How To Choose The Correct User-Experience Research Methods
Introduction
My name is Manav Madaan, I’m a UX Designers building digital products for 4 years and one of the questions I had back when I wanted to perform user research was which UX research method should I choose. Because User Research helps in building a user-centred design but using an incorrect research method can cost you time and money leaving you with no significant insight.
There are Four Factors that you have to consider before choosing any UX Research Method, They are:
1. Product Phase
Is it a completely new or is it an already existing product. Research methods for both of these situations vary greatly. If the product is being used, Collecting feedback from the existing users can help you gain insights or observing patterns in the existing data can also be done. But If the project is in the beginning phase you can test new ideas and opportunities for the future.
2. Time
The time required is conducting the research, Time required for its analysis and documentation for future reference. This is because not every research method is easy to assess. Some take time but their assessment is easy like an A/B test, whereas methods like a usability test might take less time to perform but their assessment takes comparatively longer.
3. Budget
How much money do you have to perform this research? Depending on the research methods you choose you might have a visit to the user for observation or interviews. Or offer them a cab to and from your research lab. You might have to offer some gift vouchers as gratitude for their time to the participants of the research. All these factors of the budget have to be considered beforehand.
4. Type of insight
What do you want to get out of the research? Do you answer the why and how to solve a problem or you want answers to questions like how much or how many? You can also have questions like what people say or what people do. Each of these questions will vary your research method.
Once we have considered Project Phase, Time, Budget, and Type of insight we want to derive let’s explore what are the different categories of UX Research Methods.
1. Qualitative
Qualitative research will give you data about why or how to solve a problem. It is cost-efficient in comparison to other research methods and can be performed anytime during the design process. This method is more direct. Some of the examples are Card Sorting, Field Studies, Paper Prototype, and Usability Studies. You don’t need lit of users to perform this type of research, 5 users will provide you with enough insights.
2. Quantitative
Quantitative research gives insights into how much or how many. This method is ideal when you have to test a clear hypothesis or want data for any particular user behaviour or pattern that you have identified. It is an indirect method which means you are not communicating with the user directly and hence you can’t get a deeper insight around why or how a user is behaving like that. Also, quantitative research can only be performed either before the design is made or after the design is shipped. It also requires a lot of participants for the insight to be accurate and credible.
3. Behavioural
Behavioural research focuses more on what people do and how they behave. So if you need insights on how the user behaves or how will the user take action, you use behavioural research. Some common examples of this method are Usability Testing and A/B Testing.
4. Attitudinal
This research method should be used when you need answers for how, or what user think, say or feel. The purpose is to understand users beliefs. One of the most common examples if this method is Card Sorting which provides insights about how users think and what is their mental model. Surveys are also examples of attitudinal user research where the users answer the questions from their perspective.
Now there are many user research methods to choose from. Some of the most common according to are:
- Unmoderated Usability Testing
- Card Sorting
- A/B or Multivariate Testing
- User Interviews
- Surveys
- Focus Groups
- Tree testing
- Heatmap and eye-tracking
- Paper prototyping
- Analytics
Now I’m going to go in-depth into these methods in this video. But I’ll link some articles and videos in the description that will help you guys around that. Now I wish there would be some method of formula that would tell you which method to choose. The above framework would surely help you in assessing the research methods but the designers should also know what all methods exist. This will happen with practice and some reading.
I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you have any followup questions in the comments below. Until next time I’m Manav Madaan, thanks for reading UX and more. A channel about design products business and more.
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Like my work or want to collaborate on some project, Email me at yomana(dot)madaan(at)gmail(dot)com
