to your product/services based on direct customer feedback

Promote the credibility and value of your research

Spread the word about the importance of UX research within the company structure (leading to more research requests and better quality offerings!)

Discover why you might need to build a UX research repository to ensure teams can find the right insights and avoid doubling up on research.

Step 8: Adapt your product or service to serve your target audience better

The time has arrived to move forward with the new design, product feature, or insight!

Using your UX research results as your guiding star for your design update, you are in the best position to avoid wasting time and resources on ideas that will not work.

Putting it all together—your next steps for user research success

User research is an incredibly valuable tool, no matter the size of your business. And you don’t need to work for a large multinational company with a massive research budget to get the results you want.

As a way to gain invaluable information on the preferences and pain points of your current or future users, user research is essential. Choosing to take the time to plan, conduct, and analyze UX research is essential for successful design implementation—and it can also improve your relationship with and understanding of your target audience.

Using the findings and data that you collect from your UX research project, you can feel confident that your next design update will be tailored specifically to your customer’s needs and wants—and that’s something both your team and your users will appreciate.

Can anyone research their users?

Yes, anyone can do UX research—designers, product managers, engineers, and others. User research is an incredibly valuable resource for any size of business. Having a better understanding of your current users is the key to improving your design to best serve their needs.

When done correctly, UX research can save you time and money by reducing the hours spent on design ideas that do not adequately serve your target audience.

How many people do I need for user research?

Aim for at least 15 participants in your quantitative user research study; even better if you can survey more than 30 people. The more people you have providing their insight, the more statistical significance your project has. This fact can be used as a helpful rebuttal when asked about the credibility and importance of your research.

If your team is looking to collect qualitative user data, interviewing smaller numbers of people (like 5–10) can be sufficient to gather the information you need.

Generally speaking, it is more common to need a larger sample size of participants for quantitative research compared to qualitative studies. Interestingly, research shows that interviewing as few as five high-quality participants for a qualitative study is enough to get the information you need, without data saturation or diminished return on investment.

How long does the average UX research project take?

The average UX research project takes three to six weeks to complete. The actual time you spend conducting your research can be shorter or longer than this, depending on the scope of your study and stakeholders’ timelines (which should be discussed and agreed at the start of the project).

As a rule of thumb, we recommend at least four weeks for your team to collect UX data. This can be the period that a survey is open, interviews are being held, or customer habits and behaviors are being observed.

Do your best not to rush the whole user research process. Taking your time with quality UX research design and implementation will save you resources, time, and money down the road.

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User Research: What Is It and How to Do It in SaaS

12 min read

Looking for the best ways to conduct user research and gather actionable insights?

Whether you’re building a product from scratch, updating something on your platform, or just want to listen to users and create better experiences , this article provides the guide you need.

We covered:

The benefits of proper user research.
A detailed 5-step process for conducting effective research.
Types of user research and different methods to implement.
User research employs various qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate and understand users better. It helps you create a user-centered design process and ensure your final product is what customers love.

Effective user research helps you:

Understand user behaviors, needs , and preferences.
Identify experience gaps and remove friction.
Increase product value and improve user experience .

Implement this user research process to gather data that’s exhaustive and actionable:

Define your main objective and build a hypothesis.
Choose research participants that represent your target audience.
Choose the appropriate research method .
Start collecting data.
Analyze and form a conclusion.

User research methods for SaaS:

Usability testing

User testing, user interviews, focus groups, session replays, first click testing, user feedback surveys, card sorting, a/b testing, product analytics.

Userpilot can help you conduct user experience (UX) research and easily interpret the data. Book a demo to discuss your needs with our team and get tailored solutions.

What is user research?

User research employs various qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate and understand users.

It’s a critical part of the product development process that helps inform design decisions and ensure the final product aligns with user expectations.

Why is conducting user research important?

Without effective user research, you’ll be building or updating your product based on assumptions, and that’s not a good place to be.

It’s like trying to construct a bridge without ever stepping onto the riverbank. You might craft something impressive, but without understanding the water’s flow, depth, and potential hazards, your bridge risks being unusable or, worse, dangerous.

Understand user behaviors, needs, and preferences

By conducting proper user research, you’ll gain data showing how users interact with your tool and their underlying needs and motivations.

This knowledge forms the foundation for designing products that resonate with users. It ensures what you build not only meets functional requirements but also aligns with the specific desires of your target audience.

Identify experience gaps and remove friction

An experience gap refers to the disparity between users’ expectations and their actual experience with your product. Such gaps can lead to customer dissatisfaction, as user needs are not adequately met.

User experience research is pivotal in closing experience gaps and removing friction from the user journey. By identifying pain points through methods like usability testing and feedback collection, you can pinpoint areas for improvement.

This proactive approach allows you to implement targeted enhancements, ensuring a smoother and more satisfying user experience. Ultimately, addressing these gaps not only boosts user satisfaction but also cultivates customer loyalty and positive brand perception.

Increase product value and improve user experience

Continuous user experience research ensures your product keeps adding more value and enhancing the user experience. With this, users will be more comfortable interacting with your product regularly.

As they incorporate your tool into their workflows and increase engagement, they’ll have more reasons to expand their accounts, leading to higher revenue for your business.

How to conduct user research to improve user experience

Ready to start conducting user research? Here’s a five-step process to follow:

1. Define your main objective and build a hypothesis

Before diving into user research, clearly define your primary objective. Whether it’s improving onboarding processes , enhancing navigation, or refining a specific feature, having a focused goal is crucial.

Use the objective to create a hypothesis of the results you hope to get. The research will then confirm or reject this hypothesis.

For instance, if your objective is to enhance your app’s usability, a hypothesis might be that simplifying the navigation will lead to a higher user satisfaction score . You can then design user feedback surveys to collect user opinions and see if your hypothesis is correct.

2. Choose your research participants

Identifying the right participants is key to obtaining relevant insights. Define segments based on characteristics like user type (current users, new users), demographics, or usage patterns.

For example, if you’re improving a feature specific to premium users, draw research participants from users who have engaged with the feature enough to provide valuable feedback. Taking this targeted approach ensures the data you obtain is relevant and actionable.

Design in-app flows like this to collect valuable user feedback.

3. Choose the appropriate research method

There are many user research methods, but what you use generally depends on your objective. For example:

Usability testing : Helps assess how easily users can accomplish specific tasks within the app.
Features heatmap : Visually highlights user interaction with specific elements or features of your tool.
First click testing : Focuses on the first click users make, revealing initial impressions and navigational challenges.
User feedback surveys : Collects user opinions, preferences, and suggestions, providing valuable qualitative data.
Card sorting : Helps understand how users categorize information, aiding in intuitive information architecture and a user-centered design process.

Depending on your objectives, you can employ several other types of user research methods. We’ll provide an extensive list in a later section.

4. Start collecting data

After deciding on your objective and choosing a suitable user research approach, it’s time to execute and gather valuable data.

Ensure you have the necessary resources (user research tools, participants, and the like) and clearly define the steps for data collection.

For instance, let’s return to the example we discussed in step 1. Recall the objective was to enhance app usability, and the user research technique was customer feedback surveys. Now that you have those two settled, it’s time to begin collecting data.

You want to keep the survey short and concise to get the best result. Combine various question types, including multiple-choice, open-ended, and rating scales. This provides a more comprehensive view of user opinions and allows for both quantitative and qualitative user research.

For example, you can ask: “ How would you rate the overall usability of [your app] on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is very poor, and 5 is excellent? ” and follow up with, “ Please share any specific challenges or difficulties you encountered while using the app, and if you have any suggestions for improving the usability, feel free to provide them here .”

Imagine your objective is broader—you want to understand usability, then decide which of two features to prioritize for an update. After the initial survey, you can ask what feature they prefer and the reason for their choice. Make a decision based on the data you obtain.

5. Analyze and form a conclusion

Once data collection is complete, the next step is to analyze the gathered information. Bring together all the data you’ve collected and form a comprehensive understanding of user behavior. Identify patterns, trends , and pain points within the data.

When you’re done, it’s time to implement changes to improve the user experience. For instance, imagine your research data shows your onboarding takes too long and results in drop-offs due to several unnecessary steps.

Your product team can work on identifying areas of the onboarding flow they can cut off. Also, you can implement an onboarding checklist to reduce the time to value and boost adoption rates.

onboarding-checklist-userpilot-user-research

Types of user research

User research is quite broad, but when you look at it closely, anybody researching users is either implementing quantitative or qualitative methods—or both.

Quantitative research

This user research type involves collecting numerical data to measure and analyze specific aspects of user behavior and preferences.

It uses surveys, analytics, and A/B testing to uncover user data.

Qualitative research

While quantitative research asks the what questions, qualitative research focuses on uncovering the why behind user behavior . For example, realizing that users are dissatisfied with a new feature is just the first step in your research process. You still don’t have sufficient data to make the changes your users will love.

But by conducting research that asks users why they don’t like the feature, you can identify changes to make. Examples of qualitative research methods include interviews, focus groups, and open-ended user feedback surveys.

User research can be both attitudinal and behavioral:

Attitudinal research helps uncover user attitudes, opinions, and emotional responses to your product.
Behavioral research focuses on observing and analyzing actual human behavior and interactions with your product.

User research methods

Combine any of the following qualitative and quantitative research methods to collect comprehensive user data and make informed development decisions:

Usability tests involve observing users as they interact with a prototype or an existing product to identify challenges and assess the overall user experience. You can do this remotely using specialized usability testing tools or have testers come together in a physical test lab while a user researcher observes and records everything.

You can also implement think-aloud protocols, asking users to verbalize their thoughts while interacting with the product.

During the test, aim to identify how well your product performs against these usability components :

Learnability : The ease with which users can understand and navigate your product for the first time.
Efficiency : User speed and effectiveness in performing tasks—this says a lot about your UI.
Memorability : The extent to which users can remember how to use the product or feature after an initial encounter. Good memorability is a sign of a reduced learning curve.
Errors : The frequency and severity of user mistakes while interacting with your product. Too many test participants making errors is a sign of friction.
Satisfaction : The overall fulfillment and positive sentiment users experience when interacting with the product.

User testing and usability testing sound similar; people even use them interchangeably, but they’re not the same.

While the former is focused on evaluating functionality and ease of use , user or UX testing encompasses a broader spectrum, digging deep into user needs and preferences . Another way to put it is that usability testing is a subset of UX testing.

The specific approach you adopt when testing users depends on your research objectives, but just like any user research approach, you begin by deciding what feature, product, or prototype to test. Then, create the test task with a list of objectives and have it done remotely or in person.

Example of UX testing: create different interface designs , then ask users to interact with them and mention the one they find most appealing. Implement task analysis to analyze the data and uncover user user preferences.

If it were to be a usability test, you’d create a prototype and ask users to accomplish a specific task with it—e.g., schedule social media posts—then observe the steps they follow and how long it takes.

User interviews involve one-on-one conversations between you and participants to gather in-depth qualitative insights into their experiences and collect relevant data.

Although it can be more tasking than a quick usability test, a user interview allows you to collect extensive data and get immediate responses to your follow-up questions.

The best way to conduct interviews for your SaaS is over video conferencing platforms like Zoom—the one-on-one interaction allows for easy communication.

Here’s an interview preparation template you can use when preparing to interview users:

This is a structured group research involving a small group of 6-12 users (you can do more if you have the resources). Usually, an experienced moderator is present to facilitate discussions and debates about your product.

While the discussion is ongoing, someone is recording user thoughts, opinions, and attitudes toward the topics raised. In the end, you’ll gather useful qualitative data from different participants and use it to advise your product design process.

Side note: you can also use focus groups if you’re conducting market research as part of your development process.

This method involves using tools like Hotjar to record and analyze user sessions on your website or app.

By viewing clicks, scrolls, and keystrokes in a natural environment without users knowing someone is recording, you’ll gather quantitative data on click patterns and session duration, among other things. You can analyze the results to identify if users follow your tool’s happy path and see how they respond to your interface.

The first click test is an incredibly important component of user research. When users make the right first click, they’re more likely to achieve their goals faster and be satisfied with your tool than when they click several times on the wrong UI elements before finding the happy path.

First click testing helps you determine if your product is intuitive—and if it isn’t, you’ll see the errors users make and know what changes to implement.

To conduct this test, show users a mockup, screenshot, or prototype of your tool and ask them to verbally share their initial click choice and reasoning.

You can also have an interactive test where you share the task with users and have them click on what they think should be the first step. That’s what user researchers did in the example below:

They presented users with Bank of America’s homepage and tested to see where users click to find information. 82% of the test participants went to the right section of the homepage, demonstrating an intuitive design.

From quick quantitative questions to more in-depth qualitative research, user feedback surveys come in different forms.

The specific survey type you use depends on your objective. For instance, if you need to understand the ease of using your platform, trigger a customer effort score survey asking users to rate how much effort they put into using specific features. Other common survey types you might want to implement include NPS and CSAT surveys.

Userpilot can help you create in-app surveys, decide who sees them, and analyze the results quickly. Here’s what building your surveys with our tool looks like:

Start collecting and analyzing user feedback.

This research method comes in handy when testing your information architecture. Card sorting involves giving test participants cards representing various features, functions, or sections of your SaaS. For example, the cards might include “dashboard,” “reports,” “settings,” and so on.

You can ask participants to categorize the cards into predefined groups or tell them to do it as they deem fit. Choose the former if you already have a structure you wouldn’t want to change.

Take note of participants’ grouping patterns and any challenges or uncertainties they may encounter in the process. Once you’re done, implement task analysis to interpret the result and make data-driven decisions.

A/B testing compares two versions (A and B) of a webpage, email, or feature to determine which performs better in terms of user engagement or conversion.

With a tool like Userpilot, you can create different versions of the in-app flows or UI elements you want to test, and then run them through specific user segments. Userpilot also allows you to conduct multivariate tests where you compare more than two variables.

See how to run A/B tests with Userpilot and gather actionable quantitative data.

Product analytics involves collecting and analyzing data from user interactions with your platform to understand their behavior and preferences.

Userpilot’s robust analytics platform lets you track user actions extensively and generate different analytics reports to identify trends, patterns, and changes in user behavior. What’s more, you can visualize the results in a detailed analytics dashboard for easy interpretation and decision-making.

Heatmaps provide visual representations of user behavior. They’re generated based on data from user interactions, such as clicks, scrolls, or mouse movements, recorded during user sessions on a website or app.

As in the image below, heatmap tools assign colors ranging from warm to cool tones to demonstrate different engagement levels. Hotter colors (e.g., red) indicate high interaction, while cooler colors (e.g., blue) represent lower or no interaction.

Userpilot allows you to select the features of your product you want to track and generate real-time heatmap reports to see how users interact with your tool. This is useful when you want to make quick decisions about what features receive better engagement.

User research always pays off.

When you invest in understanding user needs, expectations, and pain points, you’ll build an exceptional user experience that drives retention and loyalty.

That’s not to mention the fact that your product will stay competitive, making it easy to expand your user base and offering.

Ready to start reaping these benefits? Book a demo now and see how Userpilot can help you implement different user research methods and easily interpret the results.

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Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Research Methods

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The Complete Guide to UX Research Methods

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

By Miklos Philips

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

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

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

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

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

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

Website and mobile app UX research methods and techniques.

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.

US-based full-time freelance UX designers wanted

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.

UX research methodologies in the product and service design lifecycle.

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 is UX research: using analytics data for quantitative research study.

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.

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

Austin, TX, United States

Member since May 20, 2016

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UX Research Cheat Sheet

February 12, 2017 2017-02-12

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User-experience research methods are great at producing data and insights, while ongoing activities help get the right things done. Alongside R&D, ongoing UX activities can make everyone’s efforts more effective and valuable. At every stage in the design process, different UX methods can keep product-development efforts on the right track, in agreement with true user needs and not imaginary ones.

Do user research at whatever stage you’re in right now . The earlier the research, the more impact the findings will have on your product, and by definition, the earliest you can do something on your current project (absent a time machine) is today.
Do user research at all the stages . As we show below, there’s something useful to learn in every single stage of any reasonable project plan, and each research step will increase the value of your product by more than the cost of the research.
Do most user research early in the project (when it’ll have the most impact), but conserve some budget for a smaller amount of supplementary research later in the project. This advice applies in the common case that you can’t get budget for all the research steps that would be useful.

The chart below describes UX methods and activities available in various project stages.

A design cycle often has phases corresponding to discovery, exploration, validation, and listening, which entail design research, user research, and data-gathering activities. UX researchers use both methods and ongoing activities to enhance usability and user experience, as discussed in detail below.

Each project is different, so the stages are not always neatly compartmentalized. The end of one cycle is the beginning of the next.

The important thing is not to execute a giant list of activities in rigid order, but to start somewhere and learn more and more as you go along.


	• Field study • Diary study • User interview • Stakeholder interview • Requirements & constraints gathering
	• Competitive analysis • Design review • Persona building • Task analysis • Journey mapping • Prototype feedback & testing (clickable or paper prototypes) • Write user stories • Card sorting
	• Qualitative usability testing (in-person or remote) • Benchmark testing • Accessibility evaluation
	• Survey • Analytics review • Search-log analysis • Usability-bug review • Frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) review

When deciding where to start or what to focus on first, use some of these top UX methods. Some methods may be more appropriate than others, depending on time constraints, system maturity, type of product or service, and the current top concerns. It’s a good idea to use different or alternating methods each product cycle because they are aimed at different goals and types of insight. The chart below shows how often UX practitioners reported engaging in these methods in our survey on UX careers.

The top UX research activities that practitioners said they use at least every year or two, from most frequent to least: Task analysis, requirements gathering, in-person usability study, journey mapping, etc., design review, analytics review, clickable prototype testing, write user stories, persona building, surveys, field studies / user interviews, paper prototype testing, accessibility evaluation, competitive analysis, remote usability study, test instructions / help, card sorting, analyze search logs, diary studies

If you can do only one activity and aim to improve an existing system, do qualitative (think-aloud) usability testing , which is the most effective method to improve usability . If you are unable to test with users, analyze as much user data as you can. Data (obtained, for instance, from call logs, searches, or analytics) is not a great substitute for people, however, because data usually tells you what , but you often need to know why . So use the questions your data brings up to continue to push for usability testing.

The discovery stage is when you try to illuminate what you don’t know and better understand what people need. It’s especially important to do discovery activities before making a new product or feature, so you can find out whether it makes sense to do the project at all .

An important goal at this stage is to validate and discard assumptions, and then bring the data and insights to the team. Ideally this research should be done before effort is wasted on building the wrong things or on building things for the wrong people, but it can also be used to get back on track when you’re working with an existing product or service.

Good things to do during discovery:

Conduct field studies and interview users : Go where the users are, watch, ask, and listen. Observe people in context interacting with the system or solving the problems you’re trying to provide solutions for.
Run diary studies to understand your users’ information needs and behaviors.
Interview stakeholders to gather and understand business requirements and constraints.
Interview sales, support, and training staff. What are the most frequent problems and questions they hear from users? What are the worst problems people have? What makes people angry?
Listen to sales and support calls. What do people ask about? What do they have problems understanding? How do the sales and support staff explain and help? What is the vocabulary mismatch between users and staff?
Do competitive testing . Find the strengths and weaknesses in your competitors’ products. Discover what users like best.

Exploration methods are for understanding the problem space and design scope and addressing user needs appropriately.

Compare features against competitors.
Do design reviews.
Use research to build user personas and write user stories.
Analyze user tasks to find ways to save people time and effort.
Show stakeholders the user journey and where the risky areas are for losing customers along the way. Decide together what an ideal user journey would look like.
Explore design possibilities by imagining many different approaches, brainstorming, and testing the best ideas in order to identify best-of-breed design components to retain.
Obtain feedback on early-stage task flows by walking through designs with stakeholders and subject-matter experts. Ask for written reactions and questions (silent brainstorming), to avoid groupthink and to enable people who might not speak up in a group to tell you what concerns them.
Iterate designs by testing paper prototypes with target users, and then test interactive prototypes by watching people use them. Don’t gather opinions. Instead, note how well designs work to help people complete tasks and avoid errors. Let people show you where the problem areas are, then redesign and test again.
Use card sorting to find out how people group your information, to help inform your navigation and information organization scheme.

Testing and validation methods are for checking designs during development and beyond, to make sure systems work well for the people who use them.

Do qualitative usability testing . Test early and often with a diverse range of people, alone and in groups. Conduct an accessibility evaluation to ensure universal access.
Ask people to self-report their interactions and any interesting incidents while using the system over time, for example with diary studies .
Audit training classes and note the topics, questions people ask, and answers given. Test instructions and help systems.
Talk with user groups.
Staff social-media accounts and talk with users online. Monitor social media for kudos and complaints.
Analyze user-forum posts. User forums are sources for important questions to address and answers that solve problems. Bring that learning back to the design and development team.
Do benchmark testing: If you’re planning a major redesign or measuring improvement, test to determine time on task, task completion, and error rates of your current system, so you can gauge progress over time.

Listen throughout the research and design cycle to help understand existing problems and to look for new issues. Analyze gathered data and monitor incoming information for patterns and trends.

Survey customers and prospective users.
Monitor analytics and metrics to discover trends and anomalies and to gauge your progress.
Analyze search queries: What do people look for and what do they call it? Search logs are often overlooked, but they contain important information.
Make it easy to send in comments, bug reports, and questions. Analyze incoming feedback channels periodically for top usability issues and trouble areas. Look for clues about what people can’t find, their misunderstandings, and any unintended effects.
Collect frequently asked questions and try to solve the problems they represent.
Run booths at conferences that your customers and users attend so that they can volunteer information and talk with you directly.
Give talks and demos: capture questions and concerns.

Ongoing and strategic activities can help you get ahead of problems and make systemic improvements.

Find allies . It takes a coordinated effort to achieve design improvement. You’ll need collaborators and champions.
Talk with experts . Learn from others’ successes and mistakes. Get advice from people with more experience.
Follow ethical guidelines . The UXPA Code of Professional Conduct is a good starting point.
Involve stakeholders . Don’t just ask for opinions; get people onboard and contributing, even in small ways. Share your findings, invite them to observe and take notes during research sessions.
Hunt for data sources . Be a UX detective. Who has the information you need, and how can you gather it?
Determine UX metrics. Find ways to measure how well the system is working for its users.
Follow Tog's principles of interaction design .
Use evidence-based design guidelines , especially when you can’t conduct your own research. Usability heuristics are high-level principles to follow.
Design for universal access . Accessibility can’t be tacked onto the end or tested in during QA. Access is becoming a legal imperative, and expert help is available. Accessibility improvements make systems easier for everyone.
Give users control . Provide the controls people need. Choice but not infinite choice.
Prevent errors . Whenever an error occurs, consider how it might be eliminated through design change. What may appear to be user errors are often system-design faults. Prevent errors by understanding how they occur and design to lessen their impact.
Improve error messages . For remaining errors, don’t just report system state. Say what happened from a user standpoint and explain what to do in terms that are easy for users to understand.
Provide helpful defaults . Be prescriptive with the default settings, because many people expect you to make the hard choices for them. Allow users to change the ones they might need or want to change.
Check for inconsistencies . Work-alike is important for learnability. People tend to interpret differences as meaningful, so make use of that in your design intentionally rather than introducing arbitrary differences. Adhere to the principle of least astonishment . Meet expectations instead.
Map features to needs . User research can be tied to features to show where requirements come from. Such a mapping can help preserve design rationale for the next round or the next team.
When designing software, ensure that installation and updating is easy . Make installation quick and unobtrusive. Allow people to control updating if they want to.
When designing devices, plan for repair and recycling . Sustainability and reuse are more important than ever. Design for conservation.
Avoid waste . Reduce and eliminate nonessential packaging and disposable parts. Avoid wasting people’s time, also. Streamline.
Consider system usability in different cultural contexts . You are not your user. Plan how to ensure that your systems work for people in other countries . Translation is only part of the challenge.
Look for perverse incentives . Perverse incentives lead to negative unintended consequences. How can people game the system or exploit it? How might you be able to address that? Consider how a malicious user might use the system in unintended ways or to harm others.
Consider social implications . How will the system be used in groups of people, by groups of people, or against groups of people? Which problems could emerge from that group activity?
Protect personal information . Personal information is like money. You can spend it unwisely only once. Many want to rob the bank. Plan how to keep personal information secure over time. Avoid collecting information that isn’t required, and destroy older data routinely.
Keep data safe . Limit access to both research data and the data entrusted to the company by customers. Advocate for encryption of data at rest and secure transport. A data breach is a terrible user experience.
Deliver both good and bad news . It’s human nature to be reluctant to tell people what they don’t want to hear, but it’s essential that UX raise the tough issues. The future of the product, or even the company, may depend on decisionmakers knowing what you know or suspect.
Track usability over time . Use indicators such as number and types of support issues, error rates and task completion in usability testing, and customer satisfaction ratings, to show the effectiveness of design improvements.
Include diverse users . People can be very different culturally and physically. They also have a range of abilities and language skills. Personas are not enough to prevent serious problems, so be sure your testing includes as wide a variety of people as you can.
Track usability bugs . If usability bugs don’t have a place in the bug database, start your own database to track important issues.
Pay attention to user sentiment . Social media is a great place for monitoring user problems, successes, frustrations, and word-of-mouth advertising. When competitors emerge, social media posts may be the first indication.
Reduce the need for training . Training is often a workaround for difficult user interfaces, and it’s expensive. Use training and help topics to look for areas ripe for design changes.
Communicate future directions . Customers and users depend on what they are able to do and what they know how to do with the products and services they use. Change can be good, even when disruptive, but surprise changes are often poorly received because they can break things that people are already doing. Whenever possible, ask, tell, test with, and listen to the customers and users you have. Consult with them rather than just announcing changes. Discuss major changes early, so what you hear can help you do a better job, and what they hear can help them prepare for the changes needed.
Recruit people for future research and testing . Actively encourage people to join your pool of volunteer testers. Offer incentives for participation and make signing up easy to do via your website, your newsletter, and other points of contact.

Use this cheat-sheet to choose appropriate UX methods and activities for your projects and to get the most out of those efforts. It’s not necessary to do everything on every project, but it’s often helpful to use a mix of methods and tend to some ongoing needs during each iteration.

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What is UX Research: The Ultimate Guide for UX Researchers

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The UX researcher’s toolkit: 11 UX research methods and when to use them

After defining your objectives and planning your research framework, it’s time to choose the research technique that will best serve your project's goals and yield the right insights. While user research is often treated as an afterthought, it should inform every design decision. In this chapter, we walk you through the most common research methods and help you choose the right one for you.

What are UX research methods?

A UX research method is a way of generating insights about your users, their behavior, motivations, and needs.

These methods help:

Learn about user behavior and attitudes
Identify key pain points and challenges in the user interface
Develop user personas to identify user needs and drive solutions
Test user interface designs to see what works and what doesn’t

You can use research methodologies like user interviews, surveys, focus groups, card sorting, usability testing to identify user challenges and turn them into opportunities to improve the user experience.

More of a visual learner? Check out this video for a speedy rundown. If you’re ready to get stuck in, jump straight to our full breakdown .

The most common types of user research

First, let’s talk about the types of UX research. Every individual research method falls under these types, which reflect different goals and objectives for conducting research.

Here’s a quick overview:

Qualitative vs. quantitative

All research methods are either quantitative or qualitative . Qualitative research focuses on capturing subjective insights into users' experiences. It aims to understand the underlying reasons, motivations, and behaviors of individuals.

Quantitative research, on the other hand, involves collecting and analyzing numerical data to identify patterns, trends, and significance. It aims to quantify user behaviors, preferences, and attitudes, allowing for generalizations and statistical insights.

qualitative research quantitative research

Qualitative research also typically involves a smaller sample size than quantitative research. Nielsen Norman Group recommends 40 participants—see our full rundown of how many user testers you need for different research methods .

Attitudinal vs. behavioral

Attitudinal research is about understanding users' attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs. It delves into the 'why' behind user decisions and actions. It often involves surveys or interviews where users are asked about their feelings, preferences, or perceptions towards a product or service. It's subjective in nature, aiming to capture people's emotions and opinions.

Behavioral research is about what users do rather than what they say they do or would do. This kind of research is often based on observation methods like usability testing, eye-tracking, or heat maps to understand user behavior.

attitudinal research behavioral research

Generative vs. evaluative

Generative research is all about generating new ideas, concepts, and insights to fuel the design process. You might run brainstorming sessions with groups of users, card sorting, and co-design sessions to inspire creativity and guide the development of user-centered solutions.

On the other hand, evaluative research focuses on assessing the usability, effectiveness, and overall quality of existing designs or prototypes. Once you’ve developed a prototype of your product, it's time to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. You can compare different versions of a product design or feature through A/B testing—ensuring your UX design meets user needs and expectations.

Remove the guesswork from product decisions

Collect both quantitative and qualitative insights from your customers and build truly user-centric products with Maze.

11 Best UX research methods and when to use them

There are various UX research techniques—each method serves a specific purpose and can provide unique insights into user behaviors and preferences. In this section, we’ll highlight the most common research techniques you need to know.

Read on for an at-a-glance table, and full breakdown of each method.


User interviews	One-on-one open-ended and guided discussions	Start and end of your project	Qualitative Generative
Field studies	Observe people in their natural environment	All stages	Qualitative Behavioral
Focus group	Group discussions facilitated by a moderator	Start and end of your project	Qualitative Generative
Diary studies	Users keep a diary to track interactions and experience with a product	Start of your project	Qualitative Evaluative
Surveys	Asking people open or closed questions	All stages	Qualitative Quantitative Attitudinal Generative Evaluative
Card sorting	Users sort information and ideas into groups that makes sense to them	Start of your project	Qualitative Generative Attitudinal
Tree testing	Assess the findability and organization of information as users navigate a stripped-down IA	Start of your design or redesign process	Quantitative Behavioral Evaluative
Usability testing	Users perform a set of tasks in a controlled setting	All stages	Qualitative Behavioral Evaluative
Five second testing	Collect immediate impressions within a short timeframe	During initial ideation and throughout design	Attitudinal Evaluative
A/B testing	Compare two versions of a solution	All stages	Quantitative Evaluative
Concept testing	Evaluate the feasibility, appeal, and potential success of a new product	During initial ideation, design, and before launch	Qualitative Generative

1. User interviews

Tl;dr: user interviews.

Directly ask users about their experiences with a product to understand their thoughts, feelings, and problems

✅ Provides detailed insights that survey may miss ❌ May not represent the wider user base; depends on user’s memory and honesty

User interviews are a qualitative research method that involves having open-ended and guided discussions with users to gather in-depth insights about their experiences, needs, motivations, and behaviors.

Typically, you would ask a few questions on a specific topic during a user interview and analyze participants' answers. The results you get will depend on how well you form and ask questions, as well as follow up on participants’ answers.

“As a researcher, it's our responsibility to drive the user to their actual problems,” says Yuliya Martinavichene , User Experience Researcher at Zinio. She adds, “The narration of incidents can help you analyze a lot of hidden details with regard to user behavior.”

That’s why you should:

Start with a wide context : Make sure that your questions don’t start with your product
Ask questions: Always ask questions that focus on the tasks that users are trying to complete
Invest in analysis : Get transcripts done and share the findings with your team

Tanya Nativ , Design Researcher at Sketch recommends defining the goals and assumptions internally. “Our beliefs about our users’ behavior really help to structure good questions and get to the root of the problem and its solution,” she explains.

It's easy to be misunderstood if you don't have experience writing interview questions. You can get someone to review them for you or use our Question Bank of 350+ research questions .

When to conduct user interviews

This method is typically used at the start and end of your project. At the start of a project, you can establish a strong understanding of your target users, their perspectives, and the context in which they’ll interact with your product. By the end of your project, new user interviews—often with a different set of individuals—offer a litmus test for your product's usability and appeal, providing firsthand accounts of experiences, perceived strengths, and potential areas for refinement.

2. Field studies

Tl;dr: field studies.

Observe users in their natural environment to inform design decisions with real-world context

✅ Provides contextual insights into user behavior in real-world situations ✅ Helps identify external factors and conditions that influence user experience ❌ Can be time-consuming and resource-intensive to conduct ❌ Participants may behave differently when they know they are being observed (Hawthorne effect)

Field studies—also known as ethnographic research—are research activities that take place in the user’s environment rather than in your lab or office. They’re a great method for uncovering context, unknown motivations, or constraints that affect the user experience.

An advantage of field studies is observing people in their natural environment, giving you a glimpse at the context in which your product is used. It’s useful to understand the context in which users complete tasks, learn about their needs, and collect in-depth user stories.

When to conduct field studies

This method can be used at all stages of your project—two key times you may want to conduct field studies are:

As part of the discovery and exploration stage to define direction and understand the context around when and how users interact with the product
During usability testing, once you have a prototype, to evaluate the effectiveness of the solution or validate design assumptions in real-world contexts

3. Focus groups

Tl;dr: focus groups.

Gather qualitative data from a group of users discussing their experiences and opinions about a product

✅ Allows for diverse perspectives to be shared and discussed ❌ Group dynamics may influence individual opinions

A focus group is a qualitative research method that includes the study of a group of people, their beliefs, and opinions. It’s typically used for market research or gathering feedback on products and messaging.

Focus groups can help you better grasp:

How users perceive your product
What users believe are a product’s most important features
What problems do users experience with the product

As with any qualitative research method, the quality of the data collected through focus groups is only as robust as the preparation. So, it’s important to prepare a UX research plan you can refer to during the discussion.

Here’s some things to consider:

Write a script to guide the conversation
Ask clear, open-ended questions focused on the topics you’re trying to learn about
Include around five to ten participants to keep the sessions focused and organized

When to conduct focus groups

It’s easier to use this research technique when you're still formulating your concept, product, or service—to explore user preferences, gather initial reactions, and generate ideas. This is because, in the early stages, you have flexibility and can make significant changes without incurring high costs.

Another way some researchers employ focus groups is post-launch to gather feedback and identify potential improvements. However, you can also use other methods here which may be more effective for identifying usability issues. For example, a platform like Maze can provide detailed, actionable data about how users interact with your product. These quantitative results are a great accompaniment to the qualitative data gathered from your focus group.

4. Diary studies

Tl;dr: diary studies.

Get deep insights into user thoughts and feelings by having them keep a product-related diary over a set period of time, typically a couple of weeks

✅ Gives you a peak into how users interact with your product in their day-to-day ❌ Depends on how motivated and dedicated the users are

Diary studies involve asking users to track their usage and thoughts on your product by keeping logs or diaries, taking photos, explaining their activities, and highlighting things that stood out to them.

“Diary studies are one of the few ways you can get a peek into how users interact with our product in a real-world scenario,” says Tanya.

A diary study helps you tell the story of how products and services fit into people’s daily lives, and the touch-points and channels they choose to complete their tasks.

There’s several key questions to consider before conducting diary research, from what kind of diary you want—freeform or structured, and digital or paper—to how often you want participants to log their thoughts.

Open, ‘freeform’ diary: Users have more freedom to record what and when they like, but can also lead to missed opportunities to capture data users might overlook
Closed, ‘structured; diary: Users follow a stricter entry-logging process and answer pre-set questions

Remember to determine the trigger: a signal that lets the participants know when they should log their feedback. Tanya breaks these triggers down into the following:

Interval-contingent trigger : Participants fill out the diary at specific intervals such as one entry per day, or one entry per week
Signal-contingent trigger : You tell the participant when to make an entry and how you would prefer them to communicate it to you as well as your preferred type of communication
Event-contingent trigger : The participant makes an entry whenever a defined event occurs

When to conduct diary studies

Diary studies are often valuable when you need to deeply understand users' behaviors, routines, and pain points in real-life contexts. This could be when you're:

Conceptualizing a new product or feature: Gain insights into user habits, needs, and frustrations to inspire your design
Trying to enhance an existing product: Identify areas where users are having difficulties or where there are opportunities for better user engagement

TL;DR: Surveys

Collect quantitative data from a large sample of users about their experiences, preferences, and satisfaction with a product

✅ Provides a broad overview of user opinions and trends ❌ May lack in-depth insights and context behind user responses

Although surveys are primarily used for quantitative research, they can also provided qualitative data, depending on whether you use closed or open-ended questions:

Closed-ended questions come with a predefined set of answers to choose from using formats like rating scales, rankings, or multiple choice. This results in quantitative data.
Open-ended question s are typically open-text questions where test participants give their responses in a free-form style. This results in qualitative data.

Matthieu Dixte , Product Researcher at Maze, explains the benefit of surveys: “With open-ended questions, researchers get insight into respondents' opinions, experiences, and explanations in their own words. This helps explore nuances that quantitative data alone may not capture.”

So, how do you make sure you’re asking the right survey questions? Gregg Bernstein , UX Researcher at Signal, says that when planning online surveys, it’s best to avoid questions that begin with “How likely are you to…?” Instead, Gregg says asking questions that start with “Have you ever… ?” will prompt users to give more specific and measurable answers.

Make sure your questions:

Are easy to understand
Don't guide participants towards a particular answer
Include both closed-ended and open-ended questions
Respect users and their privacy
Are consistent in terms of format

To learn more about survey design, check out this guide .

When to conduct surveys

While surveys can be used at all stages of project development, and are ideal for continuous product discovery , the specific timing and purpose may vary depending on the research goals. For example, you can run surveys at:

Conceptualization phase to gather preliminary data, and identify patterns, trends, or potential user segments
Post-launch or during iterative design cycles to gather feedback on user satisfaction, feature usage, or suggestions for improvements

6. Card sorting

Tl;dr: card sorting.

Understand how users categorize and prioritize information within a product or service to structure your information in line with user expectations

✅ Helps create intuitive information architecture and navigation ❌ May not accurately reflect real-world user behavior and decision-making

Card sorting is an important step in creating an intuitive information architecture (IA) and user experience. It’s also a great technique to generate ideas, naming conventions, or simply see how users understand topics.

In this UX research method, participants are presented with cards featuring different topics or information, and tasked with grouping the cards into categories that make sense to them.

There are three types of card sorting:

Open card sorting: Participants organize topics into categories that make sense to them and name those categories, thus generating new ideas and names
Hybrid card sorting: Participants can sort cards into predefined categories, but also have the option to create their own categories
Closed card sorting: Participants are given predefined categories and asked to sort the items into the available groups

Table showing differences between three card sorting types: open, closed, hybrid

Card sorting type comparison table

You can run a card sorting session using physical index cards or digitally with a UX research tool like Maze to simulate the drag-and-drop activity of dividing cards into groups. Running digital card sorting is ideal for any type of card sort, and moderated or unmoderated sessions .

Read more about card sorting and learn how to run a card sorting session here .

When to conduct card sorting

Card sorting isn’t limited to a single stage of design or development—it can be employed anytime you need to explore how users categorize or perceive information. For example, you may want to use card sorting if you need to:

Understand how users perceive ideas
Evaluate and prioritize potential solutions
Generate name ideas and understand naming conventions
Learn how users expect navigation to work
Decide how to group content on a new or existing site
Restructure information architecture

7. Tree testing

Tl;dr: tree testing.

Evaluate the findability of existing information within a product's hierarchical structure or navigation

✅ Identifies potential issues in the information architecture ❌ Focuses on navigation structure, not visual design or content

During tree testing a text-only version of the site is given to your participants, who are asked to complete a series of tasks requiring them to locate items on the app or website.

The data collected from a tree test helps you understand where users intuitively navigate first, and is an effective way to assess the findability, labeling, and information architecture of a product.

We recommend keeping these sessions short, ranging from 15 to 20 minutes, and asking participants to complete no more than ten tasks. This helps ensure participants remain focused and engaged, leading to more reliable and accurate data, and avoiding fatigue.

If you’re using a platform like Maze to run remote testing, you can easily recruit participants based on various demographic filters, including industry and country. This way, you can uncover a broader range of user preferences, ensuring a more comprehensive understanding of your target audience.

To learn more about tree testing, check out this chapter .

When to conduct tree testing

Tree testing is often done at an early stage in the design or redesign process. That’s because it’s more cost-effective to address errors at the start of a project—rather than making changes later in the development process or after launch.

However, it can be helpful to employ tree testing as a method when adding new features, particularly alongside card sorting.

While tree testing and card sorting can both help you with categorizing the content on a website, it’s important to note that they each approach this from a different angle and are used at different stages during the research process. Ideally, you should use the two in tandem: card sorting is recommended when defining and testing a new website architecture, while tree testing is meant to help you test how the navigation performs with users.

8. Usability testing

Tl;dr: usability testing.

Observe users completing specific tasks with a product to identify usability issues and potential improvements

✅ Provides direct insights into user behavior and reveals pain points ❌ Conducted in a controlled environment, may not fully represent real-world usage

Usability testing evaluates your product with people by getting them to complete tasks while you observe and note their interactions (either during or after the test). The goal of conducting usability testing is to understand if your design is intuitive and easy to use. A sign of success is if users can easily accomplish their goals and complete tasks with your product.

There are various usability testing methods that you can use, such as moderated vs. unmoderated or qualitative vs. quantitative —and selecting the right one depends on your research goals, resources, and timeline.

Usability testing is usually performed with functional mid or hi-fi prototypes . If you have a Figma, InVision, Sketch, or prototype ready, you can import it into a platform like Maze and start testing your design with users immediately.

The tasks you create for usability tests should be:

Realistic, and describe a scenario
Actionable, and use action verbs (create, sign up, buy, etc)

Be mindful of using leading words such as ‘click here’ or ‘go to that page’ in your tasks. These instructions bias the results by helping users complete their tasks—something that doesn’t happen in real life.

✨ Product tip

With Maze, you can test your prototype and live website with real users to filter out cognitive biases, and gather actionable insights that fuel product decisions.

When to conduct usability testing

To inform your design decisions, you should do usability testing early and often in the process . Here are some guidelines to help you decide when to do usability testing:

Before you start designing
Once you have a wireframe or prototype
Prior to the launch of the product
At regular intervals after launch

To learn more about usability testing, check out our complete guide to usability testing .

9. Five-second testing

Tl;dr: five-second testing.

Gauge users' first impressions and understanding of a design or layout

✅ Provides insights into the instant clarity and effectiveness of visual communication ❌ Limited to first impressions, does not assess full user experience or interaction

In five-second testing , participants are (unsurprisingly) given five seconds to view an image like a design or web page, and then they’re asked questions about the design to gauge their first impressions.

Why five seconds? According to data , 55% of visitors spend less than 15 seconds on a website, so it;s essential to grab someone’s attention in the first few seconds of their visit. With a five-second test, you can quickly determine what information users perceive and their impressions during the first five seconds of viewing a design.

Product tip 💡

And if you’re using Maze, you can simply upload an image of the screen you want to test, or browse your prototype and select a screen. Plus, you can star individual comments and automatically add them to your report to share with stakeholders.

When to conduct five-second testing

Five-second testing is typically conducted in the early stages of the design process, specifically during initial concept testing or prototype development. This way, you can evaluate your design's initial impact and make early refinements or adjustments to ensure its effectiveness, before putting design to development.

To learn more, check out our chapter on five-second testing .

10. A/B testing

Tl;dr: a/b testing.

Compare two versions of a design or feature to determine which performs better based on user engagement

✅ Provides data-driven insights to guide design decisions and optimize user experience ❌ Requires a large sample size and may not account for long-term effects or complex interactions

A/B testing , also known as split testing, compares two or more versions of a webpage, interface, or feature to determine which performs better regarding engagement, conversions, or other predefined metrics.

It involves randomly dividing users into different groups and giving each group a different version of the design element being tested. For example, let's say the primary call-to-action on the page is a button that says ‘buy now’.

You're considering making changes to its design to see if it can lead to higher conversions, so you create two versions:

Version A : The original design with the ‘buy now’ button positioned below the product description—shown to group A
Version B : A variation with the ‘buy now’ button now prominently displayed above the product description—shown to group B

Over a planned period, you measure metrics like click-through rates, add-to-cart rates, and actual purchases to assess the performance of each variation. You find that Group B had significantly higher click-through and conversion rates than Group A. This indicates that showing the button above the product description drove higher user engagement and conversions.

Check out our A/B testing guide for more in-depth examples and guidance on how to run these tests.

When to conduct A/B testing

A/B testing can be used at all stages of the design and development process—whenever you want to collect direct, quantitative data and confirm a suspicion, or settle a design debate. This iterative testing approach allows you to continually improve your website's performance and user experience based on data-driven insights.

11. Concept testing

Tl;dr: concept testing.

Evaluate users' reception and understanding of a new product, feature, or design idea before moving on to development

✅ Helps validate and refine concepts based on user feedback ❌ Relies on users' perception and imagination, may not reflect actual use

Concept testing is a type of research that evaluates the feasibility, appeal, and potential success of a new product before you build it. It centers the user in the ideation process, using UX research methods like A/B testing, surveys, and customer interviews.

There’s no one way to run a concept test—you can opt for concept testing surveys, interviews, focus groups, or any other method that gets qualitative data on your concept.

*Dive into our complete guide to concept testing for more tips and tricks on getting started. *

When to conduct concept testing

Concept testing helps gauge your audience’s interest, understanding, and likelihood-to-purchase, before committing time and resources to a concept. However, it can also be useful further down the product development line—such as when defining marketing messaging or just before launching.

Which is the best UX research type?

The best research type varies depending on your project; what your objectives are, and what stage you’re in. Ultimately, the ideal type of research is one which provides the insights required, using the available resources.

For example, if you're at the early ideation or product discovery stage, generative research methods can help you generate new ideas, understand user needs, and explore possibilities. As you move to the design and development phase, evaluative research methods and quantitative data become crucial.

Discover the UX research trends shaping the future of the industry and why the best results come from a combination of different research methods.

How to choose the right user experience research method

In an ideal world, a combination of all the insights you gain from multiple types of user research methods would guide every design decision. In practice, this can be hard to execute due to resources.

Sometimes the right methodology is the one you can get buy-in, budget, and time for.

Gregg Bernstein , UX Researcher at Signal

UX research tools can help streamline the research process, making regular testing and application of diverse methods more accessible—so you always keep the user at the center of your design process. Some other key tips to remember when choosing your method are:

Define the goals and problems

A good way to inform your choice of user experience research method is to start by considering your goals. You might want to browse UX research templates or read about examples of research.

Michael Margolis , UX Research Partner at Google Ventures, recommends answering questions like:

“What do your users need?”
“What are your users struggling with?”
“How can you help your users?”

Understand the design process stage

If your team is very early in product development, generative research —like field studies—make sense. If you need to test design mockups or a prototype, evaluative research methods—such as usability testing—will work best.

This is something they’re big on at Sketch, as we heard from Design Researcher, Tanya Nativ. She says, “In the discovery phase, we focus on user interviews and contextual inquiries. The testing phase is more about dogfooding, concept testing, and usability testing. Once a feature has been launched, it’s about ongoing listening.”

Consider the type of insights required

If you're looking for rich, qualitative data that delves into user behaviors, motivations, and emotions, then methods like user interviews or field studies are ideal. They’ll help you uncover the ‘why’ behind user actions.

On the other hand, if you need to gather quantitative data to measure user satisfaction or compare different design variations, methods like surveys or A/B testing are more suitable. These methods will help you get hard numbers and concrete data on preferences and behavior.

*Discover the UX research trends shaping the future of the industry and why the best results come from a combination of different research methods. *

Build a deeper understanding of your users with UX research

Think of UX research methods as building blocks that work together to create a well-rounded understanding of your users. Each method brings its own unique strengths, whether it's human empathy from user interviews or the vast data from surveys.

But it's not just about choosing the right UX research methods; the research platform you use is equally important. You need a platform that empowers your team to collect data, analyze, and collaborate seamlessly.

Simplifying product research is simple with Maze. From tree testing to card sorting, prototype testing to user interview analysis—Maze makes getting actionable insights easy, whatever method you opt for.

Meanwhile, if you want to know more about testing methods, head on to the next chapter all about tree testing .

Get valuable insights from real users

Conduct impactful UX research with Maze and improve your product experience and customer satisfaction.

Frequently asked questions

How do you choose the right UX research method?

Choosing the right research method depends on your goals. Some key things to consider are:

The feature/product you’re testing
The type of data you’re looking for
The design stage
The time and resources you have available

What is the best UX research method?

The best research method is the one you have the time, resources, and budget for that meets your specific needs and goals. Most research tools, like Maze, will accommodate a variety of UX research and testing techniques.

When to use which user experience research method?

Selecting which user research method to use—if budget and resources aren’t a factor—depends on your goals. UX research methods provide different types of data:

Qualitative vs quantitative
Attitudinal vs behavioral
Generative vs evaluative

Identify your goals, then choose a research method that gathers the user data you need.

What results can I expect from UX research?

Here are some of the key results you can expect from actioning the insights uncovered during UX research:

Improved user satisfaction
Increased usability
Better product fit
Informed design decisions
Reduced development costs
Higher conversion rates
Increased customer loyalty and retention

Tree Testing: Your Guide to Improve Navigation and UX

How insights from user research help us build for the next billion

Sep 26, 2018

[[read-time]] min read

Sitting in her apartment in Mumbai a few years ago, Radha wondered if there were activities nearby for her two-year old son. She had recently moved to the city from a small town about 300 km away in search of better education for her children. Since then, she’d slowly built up a network of acquaintances, mostly from chance meetings traveling up and down the lift. But there was something missing. Back in her hometown, it was easy to ask Shanti Aunty across the way about local dressmakers. And—along with the keys to the family cupboard—she had inherited many business relationships from her mother-in-law; the local baker, the nearby mobile repair shop. But in such a big city, finding answers to simple local questions was more difficult.

A kernel of an insight

This kernel of an insight, gathered by Jeannie Foulsham while studying local search in India in 2014, led to the development of a product we call Neighbourly. Neighbourly is a mobile application that provides people with an easy interface to ask and find answers to neighborhood questions and is available in seven cities in India so far. And we built it in direct response to conversations with users like Radha.

This is just one example of how user experience (UX) research can build an understanding of people’s context, behavior, and comprehension to inform the design of products or services. There are hundreds of researchers across Google who gather insights to inform all of our product offerings. This research is especially key to how we approach products for the next billion users—people coming online for the first time, usually on mobile. To ensure we're living up to Google's mission of universally accessible information, we must deeply understand the similarities and differences in how these people look for and use information in their day to day lives.

Diving deeper to understand the role of technology

In the early days of developing Neighbourly, Muzayun Mukhtar, a UX researcher based in our Bangalore office, would spend hours walking the streets of Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and many other smaller cities conducting intercept interviews , stopping people for a conversation to get a glimpse into their lives, their impressions and their relationships. She spent time in small communities called societies , where she learned about the social dynamic between neighbors. For a deeper look at how they lived, Muzayun worked through locals to meet people in their homes for contextual inquiries to see how they solve day-to-day problems. She met people from different stages and walks of life: mothers, homemakers, those new to the community as well as neighborhood lifers. She would then take these insights back to our product teams for incorporation into the product roadmap.

We visited many communities in cities around India during the design and development of Neighbourly, including this society in Mumbai.

Discovering a core user value

As the team iterated on ideas in late 2016, Muzayun met Divya, a mother of two, for an interview at a children’s park in Borivali. Divya told her, "I’ve been struggling to find a good physiotherapist in this area for six months. People in my locality are isolated—so busy. Other than a hi or hello once in a while, we don't reach out. But that wasn't how things were when I was growing up. We used to know each other. We used to help each other.”

Delivering thoughtful, usable design

Getting feedback on our designs directly from people helped us make changes to meet their needs and increase usability

Learning through immersion

Product team members routinely join UX researchers in the field to ensure they fully internalizes the needs and context of the people they’re building for, and ground product decisions in real user insights. As Ben Fohner, a product manager on the Neighbourly team, says: “There’s no substitute for sitting down with somebody in their living room and watching them use (or try to use!) the product you’ve built. It’s a combination of incredibly exhilarating when you see an ah-ha moment—and incredibly humbling when something just doesn’t work. Spending time face-to-face with our users was essential in building Neighbourly, and a great source of motivation for the whole team, too.”

Product teams join in for research, building intuition and grounding decisions in real insights.

Putting it all together

Neighbourly is one product among many, developed to address a specific need. However, we’ve often found instances where addressing local needs can grow to have global impact. For example, Files Go , an app that helps you free up space on your phone, was built from insights gathered primarily in India and Brazil, but it’s resonated with audiences globally.

Google aims to build products that improve the lives of as many people as possible. And from the initial insight to the finishing pixel, UX research helps product teams stay connected to the pulse of the user. By staying focused on the needs, behaviors and concerns of the people for whom we’re developing our products, we can more effectively build for everyone.

Android 13 (Go edition): Easier to update and tailored just for you

Delivering on our $1 billion commitment in Africa

Building language models, one story at a time

How tech can support transformational growth in Africa

Renewing our commitment to Brazil

Our commitment to Latin America’s digital future

Let’s stay in touch. Get the latest news from Google in your inbox.

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User Research

What is user research.

User research is the discipline of learning about users’ needs and thought processes by studying how they perform tasks, observing how they interact with a product, or by using other data-driven strategies.

Although the term is sometimes confused with usability testing, user research encompasses a broader range of methodologies, some of which are quantitative (such as surveys or multivariate testing), while others are qualitative (such as in-depth interviews).

Objectives of user research

A business might conduct user research for a number of reasons, but ultimately the goal is to help an organization create products that offer the right solutions to its target user persona, and to design and develop these products in ways that will resonate with users and persuade them to buy.

Here are three strategic reasons a business might have for conducting user research:

1. To design solutions that are relevant to users

No amount of studying or reading about a specific user persona in the abstract will give a product manager or UX designer enough insight to confidently design a real-world product that its intended user will find relevant, intuitive, and enjoyable to use.

In most cases, developing solutions tailored to the needs, priorities, and behaviors of a specific persona will require working extensively with those people beforehand. Failing to conduct user research can lead to a product or solution that misses the mark with its intended users.

2. To build products that users find intuitive and even fun

Given the ever-increasing competition in many industries, a product built today must be not only functional but also easy and even enjoyable to use. If users find a product too time-consuming or mentally taxing to operate, they will likely abandon it and search for a better alternative.

Download The Product Strategy Playbook ➜

3. To develop more relevant and compelling messages for the market

Finally, user research can help an organization learn not only the most compelling ways to develop and design a product for its intended users, but also the most powerful ways to communicate the product’s benefits to those users.

By using the right types of user research—perhaps surveys asking users to rank features by priority, or by conducting several in-depth user interviews and looking for common themes—a product team can often uncover ways to articulate the benefits of their products that users will find most compelling.

User research methods

There are many methodologies for conducting user testing, so we’ll discuss just a few common frameworks here. Reviewing the list below should give you a sense of the wide range of available approaches, and the fact that the most appropriate methodology for your team will depend on the types of insights you are hoping to glean.

A review of this list might also spark your team’s creativity and help you devise your own user research strategy suited to the specific answers you are looking for.

Task analysis

In its early days, Google conducted user research sessions using a task-analysis model. A researcher would sit down beside a user in front of a computer. The researcher would then open a browser, navigate to google.com, and pass the keyboard to the user.

The goal was to see what people did when they encountered Google’s homepage. This was a classic task-analysis method of user research: Give users a chance to interact with some aspect of your product, and just observe them in action.

Funny story: Researchers repeatedly found that the first thing users did on google.com was… nothing. They just stared at the screen. When the researchers asked what they were doing, users said they were waiting for the page to finish loading. Google’s original homepage was so bare that people assumed there was still more of it that hadn’t appeared yet onscreen. It was this user research that led Google to add links, such as Privacy Terms and Settings, across the bottom of its homepage, as a signal to visitors that the page was finished loading.

User surveys

Surveys are questionnaires sent out to a list of target users. Because this method does not allow an organization to talk directly with users, the survey questions need to be crafted strategically to give the company the greatest amount of insights as possible.

Contextual interviews

These are interviews conducted in the users’ own environment, such as at their workplace. The goal of these sessions is to observe users in a setting that is natural to them, to learn firsthand how they work, how they interact with your solution, and what if any issues they have with it.

This type of interview can lead to deep insights about your user personas that might not surface in their answers to an online survey. At the same time, however, these sessions will not yield the type of measurable, statistical data that you might receive from more quantitative user research, such as a review of your product’s actual usage data.

Looking for tips for conducting better customer interviews?

Hbspt.cta.load(3434168, 'ff516c22-f77b-4d7d-8cd3-e02b22f343e5', {});, who is responsible for user research.

Ownership of the user research role varies from company to company. At some organizations a product manager will take the lead on this initiative. In other companies, the responsibility will fall to a designer or UX strategist. Still other companies employ full-time user research professionals whose sole job is to manage this function.

UX strategist Adam Nemeth has this to say about who should be responsible for user research :

“It boils down to these three factors. Who [in the organization] is able to argue the best for the user against a product choice? Who is able to notice a product error? Who is responsible for the product? Whoever that person is, they’re the one who should be responsible for research.”

For successful product development, user research is a must

Organizations can no longer afford to create products in isolation. Users have become highly sophisticated in conducting their own research into products before deciding to buy. At the same time, the barriers to entry in most industries have fallen sharply, meaning more products than ever face many competitors.

This means product teams today need ongoing guidance and feedback from their target users if they hope to develop products that will resonate with those users. In other words, for any organization hoping to bring a successful product to market, user research is a must.

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User Research Methods and Recommendations

This document is intended as a high-level overview of the concepts, methods, benefits, and challenges of user research as a discipline within an information technology organization..

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Version	1.0
Last Revised	3-Feb-2022
Status	Released
Document Type	Single Topic Guidance
Audience Level

Purpose of this Document

This document is intended as a high-level overview of the concepts, methods, benefits, and challenges of user research as a discipline within an Information Technology organization. This advisory encourages individual contributors involved in the discovery, design, development, and implementation of new products, processes, or services; or the monitoring of success criteria for existing solutions, to incorporate appropriate research methods as part of their regular strategic and operational practices. Links to additional resources, including guides for performing select user research methods, are provided.

Executive Summary

Understanding the human dimensions that shape a person’s interactions with an IT organization—and the solutions it delivers—are critical for the successful delivery of value to the people it ultimately serves. Integrating user research methods with routine IT procedural activities (e.g. requirements gathering, solution design, user acceptance testing) enables the organization to:

unveil unmet needs and improve strategic decision making
measure the value and impact of current or proposed solutions

Potential user research methods that supplement existing IT activities include user interviews, surveys, expert reviews, usability tests, and the collection of experience metrics through usage analytics.

The proposed user research methods provide opportunities for participation from everyone in the IT organization, ensuring that the organization and its individual contributors:

never lose sight of who they are serving
appreciate and plan for the human impact of strategic and tactical decisions throughout the IT lifecycle

Recommended User Research Methods for an IT Organization

There are many opportunities for user research to augment and improve the successful delivery of solutions. While many User Experience methods and techniques are focused on gathering insights of the human impact of technology decisions, a few recommended methods should be used by technologists to develop a richer understanding of their end-users.

The inclusion of one or more of the following research methods into routine IT practices will assist with defining and developing new solutions, as well as the evaluation and improvement of existing technologies and services.

User Interviews

Traditional business activity to supplement: Discovery and requirements gathering activities

Interviews with representative end-users, as well as business stakeholders, are an invaluable source for gathering information about people’s needs and goals; their motivations, thoughts, and decision-making processes; and their attitudes and beliefs. The User Interview method lends itself to allowing broad participation from technology teams and business stakeholders, as a way of information gathering and empathy building (i.e. hearing and observing first-hand from people is a natural and effective way to make connections with the people who utilize your products and services).

It is also important to note that interviewing business stakeholders as part of a user interview process is highly recommended. Knowing and understanding the business goals more deeply, as well as its motivations and expectations, will help find gaps and overlaps between business and user needs, provide a path to stakeholder alignment, and assist in the process of better defining problems and imagining solutions.

IMPORTANT: User Interviews are not the same as requirements gathering . Although requirements gathering is a traditional way for technologists to assess user needs, the process tends to focus more on the capabilities and attributes of a proposed solution, as opposed to exploring and evaluating the human dimensions of cognition, emotion, and behavior; which can lead to greater insights for producing innovative and alternative solutions.

Sample research questions answered by this method

What are the needs and goals of the users and the business?
What are the processes currently used to solve problems?
What are the expectations of users and the business?
Who is the right population for a solution, and are there additional audiences who need to be considered?
How do business goals align with user needs and expectations?

Traditional business activities to supplement: Discovery and requirements gathering activities

Surveys are another way of gathering information about users that can reveal similar human dimensions as User Interviews for research focused on new and existing solutions, with the added benefit of scalability, which can help to surface the size or importance of a particular aspect. However, due to their one-way nature, surveys limit the depth to which the researcher can probe on areas of interest, and don’t elicit the level of empathy that a two-way conversation can produce.

How big is the problem or opportunity?
How satisfied are people with an existing solution?
What is the desire for a new product or service?

Expert Reviews

Traditional business processes to supplement: Design and development, Implementation, Quality Assurance (QA), User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

An effective method for identifying baseline usability issues is to have an IT professional trained in this method or a User Experience practitioner perform an Expert Review, sometimes referred to as a Heuristic Review—a systematic review of a solution, which looks to identify any violations of common UX principles and best practices. This method can surface critical issues, but its effectiveness is limited by the reviewer’s knowledge of usability best-practices, and the context and subject-matter involved with the solution.

Are there issues with a solution that will likely create barriers for end-users?

Usability Tests

Traditional business process to supplement: Design and development, Implementation, Quality Assurance (QA), User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Testing concepts, prototypes, and developed solutions can provide information about how a solution performs, and whether it is an adequate fit-to-need for intended users. These tests can have a quantitative dimension—measuring what users do, such as how long it takes to complete a task, and what kinds of user errors are repeated (e.g. navigation patterns that cause a user to become ‘lost)’—as well as qualitative dimensions, which help the technologist to better understand user comprehension and why users behave in certain ways.

IMPORTANT: Usability testing is not Quality Assurance (QA) or User Acceptance Testing (UAT) . QA and UAT can surface issues around whether a proposed solution meets necessary technical aspects, and answer questions such as ‘Did we build the thing right?’, as opposed to the more holistic, user-centered approach, which can get the technologist closer to understanding “Did we build the right thing?”

Does the solution deliver the value to the user as intended?
Are there elements of the solution that prevent the user from satisfying their needs?
What opportunities for improving user utility, efficiency, and satisfaction exist?

Usage Analytics

Traditional business process to supplement: Monitoring of success criteria and KPIs

Measuring the utilization of a current service or product with the additional of experience metrics can reveal important insights into how effective and efficient the solution is at serving both user and business goals.

How many people are using a current solution?
How are people using a current solution?

Why Conduct User Research?

For IT solutions to be utilized and return value to the organization, it is critical that the human dimensions of end-users—cognition, behavior, and context—be placed at the center of design, development, and decision-making processes.

The Human Dimensions of End-Users:

User cognition, user behavior, user context.

Uncovering these human insights helps improve both strategic and tactical decisions by rooting them in empathy and understanding for the people who will ultimately use and benefit from a product or service; helping to mitigate the pitfalls of assumption and bias, by relying on observation rather than anecdote and preconceived beliefs.

By refocusing success from the successful deployment of solutions to a more user-centered, empathetic lens focused on the human dimensions of a solution, the IT organization can better plan for what and how it delivers value to its customers. User Research is the necessary, evidence-based means for uncovering the human insights that make empathetic, user-centered decision-making possible.

Benefits and Challenges of User Research

Benefits of user research.

Moves an IT organization to being more planful and strategic by surfacing currently unmet needs and goals
Increases adoption of systems and processes by making sure the solution fits the needs, behaviors, and beliefs of the end-users
Accelerates consensus building and decision-making, by using evidence as opposed to anecdote
Validates or invalidates assumptions and hypotheses before they become ingrained in an initiative’s DNA
Continuously checks solutions as new information is gathered, and keeps the solution space open to alternatives
Creates efficiency, by allowing a solution to pivot earlier in the process, saving time and resources

Challenges of User Research

Research can be time consuming and resource intensive, depending on the method and breadth of the inquiry
Research is not an integrated part of current planning or development methodologies in many IT organizations
Some (not all) methods require levels of expertise and capabilities that may not be developed yet within the organization

Types of User Research

User Research can be roughly divided into two lines of inquiry: one that looks to design or find new solutions and opportunities, and one that looks to evaluate existing solutions.

Generative Research

Evaluative research.

Within both of these general branches of research are further categories of research types that can help us to understand different dimensions of the human experience:

Attitudinal Research

Behavioral research, qualitative research, quantitative research, common methods of user research.

There are many User Research methods, each of which has strengths depending on the research goals of the inquiry.

Some common methods and their fit for research objectives are listed below.

	Generative	Evaluative	Attitudinal	Behavioral	Qualitative	Quantitative
Usability Testing	X	X	X	X	X	X
Focus Groups	X	X	X		X
User Interviews	X	X	X		X
Contextual Inquiry	X	X	X	X	X
Card Sorting	X	X	X		X	X
Surveys	X	X	X		X
Click-stream Analysis		X		X		X
Expert Review		X
Usage Analytics		X		X		X

Definitions of Methods

Usability testing – Allows teams to observe how individuals interact with solutions as the user steps through a series of tasks
Focus groups – Reveals the feelings, opinions, and attitudes of individuals, through a moderated discussion within a group context
User interviews – Collects first-hand evidence of user attitudes, goals, and perceptions, with the ability to re-focus the discussion and probe on areas of interest
Contextual inquiry – A combination of user interviews and usability testing with the added dimension of the method being performed in the user’s natural context, such as a workspace
Card sorting – A method of finding relationships and hierarchy of information through a process of organizing text artifacts
Surveys – Collects self-reported data about opinions and attitudes, thoughts, feelings, and perceptions
Expert review – An evaluation using agreed-upon usability standards and best-practices
Usage analytics – The collection and measurement of usage and experience metrics to optimize a solution

Incorporating User Research into Information Technology Activities

Who should be involved in User Research?

Every role in an Information Technology organization provides inputs that impact the overall experience of products and services, including the process by which a user realizes the value of a solution, its fit-to-need, its completeness and accuracy, and its utilization. Therefore, everyone would benefit from a deeper understanding of the effects their contributions play.

The level of effort and expertise involved in research methods varies, but a broad set of opportunities for participation by anyone in an IT organization include:

Facilitating Activities

Note taking/observing, research synthesis, research question generation.

Including everyone in the User Research process helps to ensure that the organization doesn’t lose sight of who it serves and why it matters.

When should User Research be performed?

Ideally, User Research methods would be employed at two key points in an IT organization:

When measuring performance of an existing solution
When evaluating and designing changes to existing or new solutions

In addition, User Research should be performed whenever there are questions or assumptions about user needs or behaviors driving IT decision making, or if the human impact of decisions is not well understood.

The need for User Research exists along the entire IT lifecycle, from strategic planning to the design, development, and procurement of new solutions, to the operational maintenance and ultimate decommissioning of existing products and services.

At a minimum, User Research activities should be incorporated in an integrated way into planned activities surrounding:

the discovery and analysis of new solutions and processes
the design, development, procurement of new solutions
the evaluation of existing solutions

How much User Research is enough?

While User Research should be an ongoing process embedded in every stage of the IT lifecycle, most individual methods applied to specific research goals will eventually reach a point at which new information is no longer providing meaningful insights for the research objective(s). These diminishing returns can generally be mitigated at the practical level by:

producing enough evidence that patterns begin to appear
stopping when no new patterns are being introduced (i.e. the results are saying the same thing over and over).

However, the answer to how much User Research should be conducted for any initiative at the strategic level should take into consideration:

the risks of making IT decisions with too little information about the people who will be affected
the costs of performing and making sense of collected information
the potential impacts and benefits to both the user and the organization.

By layering an understanding of the human dimensions of cognition, behavior, and context to IT activities, User Research helps IT organizations create better outcomes for the people it serves. User Research supports the organization in its strategy and decision-making by revealing new opportunities, improving decision making, and reducing uncertainty—through the collection of evidence, and testing and validation of assumptions and hypotheses—allowing it to make decisions more confidently and efficiently regarding the value and the impact of its activities.

User Research Guides and Resources

The following resources are intended as a starting point for learning and putting into practice the UX methods described in this advisory.

Putting Methods into Practice

Usability testing, ux resources at harvard, harvard web publishing, ux @ harvard library - harvard wiki, user research center at harvard, digital accessibility services, a54d3b3f70a15a25e8eef64048e10d7f, table of contents.

How To Find Participants For User Research: 13 Ways To Make It Happen

With a little planning and effort, you can find the right participants for your user research. Let's walk through 13 of the best ways to make it happen.

A person gazes into a high tech telescope standing in front of what appears to be a technical or engineering related object made from metal.

User research is undoubtedly one of the most valuable tools for any company looking to improve its product or service. After all, how can you hope to understand what your users want or need if you don't take the time to talk to them directly?

The effort well and truly pays off; in fact, 70 percent of execs believe that the user and customer experience is a key competitive differentiator. Companies that truly understand their target user base – and iterate based on their expectations – are the ones that succeed.

But there's a significant challenge that comes with conducting user research: finding research participants . Not only do you need to secure a pool of willing participants, but they also need to be representative of your target market; diverse in location, age, gender, interests, and so on; and of course, available when you need them.

It's no small feat – but it is possible. With a little planning and effort, you can find the right participants for your user research. Let's walk through 13 of the best ways to make it happen.

How to Recruit from the General Public

Believe it or not, you don't need to fish in an executive pond to get good user research. In fact, certain research calls for a more general sample of the population. For example, if you're testing a new retail product, it wouldn't make sense to recruit only retail managers or other business professionals; you want average consumers who would be likely to purchase the product.

Since the general public is your largest pool of potential recruits by far, there are many ways you can go about finding them. Below are a few of the most effective:

1. Advertise Online

If you don't have a high research budget, or you're looking for a lower-cost option, advertising online is a great solution. You can use Google or Facebook Ads to target specific demographics, interests, and even locations. For example, if you're looking for parents of small children in the United States, you could use Google's targeting options to show your ad only to people who meet those criteria.

This method also allows you to get very specific with your messaging; after all, when users are actively searching for something online, they're more likely to be receptive to your message if it's relevant to what they're looking for.

Some of the best ways to use online advertising for research recruitment include:

Facebook Groups: There are millions of active Facebook groups with every conceivable interest, hobby, and demographic. Do a search for groups related to your target market, and then post about your research opportunity in the group (be sure to follow any rules the group has about self-promotion).
Online Forums: Similar to Facebook groups, you'll find forums for just about every topic under the sun. Use your search terms to find relevant forums, and then create a new thread or post about your research.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a more professional platform, making it ideal for recruiting business professionals or other specific target markets. You can create a sponsored post with your research opportunity, or use LinkedIn's advanced search options to find potential participants that match your criteria.

Never doubt the effectiveness of cold outreach, too; craft a personalized message and email it to your target market, or give them a call. You might be surprised how many people are willing to participate in research if you connect with them directly.

2. Recruit via User Panels

Exhausted all advertising avenues, and still no luck? Sometimes, it pays to recruit from an online panel of pre-listed research participants. These panels are made up of people who've already signed up to be part of research studies, which means they're more likely to be receptive to your request.

Many online panel companies will allow you to specify the target market you're looking for, which makes finding participants a breeze. If you want to recruit millennials in the United States, for instance, an online panel company can provide a list of eligible participants that meet your criteria.

Keep in mind that some of these panels will require you to pay a fee, but it's often worth the investment when you consider how much time and effort it would take to find participants on your own.

At Respondent , we're passionate about finding the perfect participants for your research. We have a global network of vetted participants, and our team will work with you to find the best match for your study. Our platform also facilitates the exchange of incentives – it never hurts to sweeten the deal.

Start here: Get Participants for User Research

3. Internal Recruitment

If you've attempted to find recruits through advertising and didn't get the pool you were looking for, you're almost certain to find willing participants through panels – but what if you're working with a smaller budget? Perhaps you are in the beginning stages of a bootstrapped prototype, or you've hit a snag in your recruiting efforts and need to get creative.

One method that doesn't cost anything is internal recruitment, which means finding research participants among employees and other professional connections. It isn't a long-term solution; ideally, you'll be testing people who have no ties to your company and can give you unbiased feedback.

That being said, if you're in a pinch, internal recruitment can be a helpful way to get the ball rolling. You can start by sending out an email to employees, asking if anyone would be interested in participating in user research for a new project.

People are generally more than willing to help if you make things easy for them – and they may even know someone who would make a great participant, which brings us to our next method.

4. Leverage Connections

Got a team of proactive staff members, but don't want to recruit them for research? Ask them to help you find participants by leveraging their personal and professional connections.

This is a great way to get the word out without putting anyone on the spot. You can send an email asking employees if they know anyone who might be interested in taking part in user research, and include a link to more information about the project.

The benefit here is that you're essentially advertising for free; your employees have social leverage with their connections, which ensures a higher response rate than if you were to post a general ad on Craigslist, for example.

Keep in mind that it is still best to recruit from a pool of totally objective, disconnected individuals – but if you're in a bind, leveraging your employees' networks can help you find the participants you need.

5. Look For Groups That Form Naturally

When it comes to user research, one size does not fit all; different projects will require different kinds of participants. In some cases, it can be helpful to look for groups that form naturally, rather than trying to recruit individuals one by one.

For example, if you're working on a project that involves seniors, it may be helpful to look for retirement communities or other groups that cater to this demographic. These types of groups usually have some sort of centralized information system, which makes it easy to get in touch with a large number of potential participants at once.

The key here is to think about the type of participant you need, and then look for groups that fit that description. Trying to recruit individuals one by one can be time-consuming and frustrating, so this is a great way to streamline the process.

6. Look For User Groups

If you're working on a project that requires specific user expertise, one of the best ways to find participants is to look for user groups. These are typically formal or informal groups of people who share a common interest, and they can be an excellent source of research participants.

A few examples might be:

A Facebook group for new parents (ideal for testing products or services geared towards families with young children)
An online forum for small business owners (great for research related to entrepreneurship, marketing, etc.)
A meetup group for dog lovers (perfect for testing pet products or services)

The list goes on and on; think about the type of user you need, and then look for groups that fit that description. User groups are a great way to find people who are passionate and knowledgeable about a specific topic, which makes them ideal candidates for user research.

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How to Recruit from Your Active Users

Sometimes, recruiting from the general public won't be your best bet. If you're working on a project for a specific company or organization, it may be more efficient to recruit from your active users.

Active users are people who are already using your product or service; they're ideal candidates for user research because they're familiar with your brand and have some level of investment in your product.

A common example is beta testing; when a company is developing a new product or a new iteration of an existing product, they'll often recruit their most active users to test it out. It's unhelpful to have people who are completely new to your product trying to give feedback on it – they aren't the target audience, and won't be affected by any changes you make.

If you're working on a new product, here are a few ways to recruit your active users.

1. Leverage Customer Support

This strategy will mostly apply to established companies with a customer service team. When you're developing a new product or making changes to an existing one, your customer service team is a great point of contact for finding willing participants.

As a team of people who are constantly in touch with your customers, your customer service reps have a unique access point for finding potential participants. Leverage this by asking your team to mention the research every time someone calls with a question; something like, "Before you go, how would you feel about participating in a short research study? It would be very helpful for us."

Your customer service reps are already talking to people who are interested in your product, so this is a great way to find potential participants without having to do much extra work. What's more, your reps are solving issues for customers left, right, and center – so they'll feel more than happy to help out with your research in return.

2. Offer a Valuable Incentive

When recruiting from the general public, an issue companies often face is incentivizing their research participation. How do you choose a reward that everyone will value, regardless of their background, personality, or preferences?

With active users, you have a little more leeway; you can offer an incentive that's specific to your product, and that will be valuable to the people who are already using it. Let's look at a few examples.

3. In-Game Codes or Rewards

Specific to game developers, this incentive encourages users to participate in exchange for a leg-up in the game. If you're working on a mobile game, for example, you could offer an in-game currency or bonus that would help the player progress.

This incentive is twofold; not only does it encourage participation from your target audience, but it also gives you valuable feedback from people who are actually playing your game. You can use their feedback to improve the game itself, making it more enjoyable for everyone involved.

4. Product Discounts or Credits

Working on a new product to add to your well-established line of goods? Your existing customer base will be eager to get their hands on the new product, so offer them a discount or credit in exchange for their feedback.

Doing so will encourage active users to not only participate but follow through and purchase your product once it's released. They'll feel invested in the product and will be more likely to tell their friends and followers about it – which is great news for your marketing team.

5. Special Editions

This is another strategy often seen in gaming research, but you'll also notice it with new technology, like phones or laptops, and even makeup or skincare (think PR packages) – anything, really, that has a fandom or cult following.

Creating a special edition of your product, with exclusive content or added bonuses, is an excellent way to entice users to participate in research. It's also a great marketing tool; not only will it create buzz around your product, but you can also use the research itself as part of your marketing campaign.

Simply offer your users the chance to get a special early-release version of the product, or include a bonus item that's only available to research participants. You could even take it a step further and make the special edition itself part of the research – for example, by crowdsourcing the design from your participants.

However you incentivize your user research, make sure that the reward is valuable to your target audience. By offering something that's specific to your product and appeals to your users' interests, you'll not only encourage them to participate, but you'll also get feedback that's more accurate and helpful.

6. Intercept Users in Real-Time

Are you trying to collect feedback on an app or website update? This method is going to be incredibly helpful with access to the right tools.

Here's how it works:

Using a tool like Ethnio or UserZoom, set up an on-site popup that asks browsing users to participate in your study. It might say something like "Have you got a moment to help improve our website? No effort required!"
The user agrees and then continues using the website however they would normally.
You can either observe their interactions with the website live or record and view the session later.

It's helpful to follow up with a survey for a bit more information and qualitative feedback, but users won't always be willing to give you their email address. That's okay! Just remember that this method works best as part of a bigger research plan since you're likely to only get a few participants this way.

7. Make the Most of Social Media

If you're lucky enough to have a solid following of users on your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platform, make the most of it by advertising your user research there.

You'll be reaching out to people who are already interested in your product or service, and you can use social media's targeting options to make sure you're only reaching the right audience. For example, if you're looking for female users aged 18-24 who live in the United States, you can target your ads accordingly.

When creating social media ads for user research, make sure they're short, sweet, and to the point. You want users to know exactly what they're getting into, and how long it will take – no one wants to click on an ad only to find out they've been duped into a 2-hour survey.

How To Recruit for B2B User Research

Business-To-Business companies are a little different when it comes to recruiting participants for user research, purely because you're not targeting consumers – you're targeting other businesses. Likely, you'll want to recruit from a pool of professionals with specific knowledge for your user research.

There are a few ways to go about this. You can work with a recruiting agency that specializes in finding business professionals, you can post on job boards or online communities where these professionals congregate, or you can reach out to your current network of contacts to see if they have any recommendations.

It's also important to keep in mind that you may need to offer an incentive for businesses to participate in your user research. Time is money, after all, and businesses are unlikely to want to spare their employees for an hour or two if they're not being compensated in some way.

Some incentives you can offer include:

A discount on your new product or service (works particularly well for SaaS companies)
A local restaurant or bar gift card
A charitable donation in the business' name

Business professionals are busy people – but if you demonstrate that you're valuing their time and their input, you'll be more likely to get the participation you need for your user research.

Related reading: The secret to fast & successful B2B participant recruiting

Why Can't I Find Users to Participate in My Research?

If you've exhausted all your options and the right participants just aren't coming through for you, don't give up hope just yet. The likely scenario is that you need to make an adjustment to one of a few things:

Your user persona. Are you being too specific with who you're targeting? If you're only looking for users that match your persona to a T, you may be making it too difficult on yourself. Consider broadening your target audience to include people similar to your persona, but not identical.
Your research goals. What are you hoping to learn from conducting user research? Make sure your research goals are specific and achievable – if they're not, it will be difficult to determine whether or not you've been successful.
Your research methods. There are a variety of ways to conduct user research, from surveys to interviews to focus groups . If you're not getting the results you want with one method, try another – you may find that a different method is more effective for your needs.

User research is an essential part of any product development process, but it can be difficult to find participants that are both willing and able to provide valuable insights.

Keep in mind that incentives are often the difference between success and failure; if you're not offering something of value in return for participation, businesses and consumers alike are unlikely to want to take part.

Utilize social media, job boards, and your current network of contacts to cast a wide net – the more people you reach out to, the better your chances of finding participants that are right for your user research.

Skip the Queue with Respondent

Here at Respondent.io, we're proud to offer companies fast, affordable access to their ideal participants. With 2 million vetted participants ready and waiting for recruitment, our platform will match you with the right sample in no time – and all you have to do is take your pick.

Respondent is legit, trusted and used by some of the world's leading companies; Microsoft, IBM, Dropbox, Atlassian, Oracle, and the like have all utilized our services to quickly and easily connect with the people they need for high-quality B2B research.

Who uses Respondent: Participant Recruitment Case Studies

Looking for participants that match your target audience doesn't have to be a headache-inducing process. With Respondent, you can focus on what's important – conducting high-quality user research that will help improve your product.

Recruit Research Participants with Respondent, and experience the benefits of a all-in-one research recruiting platform.

What is the right incentive to recruit a great research participant?

Don't overpay or underpay for research incentives, pay exactly what you need to recruit high quality participants using this free, easy incentive...

The Secret To Fast & Successful B2B Participant Recruiting

Struggling to find b2b research participants for your study? Our team researched the best solutions & strategies to help you recruit a high-quality...

Recruitment Methods for Research Studies: 17 Brilliant Ways to Make It Happen

Recruiting methods along with their pros and cons are explored. In addition, recruiting tips and some out-of-the-box ideas.

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The top 5 AI-powered tools for user research (and how to use them)

Want to supercharge your user research with AI? Discover the 5 best AI tools for user research and learn how to use them for maximum impact.

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User research is essential for good UX—but it can be time-consuming and resource-heavy. AI-powered tools help to make the process more efficient, getting you to those all-important insights a little faster.

So what are the best AI tools for user research and how can you use them for maximum impact?

Let’s take a look.

1. Miro Assist

Miro Assist at a glance:

Price: You can access Miro Assist with all Miro plans: Free, Starter ($8/member per month), Business ($16/member per month), and Enterprise (custom pricing).
Used for: Quickly making sense of your research and ideas in Miro.
Learn more: Miro Assist .

You’re no doubt familiar with Miro, one of the most popular UX design tools on the market. Now you can supercharge your user research efforts in Miro with the help of Miro Assist.

Miro Assist is a chat-like feature integrated directly into the Miro board itself. It uses machine learning to understand the content on your board, as well as any questions or prompts you enter.

Why is this useful? Well, you can use it to quickly pull out key insights from your board, to condense and summarise information, and to generate new content such as presentations, action lists, and visualisations. Getting to the bottom of your research just got a whole lot easier!

How to use Miro Assist for user research

Here are just a few of the ways Miro Assist can help with user research:

Summarise ideas: Miro Assist can condense many sticky notes into a single, concise sticky note. This helps to quickly get teams aligned and to define actionable next steps during ideation and prioritisation workshops.
Generate AI-powered mind-maps and diagrams: Turn unorganised content into meaningful visuals, helping to present ideas and data points in a digestible, easy-to-understand format.
Cluster sticky notes: When you’ve got lots of qualitative data, analysing it and identifying patterns can be extremely time-consuming. Miro Assist can quickly group sticky notes by sentiment or keywords, helping you to find meaningful trends and create relevant themes.
Create presentations: You can automatically generate presentations to communicate your research findings and turn them into action items.

[GET CERTIFIED IN USER RESEARCH]

2. Dovetail

Dovetail at a glance:

Price: $30 per month for the Starter plan; $375 per month for the Team plan; $1,800 per month for the Business plan. Dovetail also offers a free trial.
Used for: Streamlining analysis of qualitative research data.
Learn more: Dovetail AI

Dovetail is a user research and customer feedback analysis platform. You can use it to organise and analyse research data, and to foster a more collaborative research process among stakeholders.

Now, like many user research tools, Dovetail incorporates several AI features to streamline the task of analysing qualitative data.

How to use Dovetail AI for user research

Here are some of the most useful AI features available in Dovetail:

Sentiment analysis: Speed up the process of analysing quantitative data with Dovetail’s AI-powered sentiment analysis feature. You can use it to automatically identify positive and negative sentiment in your transcripts and notes, to track patterns and trends over time, and to identify recurring pain-points and gains. This gives you rich and ongoing insights into your users’ attitudes and emotions.
Thematic clustering: Make sense of large volumes of qualitative data by automatically clustering your data highlights into themes. The themes are derived from the content of your highlights, not from tags or titles. Additionally, this feature generates titles for each clustered group—helping to organise interview transcripts and user feedback into coherent themes. This is crucial for understanding what the data is telling you and identifying important action points.
Auto-summarisation: This feature summarises key points in various types of content, including PDFs and interview transcripts. It automatically generates summaries, allowing you to extract essential insights and takeaways from lengthy interviews, documents, or customer feedback.

Maze at a glance:

Price: Free for individuals; $99 per month for the Starter plan; custom pricing for Team and Organization plans.
Used for: Generating effective research questions and analysing qualitative data.
Learn more: Maze AI .

Maze is a firm favourite when it comes to user research tools , and it now comes equipped with a host of AI solutions to speed up your work. With Maze AI, you can enhance various aspects of the research process—from crafting questions to transcribing interviews and analysing data.

How to use Maze AI for user research

Here’s how you can incorporate Maze AI into your user research process:

Fine-tune and edit questions: If you want to conduct effective user interviews and surveys, it’s important to ask the right questions. With Maze’s Perfect Question feature, you can leverage the power of AI to identify bias, grammatical errors, and readability issues in your research questions. The tool also offers suggestions for rephrasing your questions. This helps to ensure clarity and neutrality—which is essential if you want to gather reliable data.
Auto-generate follow-up questions: Leverage AI to trigger contextual follow-up questions based on each participant’s unique responses. This enables researchers to delve deeper into user feedback and gain more nuanced insights.
Generate themes: Maze’s AI can automatically identify and generate common themes in your open-ended question responses. No need to manually sift through the data to find meaningful patterns—let AI speed up your analysis.
Transcribe interviews and recordings: Transcribing audio recordings into text is, without doubt, one of the most time-consuming aspects of conducting user research. Fortunately, Maze enables you to automate the process with AI, saving you considerable time (and energy).
Conduct sentiment analysis: Speed up the process of analysing participant responses with AI-driven sentiment analysis. Maze AI can assign positive, negative, and neutral tags, enabling you to quickly understand your users’ sentiments—and, as a result, the quality of their user experience and overall satisfaction with your product.

Notably at a glance:

Price: $25 per month for the Pro plan (includes 30 AI credits); $250 per month for the Teams plan (includes 100 AI credits); custom pricing for the Enterprise plan (includes 250 AI credits).
Used for: Summarising research data, conducting sentiment analysis, and data visualisation.
Learn more: Notably AI .

Notably is an all-in-one user research platform powered by AI. It offers a range of handy features for making sense of your qualitative research—including video transcription, cluster analysis, and digital sticky notes. With Notably, you can eliminate much of the manual labour associated with user research and focus on the more creative and strategic aspects of your work.

How to use Notably AI for user research

Here’s how Notably can assist with user research:

Generate concise debriefs from interviews: With Notably AI, you can instantly turn hours of interviews into digestible summaries. This enables you to quickly extract participant information, identify emerging patterns, and pull out interesting takeaways—streamlining the oft-messy process of analysing qualitative data.
Conduct sentiment analysis: Get to the heart of how your research participants really feel with AI-powered sentiment analysis. Notably can instantly reveal positive and negative sentiments across your entire study, giving you a clear read on your users’ attitudes and emotions.
Auto-highlight and tag qualitative data: Notably learns how you tag data and makes suggestions for you, improving over time for increasingly faster and more accurate analysis.
Generate images: Create unique and meaningful visuals to represent your data with the help of Notably AI. Notably can generate images based on the content of your insights. Alternatively, you can describe your vision and let the AI create images based on your input. This is a great antidote to old-fashioned reports and overused stock images.

5. QoQo (Figma plugin)

QoQo at a glance:

Price: $7 per month for 1 user and unlimited access.
Used for: Enhancing your user research in Figma.
Learn more: QoQo .

QoQo is a Figma plugin powered by OpenAI’s GPT (the same technology behind ChatGPT). As such, the tool acts on what it’s learnt from the internet—which means it’s inherently biased. OpenAI has integrated de-biasing models to mitigate this, but it’s important to be conscious when using it (as with any form of AI).

How to use QoQo for user research

Combined with Figma, QoQo is a powerful addition to your tool stack. You can use it to:

Create user journey maps: User journey maps are a great tool for visualising how users interact with your product. With QoQo, you can speed up the process of creating journey maps, allowing you to quickly step into your users’ shoes and see things from their perspective.
Create affinity diagrams: Affinity diagramming is a popular method for sorting through dense research data, but it can be time-consuming. QoQo accelerates the process, enabling you to organise your data in seconds.
Write interview scripts: If you want a faster approach to crafting interview questions, use QoQo to automatically generate scripts. Be sure to tweak them so they sound suitably human, though!
Generate user personas: Based on your input, QoQo generates cards that you can use to create effective user personas . Bear in mind that all user personas should be based on user research—not on fictional qualities or assumptions.

Special mention: Looppanel

Looppanel at a glance

Price: $30 per month for the Solo plan; $350 per month for the Team plan; $1000 per month for the Business plan. Looppanel also offers a 15-day free trial.
Used for: Speeding up research analysis, and a research repository tool
Learn more: Looppanel

Looppanel is an AI analysis and repository tool that supports live user research by helping to synthesize data faster, with efficiency.

Looppanel uses AI to generate call transcripts with over 95% accuracy, create notes on user interviews, do sentiment analysis, and organize bookmarks and themes automatically.

How to use Looppanel for user research

Here are some of the most useful AI-powered features available with Looppanel:

Automatic note-taking: Looppanel can join you on user interviews and take accurate notes like a human assistant, leaving you to focus on the conversation. It automatically highlights where questions were answered, and summarizes notes in a Q&A or theme based format. Instead of reading everything from scratch by yourself, you just need to review the AI notes, and add additional context or tags if needed. It can immensely speed up the research process, make sure you don’t miss anything, and reduce your dependence on other team members.
Repository search: Looppanel’s AI-powered search can look through all your notes and transcripts in the repository to find relevant data, in seconds. You don’t have to spend too much time on repository maintenance thanks to this feature, it works even if you don’t tag the data. With simple Google-like search for any term, concept, user quote, data point, or feature name, you can easily find all the notes and transcript text associated with it.
AI-powered transcription: Looppanel can provide transcripts of call recordings in mere minutes, with over 95% accuracy. These AI-generated transcripts also highlight important sections and provide auto-generated summaries of each section, to make it easier to analyse. Currently the tool supports transcription in English and 8 other languages.
Sentiment analysis: Looppanel’s transcription also features sentiment analysis, and identifies questions, positive and negative sentiments in transcripts. This makes it much easier to review data, and save recurring user issues, patterns and themes.

In summary: the role of AI in user research

With the help of the tools we’ve listed, you can automate, streamline, and enhance various aspects of the research process—but nothing can replace your role in conducting and making sense of effective UX research.

Consider AI your helpful research assistant; a powerful tool you can combine with your uniquely human skills, intelligence, and creativity to better understand your target users and deliver outstanding products and services.

Learn more about how to leverage AI for effective user research

If you’re looking for a practical education in leveraging AI for research, check out The UX Design Institute’s Professional Certificate in User Research . You’ll not only master essential skills for planning, conducting, analysing, and communicating effective user research; you’ll also complete an entire module dedicated to using AI throughout the research process.

Want to learn more about the role of AI in UX? We think you’ll enjoy these posts:

AI for UX: 5 ways you can use AI to be a better UX designer

Will AI replace UX designers? An honest answer
How AI will impact UX design: An interview with Nick Babich, Principal UX Designer at Brain Technologies
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8 Effective Ways to Recruit Participants for User Research

Fanni Zsófia Kelemen

Participant recruitment is crucial for successful UX research. That's why we want to help by guiding you through 8 common ways to find suitable participants. By understanding the pros and cons of each, you will be able to select the best recruitment method for your research study.

Recruitment in UX research is finding participants for your qualitative research activity. It is crucial for obtaining valuable data and ensuring the overall success of the research process. By carefully selecting participants who represent the target audience, researchers can gather meaningful insights into that specific user group’s behaviors, needs, and pain points.

Illustrative image for the article about the 8 effectives ways of recruiting participants for user research

Often, this is easier said than done. Recruiting participants who represent the target group can be challenging. This is especially true with specific and hard-to-reach populations. Effective recruitment also requires careful screening and selection. This can take significant time and effort.

But don’t worry, we are here to help you. In this article, we’ll explore 8 common ways how to recruit participants for research, sharing the key advantages and disadvantages based on our professional experience.

Let’s jump right in.

1. Ask your existing users to participate.

You would generally use this type of recruitment when you need participants with experience with the product or service the research focuses on. It’s usually effective when the company has an easy way to reach users – like a mailing list or newsletter.

Recruiting existing users is quick and easy. The company often has a lot of valuable information about its customers that can help with selection and screening.

Disadvantages

When you try to reach a new target audience, recruiting existing users won’t provide accurate results. This is because your insights will be limited to the current user base. Also, it can be challenging to recruit participants if the company doesn’t have effective ways to reach customers or if the business hasn’t been around for a long time.

Finally, you might face sampling and confirmation bias. Your participants already have a relationship with the company and brand. This could influence their answers.

2. Build your own internal research panel.

This is quite like inviting your existing users, but it makes the process more scalable. The difference is that you create a dedicated pool of volunteers willing to take part in future research activities. To do this, you will need to recruit participants using other approaches, like those mentioned in this article.

Building a panel ensures that you always have a group of people to choose from when testing new features or collecting insights about previous experiences with the product.

This approach works best for companies building their own products but can also be utilized by agencies like UX Studio . Having a research panel allows you to invite participants from the pool when their characteristics align with the target audience. You can also use it when the topic of study is broad and doesn’t need strict criteria.

Building and maintaining a research panel in a business-to-business (B2B) setting can be beneficial. Accessing and involving actual users can be challenging when developing a product or service for businesses. Building a panel of B2B users creates a valuable resource. This provides direct access to your target audience.

Furthermore, having a panel can make it easier for businesses to start and conduct research. The effort involved in recruiting participants is reduced. You have an established pool of willing participants. This can encourage companies to incorporate research more into their processes. Doing so leads to better-informed decisions and improving the user experience.

One of the key advantages is that the people who accept to be part of your panel are usually motivated to take part in research studies. You can gather extensive information about them. This allows for filtering based on specific needs in future recruitment. Additionally, maintaining a panel enables better control over participant quality. This includes factors like communication style.

Building and managing a user panel requires time and dedicated administrative tasks. Neglecting the panel for an extended period can result in losing contact with recruited users. This makes it increasingly difficult to reach them. Yet, this issue may be less relevant in B2B settings.

Panel management tools also come with extra costs. But, managing the panel by yourself requires extra effort and resources. If you decide to build your own research panel, carefully consider and adhere to data privacy rules. This ensures compliance with regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Additionally, monitoring the size and diversity of your panel is crucial to avoid over-reliance on a small group of people. This is crucial, as it can lead to biased feedback and limit the effectiveness of your research efforts.

3. Ask for referrals from current users or previous participants.

In academic research, this is often referred to as the snowball method. People use this type of recruitment when the target group is hard to reach with other approaches, but you know someone who can contact the group. It can also be valuable when you’ve already recruited a good fit for the study and need help in recruiting similar participants. You could also use this technique when you don’t have specific research criteria.

Advantages and disadvantages

It is a quick, low-effort, and cost-effective approach. Yet, it’s important to note that this method may result in losing control over the sample and recruitment process. We don’t recommend using it if you have very rigorous research criteria. It’s also not advised to use it when it’s essential to have a representative sample.

4.Talk to people who work inside the company or industry.

You would use this type of recruitment when the team is designing an internal tool for the employees of a company. In the case of agencies, this can also mean that the client refers participants from that specific industry.

It can also be a suitable approach when a rigorous non-disclosure agreement protects the product so the company doesn’t want outsiders to see it.

Internal recruitment is quite low-effort, cost-effective, and time-efficient. Yet, the data collected may not provide reliable insights. It is true if the internal employees or client-referred participants do not represent the target group. Moreover, you should consider the potential biases arising from the participants’ affiliation or professional relationship with the company.

5. Subscribe to a recruiting platform.

Subscribing to a recruiting platform is a convenient option for finding research participants. Several online tools can help quickly identify suitable participants. This approach is particularly beneficial for research topics that have broad target audiences.

One example of a diy recruiting platform

Recruiting platforms generally offer a large pool of interested participants. People who book a research session are usually willing to show up. This results in fewer no-shows than most other recruitment methods. They often provide automated scheduling and built-in screeners, streamlining the recruitment process. Additionally, the platform takes care of data handling in compliance with GDPR rules.

Disadvantages

Subscription prices can change from platform to platform. Yet, automated recruiting tools are generally more costly than other recruitment methods. Also, if you have a very niche target group, you might not be able to find participants with these tools.

There are also more and more “professional testers” on these websites. These people use these research opportunities as their primary source of income. Because of this, they have significant experience with UX and testing. This influences the quality and authenticity of the insights. Additionally, some people may provide false information on the screener. To avoid this, you must be extra careful with selection and screening.

Things to consider

According to our experience, there can be significant differences among the recruitment tools . When choosing a recruiting platform, you should consider some important things. These include price, pool size and composition, screening options, and refund policies. If you want to use an online recruitment tool, we recommend exploring the different options. This way, you can make sure you choose the one that best suits your needs.

6. Post in social media and online interest groups.

Recruiting through social media, online forums, and interest groups can be effective. It is a way to find participants with specific interests, experiences, or backgrounds. Here’s an overview of some of the most popular platforms and their considerations:

Posting research invitations on Facebook works well for general, popular research topics. It attracts many interested people. It is a cost-effective alternative to recruiting platforms and helps avoid professional testers.

Yet, it can be time-consuming. Joining different Facebook groups and getting your post approved is often tricky. Response rates may be low for less popular research topics. Also, there can be several unreliable applicants and no-shows.

For targeting professionals in specific industries, try LinkedIn. It allows you to find highly qualified people who would be difficult to reach elsewhere. Another advantage is that you will already have lots of background information about them since you can access their LinkedIn profiles.

Yet, the free version of LinkedIn is quite limited for recruitment. So, using a premium account may be necessary. In our experience, recruiting on LinkedIn also takes time since the response rate is very low. You can use external tools that can make recruitment with LinkedIn more efficient. These include Recruit ’em or Recruitment Geek.

If you’re looking for specified, niche target audiences, consider using Reddit. If you have a popular research topic and find the right subreddit thread, response rates are high. Participants found on Reddit are also often genuinely interested and motivated.

Conducting desk research by reading relevant Reddit threads connected to your target audience can also provide valuable insights. Yet, be cautious of fake applicants. They may lie to get the incentive. So, ensure your screener includes trick questions .

In the case of online interest groups, you should contact the administrator or moderator. They can give you permission before you post anything. This is especially important with Reddit, where many subreddits have strict, unique rules. You will get banned if you don’t follow these.

Other online groups (e.g., Slack, Mattermost, Discord)

There are specific online communities around different topics on other platforms, too. They are groups such as Slack, Mattermost, or Discord. Compared to Reddit, there are usually fewer fake applicants coming from these platforms. Yet, finding the right groups to post in is often more challenging.

7. Launch social media advertisements.

Your target group might be hard to reach, or you may want results more quickly. In this case, you need more than posting on social media. In that case, you can turn to advertisements.

Launching social media advertisements allows you to reach a broad audience. They let you set up specific locations, interests, or behavior criteria. The ads are customizable. This gives you control over exactly when and how people interact with them. Additionally, you can optimize the ads. You can do it by monitoring their performance and running many versions.

Setting up and managing social media advertisements can be time-consuming. Also, you may need help from your marketing team. The cost of ads will vary depending on the setup. It’s generally more expensive than posting in online groups. What’s more, you can expect some unreliable research applicants with this method.

8. Go outside and ask strangers.

While unconventional, guerrilla recruitment can be valuable in specific UX research scenarios. This approach involves going out into the field. You need to approach strangers and invite them to take part in research. It differs from traditional academic practices. Yet, guerrilla recruitment can be a practical, useful, quick-and-dirty solution.

In specific situations, guerrilla recruitment and research is a particularly effective method. For example, when conducting research at particular locations, such as validating a soccer-focused app during a football event . Or when the product has a physical aspect, such as when you need to test an interactive kiosk.

Guerrilla recruitment is also useful when you need to collect lots of data within a short timeframe, and you know many people from the target audience will gather in one place.

Guerilla recruitment in UX research offers several advantages. It is a cost-effective and efficient method, providing quick results. By observing users interact with your product in person, in a real-world context, you can gain additional insights. You may not be able to capture this extra information through other methods. You can also combine contextual interviews with this method. You also have the opportunity to involve participants who may not have applied otherwise.

Guerilla recruitment does come with its share of disadvantages. You can’t aim for a representative sample and regular distribution of demographic characteristics. It relies on chance encounters. The controlled research environment is also missing, and you have limited time for each session. Furthermore, approaching strangers and convincing them to take part can be quite uncomfortable for many researchers.

Recruiting participants is crucial to the success of your user research as it directly impacts the quality and reliability of the outcomes.

When deciding about the recruitment approach, it is essential to consider various factors such as:

specific research requirements
characteristics or specificity of the target audience
available resources
time constraints
budgetary considerations

Feel free to use multiple methods in parallel, especially when you have limited time to find suitable participants.

By evaluating the situation and utilizing appropriate recruitment strategies, researchers can enhance the overall effectiveness of their user research endeavors.

Finally, here is a table summarizing the eight recruitment methods. You can check their recommended usage scenarios and a comparison of their typical cost and effort levels. Please note that the cost and effort levels may vary depending on specific circumstances and the chosen platform:

Summary table of the methods for recruiting research participants

*Only for building the panel. If you use a panel management tool, the effort level is low-medium.

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How To Use AI to Increase Efficiency in Your User Research

Paul Boag, an expert in user experience (UX) design and conversion rate optimization (CRO), shares how AI has revolutionized his work. He explains that AI has “made my job a lot easier,” offering tools that simplify user research and provide new ways to gather and analyze data. In this blog, we’ll explore how AI is transforming user research, the advantages it offers, and why user research is crucial for UX and CRO. We’ll also break down the step-by-step processes Paul uses to integrate AI into his workflow.

Why user research matters in ux and cro, common challenges in user research, the advantages of using ai for user research, step-by-step process for using ai in survey analysis, using ai tools for interview analysis, the future of user research with ai, get scale-up growth strategies in your inbox..

User research is key to creating effective UX designs and improving conversion rates. By understanding what users need, how they behave, and what challenges they face, businesses can make their websites and apps more user-friendly and effective.

In UX, user research helps designers build interfaces that are intuitive and enjoyable. Boag points out that “user research can be difficult and time-consuming… because it’s challenging to understand and interpret what you’re learning as a user researcher.” Despite these challenges, the insights gained are invaluable for making designs that truly meet user needs.

For CRO, user research identifies the barriers that prevent users from completing desired actions, like signing up or making a purchase. Boag uses a simple yet powerful approach: “If you decided not to sign up today, it would be helpful to know why.” This question uncovers objections and concerns that businesses can address directly, improving their chances of converting users.

Without thorough user research, UX and CRO efforts can miss the mark, leading to designs and strategies that don’t resonate with users. By making user research a priority, businesses ensure that their decisions are based on real user insights, not assumptions.

Although user research is essential, it often comes with significant challenges:

Data Overload : Platforms like Google Analytics and Hotjar provide large amounts of data, but making sense of it all can be overwhelming. Boag notes, “Whether it’s Google Analytics, whether it’s Hotjar, wherever you’ve got a large amount of data, working through and getting understandings and insights… can be really difficult.” This can make it hard to focus on what’s most important.
Analyzing Open-Ended Surveys : Surveys with open-ended questions give valuable qualitative insights but can be intimidating to analyze manually. Boag says, “If you haven’t run a survey and have an open-ended question and you’re faced with hundreds, if not thousands of answers… that is intimidating.” Sorting through this data to find common themes is time-consuming and complex.
Handling Interview Transcripts : User interviews are rich in insights but managing the transcripts can be a challenge. Boag describes the difficulty of finding specific comments or recurring themes: “You’re then faced with transcripts of these conversations. Where did someone say that? And I’m sure I remember this, but I can’t remember where or how to find it.” Manually reviewing transcripts is a tedious process that can delay research outcomes.

AI provides solutions to these challenges by automating data analysis and simplifying the process of extracting insights from user feedback.

AI enhances user research by speeding up processes, improving accuracy, and enabling deeper analysis. Here are some key benefits of using AI in user research:

Automated Data Analysis : AI can quickly process large datasets, whether from surveys or analytics tools, to identify patterns and trends that might be missed by human analysis. Boag mentions, “AI is an amazing tool that helps you… understand data.” This automation saves time and allows researchers to focus on drawing meaningful conclusions.
Enhanced Qualitative Analysis : AI’s natural language processing capabilities are especially useful for analyzing open-ended survey responses and interview transcripts. Boag uses ChatGPT to analyze survey responses and rank common themes, which makes it easier to see what’s most important. He notes, “It’ll take a few minutes to look through all of those answers… with Ai, it’s not a few minutes, but a few seconds.” This speed allows researchers to get valuable insights quickly.
Scalability : AI makes it possible to scale research efforts without increasing the workload. Boag emphasizes that AI tools enable researchers to “do so much more user research than you’ve ever done before,” because the tools handle much of the heavy lifting. This scalability is crucial for businesses looking to expand their research capabilities or handle large datasets.
Improved Accuracy and Consistency : AI analyzes data with a high level of accuracy and consistency, reducing the risk of human error. This objective approach ensures that the insights derived are reliable and unbiased.
Faster Iterations and Better UX : AI helps businesses respond to user feedback faster, allowing them to make improvements more quickly. Boag points out that AI allows researchers to “look at information in ways that I’ve never been able to do before as a user researcher.” This ability to rapidly interpret data leads to better user experiences and more effective design updates.

Boag outlines a straightforward approach to using AI for analyzing open-ended survey responses, addressing one of the biggest hurdles in user research:

Download and Upload Survey Data : Boag begins by downloading the survey results as a CSV file and uploading it to ChatGPT. He explains, “You literally just drag and drop it [the CSV file] to ChatGPT.”
Prompt ChatGPT for Analysis : Once the file is uploaded, Boag uses specific prompts to guide ChatGPT. For example, he asks, “Attached is a survey asking the question, ‘If you decided not to sign up today, it would be useful to know why. Please, can you identify common themes?’” ChatGPT then sifts through the responses, identifies patterns, and ranks them by frequency.
Review and Act on Insights : The analysis quickly reveals actionable insights. For instance, ChatGPT might highlight “cost being too high” as a top reason why users don’t convert. By ranking the most common themes, Boag can prioritize which issues to address first, making it easier to focus on what will have the biggest impact on conversions.

This process, which once could take days, now takes only minutes, thanks to AI’s powerful data processing capabilities.

User interviews provide deep insights but are often underused due to the effort required to analyze them. Boag introduces Fathom , an AI tool that automates the transcription and analysis of interviews, making it a valuable addition to any researcher’s toolkit.

How to Use Fathom for Interview Analysis :

Automated Notes and Highlights : Fathom automatically generates meeting notes and highlights key themes from the interview. Boag explains, “It’s created these meeting notes for me… covering all of the different areas of improvements or things that the user wants.”
Easy Navigation and Search : With Fathom, users can jump directly to specific parts of the conversation, saving time otherwise spent manually searching through transcripts. Boag says, “I can jump through to any of these [questions] and see what response I got to those questions,” showing how the tool’s features make data more accessible.
Ask Specific Questions : Users can also ask Fathom specific questions about the interview content, like “What were the main pain points experienced by this user?” The AI pulls insights directly from the transcript, giving researchers the ability to focus on strategic analysis rather than manual data extraction.

These capabilities make Fathom a powerful tool for anyone looking to get the most out of their user interviews, turning raw data into actionable insights quickly and efficiently.

AI is not just a tool for speeding up user research; it is changing the entire approach to how researchers work. By automating routine tasks, scaling efforts, and providing deeper insights, AI allows researchers to focus on strategy and creative problem-solving.

Boag’s experience shows that embracing AI in user research leads to more effective and efficient outcomes. As he concludes, “Go and try these tools, because you’ll find that you can do so much more user research than you’ve ever done before, because it’s so much quicker and you’ll get better results too.” For UX and CRO professionals, using AI is no longer optional—it’s becoming essential for staying competitive and delivering the best user experiences.

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Stefan is a results-driven brand-first, content-second t-shaped marketer representing CXL as our marketing lead. Stefan's portfolio contains leading B2C and B2B brands and has been featured in marketing publications like Marketing Week and Marketing Mag.

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17 Best User Research Newsletter To Read in 2024

Hannah Clark is the Editor of The Product Manager. Following six years of experience in the tech industry, she pivoted into the content marketing space. She’s spent the better part of the past decade working in marketing agencies and offering freelance branding and content development services. Today, she’s a digital publisher who is privileged to work with some of the most brilliant voices in the product world. Driven by insatiable curiosity and a love of bringing people together, her mission is to foster a fun, vibrant, and inspiring community of product people.

Discover best user research newsletters with insights on UX design, user behavior, research methodologies, and industry trends to keep you informed and ahead in your field.

User research newsletters are absolute godsends for honing your craft. There are so many nuances and schools of thought in this field, and great newsletters allow you to take in a variety of perspectives on topics related to, well, taking in a variety of perspectives!

Here's a summary of each newsletter to help you understand who it's for and why it's valuable.

Best User Research Newsletter Shortlist

Here is the shortlist of the best user research newsletters that I believe are worth joining in 2024:

User Weekly — For weekly user research insights
User Research Academy — For in-depth user research articles
Nielsen Norman Group — For expert UX research findings
UX Collective — For curated UX design stories
The ¼″ Hole — For practical user research tips
User Interviews — For participant recruitment strategies
UX Matters — For comprehensive UX research discussions
User Research Bi-weekly — For bi-weekly user research updates
Pixels of the Week Newsletter — For design and research highlights
UX.EMAIL — For UX research and design news
Boagworld — For digital strategy and UX insights
UX Design Weekly — For weekly UX design and research news
People Nerds — For user research case studies
UX Notebook Newsletter — For UX career advice and research tips
Built From Mars Newsletter — For product design and research stories
UX Beginne r — For beginner-friendly UX research content
Research For All! — For inclusive research practices

Find more details about each newsletter below.

Overview Of The Best User Research Newsletter

1. user weekly — for weekly user research insights.

The user weekly newsletter by Jan Ahrend provides cutting-edge updates on UX research trends and GenAI applications, as well as curated user research articles and podcasts from hundreds of sources around the internet.

Audience: User-experience researchers and professionals
Newsletter Frequency: Weekly
Subscribe Here

Why Subscribe:

User Weekly offers updates on the newest techniques and trends in UX research, such as utilizing ChatGPT and other AI tools, including in-depth articles, videos, and conferences, in a thorough rundown in just a few minutes. Additionally, subscribers will have access to cutting-edge resources, practical applications, and best practices, which enable them to stay ahead of UX developments.

2. User Research Academy — For in-depth user research articles

User Research Academy by Nikki Anderson offers resources like articles, guides, podcasts, and methodologies to enhance user research practices and career development.

Audience : UX researchers and professionals
Size : 8,000+ subscribers
Newsletter Frequency : Bi-weekly
Monthly: $21 ($22.06)
Yearly: $240 ($242.68)

Why Subscribe :

User Research Academy provides access to in-depth articles, practical project walk-throughs, and curated resources, including the most creative and informative user research content. Subscribers also gain exclusive access to the Dear Nikki podcast, which offers personalized advice on user research challenges. This newsletter combines expert insights, real-world applications, and community-driven discussions

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3. Nielsen Norman Group — For expert UX research findings

Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) newsletter delivers the latest usability, design, and UX research articles, offering authoritative insights and practical guidance based on their extensive research and consulting experience.

Audience : UX professionals and researchers.
Newsletter Frequency : Weekly

Nielsen Norman Group's newsletter offers unparalleled access to expert insights from leading UX researchers like Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman, ensuring you stay updated with the latest trends and best practices in user experience. The newsletter provides diverse, actionable content, including in-depth articles, videos, and exclusive resources, helping you apply cutting-edge methodologies and frameworks in your work.

4. UX Collective — For curated UX design stories

UX Collective newsletter offers curated stories on user experience, visual, and product design, helping product teams and designers evaluate their work.

Audience : UX designers and researchers
Size : 110,000+ subscribers

UX Collective newsletter offers curated insights on various UX design topics, such as interaction design, user research, and the influence of AI. With articles discussing recent issues like collaboration costs in Figma and the implications of AI metaphors, the newsletter provides valuable perspectives from industry experts and guest writers.

5. The ¼″ Hole — For practical user research tips

The ¼″ Hole is a Substack newsletter focused on user research and UX, delivering detailed articles on research methodologies, industry trends, practical guides, opinion pieces, and creative approaches to UX challenges.

Audience : User researchers looking for practical tips and resources.
Size : 2,000+ subscribers
Newsletter Frequency : Monthly

The ¼″ Hole immerses you in the evolving landscape of UX research with detailed explorations of industry trends, actionable frameworks, and innovative problem-solving techniques. The newsletter covers everything from strategies for building a UX portfolio without formal experience to understanding the impacts of industry changes like layoffs. Each edition is designed not only to inform but also to engage you in meaningful discussions.

6. User Interviews — For participant recruitment strategies

User Interviews newsletter delivers thought-provoking podcasts, in-depth articles, yearly reports like the "State of User Research," and essential tools while offering opportunities for community engagement and professional insights.

Audience: UX researchers, designers, and professionals
Size: 100,000+ subscribers

Why Subscribe:

The User Interviews newsletter features detailed case studies highlighting real-world applications of UX research, offering practical insights into how strategies are implemented. It includes guides tailored for startups and advanced readers, covering everything from basic research methods to complex analysis techniques, helping everyone enhance their skills.

The newsletter also promotes webinars and live events, offering opportunities to learn from industry experts and stay engaged with current discussions. Additionally, it provides curated job listings and career resources to help subscribers advance their professional development.

7. UX Matters — For comprehensive UX research discussions

The UX Matters newsletter by Pabini Gabriel-Petit offers in-depth content on key UX topics and delivers practical advice, best practices, and strategic insights. It covers a wide range of subjects, from actionable tips to emerging trends in digital experiences.

Audience: UX designers, visual interface designers, and healthcare professionals
Size: 35,000+ subscribers
Newsletter Frequency: Bimonthly
Cost: Free

UX Matters provides expertly curated content that covers every aspect of User Experience, from practical how-tos and best practices to in-depth thought pieces on strategic and emerging trends. It offers detailed case studies that reveal the real-world application of UX principles, critical book reviews to keep you updated on essential literature, and comprehensive event coverage that distills key insights from major industry conferences.

8. User Research Bi-weekly — For bi-weekly user research updates

The User Research Bi-weekly newsletter delivers the top five most creative, helpful, and informative user research articles, podcasts, templates, events, books, and academic resources directly to your inbox.

Audience: User researchers at all levels
Newsletter Frequency: Bi-weekly

User Research Bi-weekly provides access to reliable, innovative resources that enhance creativity and confidence in conducting user research. Subscribers can submit questions personally answered by the authors, offering a fresh, creative perspective on UX research.

9. Pixels of the Week Newsletter — For design and research highlights

Pixels of the Week newsletter by Stephanie Walter offers a curated selection of content focused on user experience design, mobile interfaces, and web development. Each edition includes detailed articles, practical tutorials, and insights into the latest trends, strongly emphasizing mobile and responsive design.

Audience: Designers, UX researchers, and tech enthusiasts
Size: 2700+ subscribers

Pixels of the Week gives you access to a meticulously curated collection of the most relevant and cutting-edge UX design, web development, and technology content, including the latest in HTML, CSS, and SVG. Each issue delivers actionable insights and innovative tools and informs subscribers about upcoming events, workshops, articles, and podcast episodes.

10. UX.EMAIL — For UX research and design news

UX.EMAIL newsletter provides links and summaries of the most interesting stories in UX/UI Design, UX Research, and Product Management. It is designed to keep readers informed about everything that matters in UX today in just 5 minutes.

Audience: UX/UI designers, UX researchers, and product managers
Newsletter Frequency: Daily

UX.EMAIL gives you access to thoughtfully curated articles that focus on practical strategies like optimizing user flows, mastering Figma's latest features, and staying updated on the developments of AI and systems. It delivers diverse content to deepen your expertise and keep you ahead in the field—all efficiently packaged to fit your busy schedule.

11. Boagworld — For digital strategy and UX insights

Boagworld is a well-respected newsletter created by industry expert Paul Boag, offering in-depth insights on integrating UX principles with digital strategy to enhance website performance and drive business success.

Audience: UX designers, digital strategists, and business owners looking for practical advice on enhancing digital experiences.
Size: 10,000+ subscribers.
Newsletter Frequency: Bi-Weekly
Cost : Free

The Boagworld newsletter provides a consistent stream of actionable insights and practical advice tailored to the constantly changing fields of web design, UX, and digital strategy. In addition to receiving expert tips on enhancing website performance and aligning digital projects with business goals, subscribers can access a free course on securing design approvals and a comprehensive guide to initiating a user experience revolution.

12. UX Design Weekly — For weekly UX design and research news

UX Design Weekly newsletter is a highly curated resource that delivers the latest and most relevant content in user experience design. Each edition compiles top articles, practical tutorials, essential tools, and industry insights, focusing on the latest trends and best practices in UX.

Audience: UX/UI designers, researchers, and product managers seeking the latest in design trends and research.
Size: Estimated 30,000+ subscribers.

UX Design Weekly offers a carefully curated selection of the most relevant and impactful UX content, featuring industry leaders' latest tools, in-depth articles, and case studies. It is ideal for those looking to refine design processes, stay informed on cutting-edge trends, or discover new resources to enhance user experiences. Additionally, this newsletter delivers actionable insights and expert knowledge that significantly contribute to professional growth in the UX field.

13. People Nerds — For user research case studies

People Nerds offers a newsletter dedicated to user research and studying human behavior in digital environments. It covers a range of research methodologies, providing practical advice, case studies, and insights to enhance the quality and effectiveness of user research.

Audience: UX research teams, designers, and anyone interested in understanding user behavior through research.

People Nerds provides a deep dive into the latest user research methodologies, offering actionable insights and tools that help refine and elevate research practices. Each issue delivers a carefully curated selection of research findings, practical tips, and academic summaries designed to make complex concepts accessible and immediately applicable.

The newsletter strongly emphasizes ethical considerations, inclusivity, and empathy in research, ensuring that subscribers can design user experiences that are effective, socially responsible, and inclusive.

14. UX Notebook Newsletter — For UX career advice and research tips

UX Notebook Newsletter, curated by Sarah Doody, delivers behind-the-scenes UX tips and actionable advice on applying UX and design principles to grow your team, product, and career. It offers practical insights and strategies tailored to help readers navigate and succeed in the dynamic field of user experience design.

Audience: UX professionals, especially those focused on career growth and research techniques.
Size: 53,000+ subscribers.

The UX Notebook provides essential content for mastering the technical and strategic dimensions of UX design. Offering a unique blend of actionable insights and detailed guidance on user research, prototyping, and stakeholder communication, it also includes strategies for scaling products and teams.

With its focus on real-world applications and directly applicable advice, the newsletter equips readers with the tools and knowledge needed to excel in the complex challenges of UX.

15. Built From Mars Newsletter — For product design and research stories

Built From Mars newsletter by Peter Ramsey is focused on product design and research, providing readers with in-depth stories and analyses of successful product creation. It offers valuable insights into the strategies and processes behind effective product development.

Audience: Product designers, UX researchers, and anyone interested in the product development process
Size: 36,000+ subscribers
Newsletter Frequency: Bi-monthly
Product Builders ( $10/month billed annually)
Teams ( $51/month billed annually)

Built From Mars offers detailed case studies that dissect successful digital product design and development processes, including apps and websites. The newsletter analyzes how these products tackle user challenges, optimize flows, and create smooth interfaces, revealing A/B testing, user feedback integration, and iterative design techniques.

This in-depth examination provides subscribers with a clear, actionable understanding of how to apply similar methods to their projects, making it a valuable tool for mastering product design.

16. UX Beginner — For beginner-friendly UX research content

UX Beginner is a dedicated resource for those new to UX design, offering tailored guidance on building foundational skills, creating portfolios, and navigating the early stages of a UX career. It provides curated learning paths, actionable career advice, and beginner-friendly tools and resources to help subscribers confidently enter and succeed in the UX industry.

Audience: Aspiring UX designers and beginners looking for foundational knowledge and career advice.

The UX Beginner newsletter offers a structured, step-by-step approach to mastering UX design, featuring curated learning paths that cover essential skills like user research, wireframing, prototyping, and usability testing. Each path is designed to guide you through the learning process with the right resources and tools at every stage, ensuring a solid grasp of key UX principles.

The newsletter also provides actionable career advice, including tips on building a strong UX portfolio, crafting compelling case studies, and preparing for interviews. Additionally, you'll receive recommendations for beginner-friendly tools and templates that simplify complex tasks, helping you confidently apply your new skills as you begin your UX career.

17. Research For All! — For inclusive research practices

Research For All! is a compact UX research newsletter that provides practical, easily digestible insights and strategies that focus on making UX research more accessible and effective, emphasizing inclusivity and real-world application in design and product creation.

Audience: UX researchers, academics, and anyone interested in inclusive research methods.
Newsletter Frequency: Monthly

Research For All! provides practical, actionable advice tailored for those conducting UXR (UX research) with limited resources. This newsletter offers expert tips on time-saving research tools, exclusive discounts on courses and webinars, and a bonus Research Plan Template to help streamline the research process. It’s designed to make UX research more accessible and effective, ensuring subscribers can conduct thorough and impactful research, even on a budget.

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Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E))

Ms. Heidi Shyu is the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)). In this role, she serves as the Chief Technology Officer for the Department of Defense (DoD), mandated with ensuring the technological superiority of the U.S. military, and is responsible for the research, development, and prototyping activities across the DoD enterprise. She also oversees the activities of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the DoD Laboratory and Engineering Center enterprise, and the Under Secretariat staff focused on developing advanced technology and capability for the U.S. military.

Previously, she served as the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA (ALT)), from September 2012 to January 2016. Prior to this, she was Acting ASA (ALT) beginning in June 2011 and appointed the Principal Deputy in November 2010. As the ASA (ALT), she served as the Army Acquisition Executive, the Senior Procurement Executive, the Science Advisor to the Secretary of the Army, and the Army’s Senior Research and Development official. She had principal responsibility for all Department of the Army matters related to logistics. Ms. Shyu also led the execution of the Army’s acquisition function and the acquisition management system. Her responsibilities included providing oversight for the life cycle management and sustainment of Army weapons systems and equipment from research and development through test and evaluation, acquisition, logistics, fielding, and disposition.

Prior to her government service, Ms. Shyu was the Vice President of Technology Strategy for Raytheon Company’s Space and Airborne Systems.

Ms. Shyu holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from the University of Brunswick in Canada, a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering with a focus on System Sciences along with the Engineer’s Degree from UCLA. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of New Brunswick. She is also a graduate of the UCLA Executive Management Course Program.

A member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board from 2000 to 2010, she served as the Vice Chair from 2003 to 2005 and Chair from 2005 to 2008. Ms. Shyu is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Honorary Fellow.

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Each semester the OVCRI offers a Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Speaker Series to help researchers at all levels understand their responsibilities and to promote integrity and ethical practices on our campus and beyond. This series is intended to support the specific RCR education requirements of the National Science Foundation (NSF) , the National Institutes of Health (NIH) , and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) .

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Frequently asked questions

The Basics of Recruiting Participants for User Research

Recruiting the right participants is crucial if your user research is to get your design anywhere. Your research participants must be able to represent your target group or end users; otherwise, your results will not translate into something you can use. The level of difficulty you will face when recruiting participants depends on your criteria. If your criteria are general, such as age group and location, recruiting participants is an easy matter. If your criteria are more specific, things can get more involved and time-consuming. Here, we will go through the considerations you should make when deciding what type of research participants you want and give you pointers on how you can recruit the participants you need to make your project matter far, far more to the real users later.

Recruiting a Sample of Users

If you want to do effective user research, you'll need to recruit participants who represent your (potential) users. These participants should possess characteristics found in your eventual customers — the people in your target group . Many products and services have various user types or groups, so you need to recruit a range of research participants to tap into these variations. Ideally, time and budget permitting, when dealing with a product with multiple user groups, you should research with each group separately .

Companies sometimes outsource the job of recruiting research participants to a specialist firm or group. Such specialist firms will also need to take demographics and other qualities and characteristics into consideration when selecting potential participants on behalf of their clients. The firm requires knowledge of the target users and the context under investigation, so the recruitment team will need to gather this information before recruitment begins.

Whom Should You Recruit?

When people are short on time, they may frequently use their colleagues as test participants. Still, it would be best if you were careful about using your colleagues because of the potential for bias .

If the employees feel they must say positive things because they know you or if they know too much about the product, the research sessions will probably fail to yield the desired results.

Another risk is déformation professionnelle — a phenomenon that arises when so many testers from one profession come into contact with an item they must judge. While this may not have to matter if you do manage to latch your project with the perfect niche — for example, you get a bunch of employees from a games manufacturer to test your game — the risk is significant if too many are from one industry. Not having aligned your design solution with your target audience's needs, they'll analyze the design based on their industry know-how. That will cause a slanted view of your work's functionality and its ability to please.

In some projects, recruitment is a straightforward process, as there will be a ready supply of people willing and able to take part. However, when a product has a particular target group, recruitment must identify the best possible candidates from the available pool. For example, when testing a new mobile app for checking which supermarket offers the lowest prices on specific products, recruitment should be relatively straightforward. The target users would be the general public — although you might have a few additional requirements such as a particular age group or income bracket. Recruiters could then ask people outside supermarkets if they would like to participate in the study.

In contrast, if you are developing a new and complicated system for a specific group of workers in a company, you would need either to take a sample of these eventual users or to identify the skills and responsibilities necessary for this role and try to find an equivalent group from another source. In that case, recruitment can take a while because the pool of potential participants is smaller.

Recruitment Criteria

A woman writing on paper that's clipped to a board.

Before you recruit participants, you must consider what criteria you need to apply when recruiting so that your participants can provide relevant insights for your project. In some cases, your criteria may be very general , such as age, location, and experience with a particular type of widely used product (e.g., laptop computers).

In other cases, you need people who can provide more specific insights into the project you are working on — e.g., someone who has experience using online click-and-collect services or someone who has been through one particular type of treatment at a hospital. Deciding on the right number and type of criteria for research participants is a balancing act . You don't want so few requirements that your participants don't represent your end users. For instance, if you have a design for an app that “almost anyone can use” (such as a low-intensity physical activity monitor), that might be all well and good in the long run, but you'll need to tighten your scope to identify likely customers embodied in your research participants.

On the other hand, you don't want to add criteria that might make it difficult to recruit participants, at least not unless you have to. The more specific the requirements you have, the more effort you must put into recruiting, so you should carefully consider the necessity of each criterion. Often, you need to recruit participants who represent your primary target group, and you don't have to cover every corner case you can think of. Your actual users are likely to end up involving more than just a few unexpected types of users, anyway.

If you have a broad target group, you can use design consultancy IDEO's method of recruiting both “Extremes” and “Mainstreams”. By including extreme users, you can be more confident that your research covers the entire spectrum of your target group. You can, for example, include participants who have minimal computer experience in your test of a new software tool because if they can figure out how to use your software, most other users probably will be able to, too. If you use the extremes and mainstreams methods, just remember to include the mainstream users as well — after all, they are the ones who represent the majority of your target group.

A bell curve with the extremes of the bell highlighted.

In most projects, at the minimum, you need to consider the age group of your participants, their geographical location, as well as if there is any specific type of experience they should or should not have. For example, suppose you want to do a usability test of an Android app. In that case, you probably need participants who have experience using Android phones because your end users will also own Android phones and thus have experience with that operating system.

Once you have decided on your criteria, you need to write a screener — a script for screening participants — that you or someone else can use for recruiting by asking questions that will determine whether a potential participant fits into your criteria.

How to Recruit

People in an office, talking to customers over the computer and taking notes simultaneously.

There are different ways to go about recruiting participants. Using a recruitment agency is usually an efficient way to recruit participants, but it is also costly. If you don't have the funds to use a recruitment agency, you must recruit participants yourself. The best way to recruit participants depends on your project. Using your network or posting on social media can be efficient if your participants are people not too far from your social circle. How closely related your participants can be to you again depends on your project, but you have less risk of bias if your participants don't know you personally. If you need to recruit user groups that are hard to reach, you can use interest groups or internet forums where you think people from your target group might be active. Sometimes, recruiting this way requires you to get permission from or go through a moderator who will decide if your request is appropriate for the users in question.

You can make recruiting easier by ensuring that you make the time and location of your sessions as convenient as possible for your potential participants and offer some form of reward or incentive. It's always a good idea to recruit a few more participants than you need; that way, you are sure to have the participants you need in case of no-shows or cancelations. Remember, these participants, just like the users they are standing in for, live in a real world of broken-down cars, sickness, forgetfulness, and all the other “what ifs” that make us human.

The Costs of Recruitment

The chosen research participants will usually receive some form of “reward” or financial compensation for their involvement in the research sessions. Compensation will vary according to the amount of time the research takes and, sometimes, the complexity of the tasks. If the participants are recruited from a specific group of skilled professionals, the rewards may be higher to compensate them appropriately for their time. Rewards can include payment (you can Google what is appropriate), gifts (e.g., vouchers and products), and expenses (e.g., travel, food, and hotel costs). Sometimes, you might find it easier (and overall cheaper) to entice participation by offering a chance to win a prize, rather than offering direct compensation (e.g., "Take part in our study for a chance to win a 50-inch TV."). How much you should pay depends on your geographic region. Usually, you'll find it easy to find out how much is appropriate in your area through a simple Google search. If you do offer compensation, you should keep documentation for your accounting and/or personnel/HR department to show the costs of the process.

If the company or business uses a recruitment firm, the cost of compensating participants will be eclipsed by their expenses. Recruitment groups or individual recruitment agents are typically paid a fee for every research participant who fulfills all of your criteria (i.e., fits the specified demographic and completes the research session).

The recruitment process should be a relatively painless procedure, but it is essential to provide the recruiter(s) with sufficient information to choose the right people for your project. On a final note, remember that your recruited testers will indeed be representing your users, and hopefully in ways that reflect how the real users will engage with your design. Here's a little piece of inspiration to help keep things in perspective:

“ When you design a solution, what pops into your head? Here is my answer: that we considered and explored. That we peered ahead into the stress test of the real world, when some harried young woman minding her own business encounters our work. She's not thinking of us, she's thinking of what she has to do that night, an email to write to her professor, a midterm to cram for, laundry to do in preparation for that party on Saturday. And we were prepared for her. We left no detail unexamined. — Julie Zhuo, Former-Product Design VP at Facebook

Screener Surveys

You can use a screener survey to help you identify research participants. Once you identify the criteria for your research participants, you can draft a questionnaire to “test” potential participants. Questions in the screener are typically in the multiple-choice format that can either eliminate users from taking part in your study or give them access to it.

Screeners may seem easy, but it’s often quite challenging to craft screeners properly. If a user misunderstands the questions, you could end up with test participants who don’t match your criteria.

You can use the qualifying participants’ screener survey responses as a great opening prompt. For example:

“I noticed in your survey responses that you indicated you are currently shopping for a new car. I’m curious to know what kind of car you are looking for.”

The Take Away

Recruiting the right participants is crucial for getting valuable results from your user research. Your participants have to be able to represent your end users. That means that you must consider what criteria you have for your research participants before you can start recruiting. When your criteria are general — such as age and location — recruiting participants is relatively easy, but when you have more specific requirements concerning who you need to participate in your study, it can be more difficult and time-consuming. By involving extreme and mainstream users in the research stage, however, you can improve your chances for latching with your true target users later, as the former two will consist of a blanket of experience (and lack thereof!) that will show you where your design truly stands. As ever, keep accessibility issues and users with disabilities in mind.

References & Where to Learn More

Course: Conducting Usability Testing

For more on how to recruit participants, read this guide about Recruiting Usability Test Participants

Here’s a handy primer on how to find great participants for your user study

Read more about IDEO’s Extremes and Mainstreams method.

Here is a good repository of templates that you can use in your work, including how to write your screener.

Data-Driven Design: Quantitative Research for UX

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Mosquitoes use infrared detection to help find people

At a glance.

Aedes aegypti , a type of mosquito that spreads diseases such as dengue and Zika, can sense infrared radiation to help locate and bite people.
This ability relies on specific proteins found in the tip of mosquito antennae, providing potential new targets for bite prevention.

Woman on a hike in the forest applying insect repellent as mosquitoes swarm around her.

Mosquitos have a fine-tuned ability to find and bite people. This includes Aedes aegypti , which can transmit viruses that cause deadly diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, and Zika.

Female mosquitoes use a range of cues to hunt us for our blood, including odor molecules from our skin and carbon dioxide released when we breathe. But these can disperse through air and be affected by wind. Up close, Ae. aegypti can also sense body heat transferred through air. But they must be very close—within four inches—of a person to perceive this.

Scientists have thought that the ability to detect thermal infrared radiation (IR) which can be detected at greater distances, might help mosquitoes home in on people. IR, sometimes called infrared light, is released by heat sources and is outside the range human eyes can detect. Previous research had suggested that mosquitoes can’t detect IR, either. However, such studies only looked at IR in isolation, not combined with other cues that mosquitoes use to find their prey.

In a new study, researchers led by Dr. Craig Montell from the University of California, Santa Barbara, tested whether IR emanating from skin could play a role in helping mosquitoes home in on people. The team built a special testing chamber that allowed them to manipulate the levels of odor, heat, and carbon dioxide. They enabled it to block conductive and convective heat to make sure mosquitoes were sensing thermal IR to orient towards their prey.

When female mosquitoes land, they start probing around to find a vein for a blood meal. The team also designed a computer program to identify this host-seeking behavior from collected videos. Results were published on August 21, 2024, in Nature .

As observed previously, IR alone did not draw Ae. aegypti to a surface and trigger host-seeking behavior. However, adding IR to human odor and carbon dioxide doubled the number of mosquitoes drawn to a surface to start probing.

Infrared images showing how less infrared radiation can be detected on someone’s arm through loose-fitting sleeves than bare skin or tight sleeves.

Since Ae. aegypti prefer to bite people around dawn and dusk, the researchers looked at whether sensitivity to IR changed with shifts in environmental temperature. They found that mosquitoes were more attracted to thermal IR from a source at skin temperature when the environmental temperature was lower than that of human skin. When the environment heated up to match the temperature of human skin, as it would in midday, the mosquitoes lost their ability to sense thermal IR.

The team also found that mosquitoes could sense IR while in flight at a distance of more than two and a half feet away.

To better understand how Ae. aegypti senses IR, the researchers used imaging and genetic manipulation to examine mosquito antennae. They found that a heat-activated protein called TRPA1, found in neurons at the tips of antennae, was necessary for IR sensing. At lower intensities of thermal IR, such as when a target is further away, TRPA1 received help from two proteins called opsins. Opsins are specialized proteins that are used to detect light. At the end of the antenna, they function to help detect thermal IR.

“Despite their diminutive size, mosquitoes are responsible for more human deaths than any other animal,” says Dr. Nicolas DeBeaubien, who helped lead the study. “Our research enhances the understanding of how mosquitoes target humans and offers new possibilities for controlling the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases.”

IR sensing, for example, could potentially be exploited in large-scale mosquito control, such as by adding IR emitters to mosquito traps.

—by Sharon Reynolds

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What Is User Research, and What Is Its Purpose?

Qualitative vs. Quantitative data: What’s the difference?

2. What is the purpose of user research?

Why is it so important to conduct user research?

User research helps you to design better products!

User research saves time and money!

User research can be done on a budget

3. How to plan your user research

4. When to use different user research methods

Qualitative Methods:

Quantitative Methods:

Further reading

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User research: the definitive guide for 2024

Analyze user research

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User research can be done on a dime

Generative or exploratory user research

Descriptive or explanatory user research

Evaluative user research

Causal user research

Balancing qualitative and quantitative data in UX research: Our full guide

Quantitative UX research methods

The best user research projects often incorporate both methods

Step 1: Identify your research and project goals

Step 2: Choose your research method

Qualitative user research

Quantitative user research

Step 3: Create a user research plan

How to create an effective UX research plan (2024)

Step 5: Conduct research

Step 6: Analyze your results

Step 7: Share your findings

Step 8: Adapt your product or service to serve your target audience better

Can anyone research their users?

How many people do I need for user research?

How long does the average UX research project take?

Should you be using a customer insights hub?

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Latest articles

User Research: What Is It and How to Do It in SaaS

Usability testing

What is user research?

Why is conducting user research important?

Understand user behaviors, needs, and preferences

Identify experience gaps and remove friction

Increase product value and improve user experience

How to conduct user research to improve user experience

1. Define your main objective and build a hypothesis

2. Choose your research participants

3. Choose the appropriate research method

4. Start collecting data

5. Analyze and form a conclusion

Types of user research

Quantitative research

Qualitative research

User research methods

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Further Reading on the Toptal Blog:

Understanding the basics

What are UX methods?

What is the best research methodology for user experience design?

What does a UX researcher do?

Why is UX research important?

Miklos Philips

About the author

Toptal Designers