Flag

We stand with Ukraine and our team members from Ukraine. Here are ways you can help

Become a member

Get exclusive access to thought-provoking articles, bonus podcast content, and cutting-edge whitepapers. Become a member of the UX Magazine community today!

Home ›› Research Methods and Techniques ›› Page 4

Research Methods and Techniques

See All Topics
Read these first

Nova: A Modern Publication for the Sexy Nerd

  • Customer Experience, Design, Product design, Research Methods and Techniques, Research Tools and Software, Usability, UX Education, UX Magazine

Process notes of creating an online magazine for a female professional.

Article by Jennifer ODonnell
IDEAS IN BRIEF
Nova: A Modern Publication for the Sexy Nerd
  • The article covers the creation of an online magazine,“NOVA” — a publication focused on spicing up the life of female professionals.
  • The author shares process notes and perspective from each of the project phases:
    • Research (qualitative research, competitor analysis, interviews, quantitate research)
    • Card Sorting
    • LOW-FI (wire framing)
    • MID-FI (edits)
    • Branding (colors, font, voice&tone, mood board)
    • Hi-Fi
  • Lessons and learnings from the project:
    • Mind spacing, especially margins
    • Balance between creativity and function in every design
    • Know when enough is enough
Read Article →
Share
Share:Nova: A Modern Publication for the Sexy Nerd
6 min read
NOVA: A Modern Publication for the Sexy Nerd | Jennifer O’Donnell

The Future of Expertise in Design: Reimagining How I Show Up as an Expert in the Design Process

  • Customer Experience, Design, Design Theory, Persuasive Design, Research Methods and Techniques, The Evolution of Research, Usability, UX Education, UX Magazine

While methods and processes remain important, what is essential for changing how we design is having a commitment to an objective, a mindset, a motivation that can help us reflect on and critique how we do our work. 3 big critiques of commonly held assumptions that drive the design process and the corresponding mindset shifts that are emerging around these critiques. 

Article by Gabriel Mugar
IDEAS IN BRIEF
The Future of Expertise in Design: Reimagining How I Show Up as an Expert in the Design Process
  • While methods and processes remain important, what is essential for changing how we design is having a commitment to an objective, a mindset, and a motivation that can help us reflect on and critique how we do our work.
  • Assumptions for expertise in design:
    1. Design impact is the value exchange with the people we learn from in research.
    2. Co-design gives people agency in the design process
    3. A beginners’ mindset helps us see challenges with fresh eyes
  • The author explores three shifts that make him reimagine how he shows up as an expert and decision maker:
    • Shift #1: Go from transactional to mutually beneficial engagement in research.
    • Shift #2: Move from gathering participant feedback to being participant-guided.
    • Shift #3: Instead of focusing on people, focus on people in systems.
  • Сommunity-led design methods give designers an opportunity to reimagine how their expertise and skills can be more meaningful.
Read Article →
Share
Share:The Future of Expertise in Design: Reimagining How I Show Up as an Expert in the Design Process
10 min read
The-Future-of-Expertise-in-Design_-reimagining-How-I-Show-Up-as-an-Expert-in-the-Design-Process-article-image.png

9 Things You Can Do to Make User Research Stick

  • Customer Experience, Design, Remote Research, Research Methods and Techniques, Usability, UX Education, UX Magazine

Imagine a situation — you fancy a night out, so you do your hair or makeup, carefully take the time to pick out the best clothes for the occasion or put some perfume on, and then, instead of heading out, you just stand in your own hall, at the front door the whole night. This is your research without properly sharing the findings. You did all the preparations and all the work but the impact is not there.

Article by Adela Svoboda
IDEAS IN BRIEF
9 Things You Can Do to Make User Research Stick

  • The author shares the story about how she started working on new personas for her product and how user research helped her along the way.

  • The author believes that just “having” the research findings doesn’t really mean anything — we have to make some effort ****to let the research findings sink in properly and support adoption across the whole company.

  • Here are 9 tips on how you can share any of your research findings:

    1. Be concise and clear

    2. Co-create

    3. Make the findings easy to take in

    4. Create different artefacts

    5. Test the findings

    6. Quiz and games

    7. (Over)communicate

    8. Top-down approach

    9. Forget about on-site only

Read Article →
Share
Share:9 Things You Can Do to Make User Research Stick
8 min read
9 things you can do to make user research stick

How To Research So PMs Will Listen

  • Customer Experience, Design, Design Theory, Employee Experience, Psychology and Human Behavior, Remote Research, Research Methods and Techniques, Research Tools and Software, Usability, UX Education, UX Magazine

Building effective partnerships with PMs requires stepping outside of any frustration, ego, or resentment at being ignored, and building empathy. How to do that? Here is what we’re going to find out.

Article by Lindsey Wallace
IDEAS IN BRIEF
How To Research So PMs Will Listen
  • PMs are the most critical audiences for research, they are also often the hardest to convince, and the source of many of researchers’ frustrations and heartaches.
  • Building effective partnerships with PMs requires stepping outside of any frustration, ego, or resentment at being ignored, and building empathy.
  • The author shares:
    • Some practices of working with PMs
    • Questions to ask PMs and stakeholders
  • The baseline expectation setting:
    • Level set
    • Set guardrails based on your role
    • Ask for candid feedback and engagement
    • No surprises
  • When researchers and PMs are in conflict or in separate silos, neither role gets the value of the other, but strong researcher-pm partnerships can be game-changing for extending the strategic impact and influence of both design and research.
Read Article →
Share
Share:How To Research So PMs Will Listen
6 min read
How to research so PMs will listen

Dealing with Impostor Syndrome as a User Researcher

  • Behavioral Science, Customer Experience, Design, Design Theory, Emotion, Empathy, Human factors, Research Methods and Techniques, Usability, UX Education, UX Magazine

Feeling like a fraud? Everyone can experience impostor syndrome when trying something new and user researchers aren’t an exception. However, there are ways to ease this feeling and embrace the fear of failure. It’s time we started dealing with impostor syndrome. Let’s find out the ways to do that.

Article by Nikki Anderson
IDEAS IN BRIEF
Dealing with Impostor Syndrome as a User Researcher
  • Nikki Anderson-Stanier, Founder at User Research Academy, shares her perspective on:
    • Their definition of imposter syndrome
    • Author’s experience of managing impostor syndrome throughout her career
    • Ways impostor syndrome manifests in user research
  • There are some ways to ease the feeling of being an impostor and embrace the fear of failure:
    • Try a different method or push yourself to present research in a new way.
    • Learn how to take feedback in stride.
    • Own and celebrate your achievements.
    • See yourself as a work-in-progress.
    • If you don’t know, ask for help.
    • Remember you are the expert on this subject.
Read Article →
Share
Share:Dealing with Impostor Syndrome as a User Researcher
6 min read
Dealing-with-impostor-syndrome-as-a-user-researcher

Deep Analysis in UX Research: Ethnography as an Approach Not Method

  • Customer Experience, Design, Remote Research, Research Methods and Techniques, Usability, UX Education, UX Magazine

Despite the evangelizing efforts of industry thought leaders, the qualitative research methodologies of academia is not the ethnography that is practiced in the private sector. So how do we apply ethnographic research in the private sector as an approach and not method? — Great question. Read to find out.

Article by Ender Ricart
IDEAS IN BRIEF
Deep Analysis in UX Research: Ethnography as an Approach Not Method
  • The author considers ethnography in the private sector to be a goal-oriented approach that can be applied to many different kinds of qualitative research.
  • Ethnographic research is about understanding the nexus of knowledge, belief/perception, culture, and power; specifically what facets of these elements come to bare on one’s interaction with said product or service to form their lived experience.
  • The ethnographic approach of deep analysis lets you assess hypotheticals through contextualizing conditions of possible use within relevant underlying value systems, knowledge, perception that truly frame and form a user’s behavior.
  • The authors demonstrates application of ethnographic approach and deep analysis in the example: New Game Console Controller Form Factor.
  • The author’s analysis uncovered the following:
    • Inherited mental models introduced friction.
    • There are already a host of innovative designer controllers available to use even for the game console in question.
    • Game studios have ownership of game control settings.
    • Among the user populations evaluated, one segment in particular had an above average engagement with exclusively “new” video games.
Read Article →
Share
Share:Deep Analysis in UX Research: Ethnography as an Approach Not Method
5 min read
Deep Analysis in UX Research: Ethnography as an Approach Not Method
✕

Join the UX Magazine community!

Stay informed with exclusive content on the intersection of UX, AI agents, and agentic automation—essential reading for future-focused professionals.

Hello!

You're officially a member of the UX Magazine Community.
We're excited to have you with us!

Thank you!

To begin viewing member content, please verify your email.

Tell us about you. Enroll in the course.

    ✕

    This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Check our privacy policy and

    Accept policy