UX Research methods
UX research is a critical step in the product design process, as it helps to ensure that the end product meets the needs and expectations of the target user. There are many different methods that can be used to conduct UX research, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Some of the most common methods include:
1. Contextual Inquiry: Observing users in their natural environment to understand how they interact with products or services. For example, observing how people use mobile banking apps in a coffee shop can reveal insights into their preferences and challenges.
2. Card Sorting: Organising information into categories based on user input. This helps designers understand how users categorise and prioritise information. For example, card sorting can be used to organise menu items on a website based on user preferences.
3. Usability Testing: Observing users as they interact with a product to identify usability issues. For example, watching users navigate a website can reveal confusing or unclear design elements.
4. Heuristic Evaluation: Experts evaluate a product against a set of usability principles or “heuristics” to identify potential usability issues. For example, evaluating a website’s navigation based on the heuristic of “visibility of system status” can reveal if users can easily see where they are on the site.
5. Surveys: Gathering quantitative data from a large number of users to understand their preferences, behaviors, and demographics. For example, a survey can be used to gather feedback on a new feature in a mobile app.
6. Interviews: Conducting one-on-one interviews with users to gather qualitative insights about their experiences, needs, and expectations. For example, interviewing users about their shopping habits can provide insights into how they prefer to browse and purchase products online.
7. Focus Groups: Bringing together a small group of users to discuss their thoughts, opinions, and experiences related to a product or service. For example, a focus group can be used to gather feedback on a new advertising campaign.
8. Prototype Testing: Testing a prototype of a product with users to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement. For example, testing a prototype of a mobile app with users can reveal usability issues before the final product is developed.
9. Eye Tracking: Using specialised technology to track where users look on a screen or webpage. This can provide insights into user attention and behavior. For example, eye tracking can be used to analyze how users scan a webpage for information.
10. Remote Usability Testing: Conducting usability testing with participants located in different geographic locations. This allows for a broader range of participants and can be more cost-effective than in-person testing. For example, remote usability testing can be conducted using screen-sharing software.
11. A/B Testing: Comparing two versions of a design to determine which one performs better based on user metrics. For example, A/B testing can be used to compare two different button colors to see which one generates more clicks.
12. Clickstream Analysis: Analyzing the sequence of clicks that users make while interacting with a website or application. This can provide insights into user behavior and preferences. For example, clickstream analysis can be used to optimize the user flow on an e-commerce website.
13. Persona Creation: Developing fictional characters that represent different user groups based on research and data. Personas help designers understand user needs, goals, and behaviors. For example, personas can be used to guide design decisions for a mobile app targeted at busy professionals.
14. Customer Journey Mapping: Visualizing the steps that a user takes to achieve a goal, such as making a purchase or completing a task. Customer journey maps help designers understand the user experience across touchpoints. For example, a customer journey map for an online retailer can highlight pain points in the shopping process.
15. Affinity Diagramming: Organizing and grouping user research data into meaningful categories to identify patterns and insights. For example, affinity diagramming can be used to analyze interview transcripts and identify common themes.
16. Wireframing: Creating low-fidelity representations of a design to visualize layout, content, and functionality. Wireframes help designers communicate ideas and test concepts early in the design process. For example, a wireframe can outline the basic structure of a mobile app screen.
17. Concept Testing: Presenting design concepts to users to gather feedback and validate ideas. For example, concept testing can be used to gauge user interest in a new feature for a social media app.
18. Cognitive Walkthroughs: Simulating the steps that a user would take to complete a task and evaluating the usability of a product based on cognitive principles. For example, a cognitive walkthrough can be used to identify potential usability issues in a software application.
19. Field Studies: Conducting research in real-world settings to understand user behavior and preferences in context. For example, a field study can be used to observe how people use public transportation and identify areas for improvement.
20. Experience Sampling Method: Gathering data on user experiences at random intervals to understand their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours over time. For example, experience sampling method can be used to study how users’ moods fluctuate throughout the day.
21. Task Analysis: Breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps to understand user workflows and interactions. For example, task analysis can be used to identify the steps involved in completing a purchase on an e-commerce website.
Some more complex research methods
Cognitive Walkthrough
Cognitive walkthroughs are used to assess a product’s usability. They are made to determine if a new user can do tasks inside a certain system with ease. It uses a usability strategy that is task-specific (in contrast to heuristic evaluation which is a more holistic usability inspection). The premise is that, given the option, most people would rather experiment with a product than read a handbook or adhere to a set of instructions.
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/how-to-conduct-a-cognitive-walkthrough
CTA (Cognitive Task Analysis)
The study of what individuals know, how they think, how they organise and arrange knowledge, and how they learn when pursuing a goal is known as cognitive task analysis (CTA). The analysis stage comprises identifying the performance-related abilities.
https://www.globalcognition.org/cognitive-task-analysis/
HTA (Hierarchal Task Analysis)
The core task analysis that Human Factors practitioners are so familiar with is expanded upon in hierarchical task analysis (HTA). Both analyses provide in-depth descriptions of tasks and subtasks and enable designers to depict many possible task sequences that could take place during an engagement with a system.
https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/02/hierarchical-task-analysis.php
Heuristic Analysis
Heuristic analysis is an expert-based study that uses a variety of decision rules or weighting techniques to assess how vulnerable a system is to a certain hazard or risk. The multicriteria analysis (MCA) method of weighting is one of the methods.
Competitor Analysis
An evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of present and future rivals is known as competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management. In order to recognise possibilities and risks, this analysis gives both an offensive and a defensive strategic perspective.
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/competitive-analysis-kit
SHERPA (Systemic Human Error Reduction & Prediction Approach)
An HEI technique called the System Human Error Reduction and Prediction Approach (SHERPA, Embrey 1986) tries to evaluate system performance and spot faults brought on by human operators and/or system design. … The foundation of SHERPA is the idea that errors are predictable (Embrey 1986).
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.5098207
TAP (Think Aloud Protocol)
A think-aloud procedure is a technique used to collect information during usability assessment in psychology, a variety of social sciences, product design, and development. Participants in think-aloud protocols speak their thoughts out loud as they carry out a series of predetermined activities.
https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/using-think-aloud-protocols-taps-teaching-translation
SUS (System Usability Scale)
The system usability scale in systems engineering is a straightforward, ten-item attitude Likert scale that provides a broad overview of subjective ratings of usability.
https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/system-usability-scale.html
NASA TLX (Task Load Index)
The NASA Job Load Index (NASA-TLX) is a popular, subjective, multidimensional evaluation instrument that measures perceived workload to evaluate the efficiency of a task, system, or team, among other performance-related factors. It has been used to a number of complicated socio-technical fields, including as aviation, healthcare, and others.
https://humansystems.arc.nasa.gov/groups/TLX/downloads/TLXScale.pdf
GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods & Selection)
By detecting and removing pointless user activities, the GOMS family of predictive models of human performance may be utilised to increase the effectiveness of human-machine interaction. GOMS is short for (Goals, Operators, Methods, and Selection).
KLM (Keystroke-Level Model) — [Part of GOMS]
The keystroke-level model (KLM), used in human-computer interaction, forecasts how long it would take a skilled user to complete a normal job without making a mistake using an interactive computer system.
https://sites.google.com/site/436goms/gomsmodel/klm
