As a product designer, you hopefully rely on user experience research to inform your work and the experiences you create. Some product designers are fortunate to be supported by robust UX teams with plenty of resources dedicated to research; others may not be so lucky. This post aims to be a helpful resource with content curated specifically for product designers who do their own research. Let's dive in!
Finding participants for user research
To start, most researchers need participants that can be engaged in tests or interviews. The posts below cover tips and best practices for finding research participants and engaging them in your research activities:
- Finding UX Research Participants, by Smashing Magazine
- DIY Recruiting - How to Find Participants For Your Research, by Mixed Methods
- Guide to Finding Good Research Participants, by User Interviews
- How to Recruit for User Research, by O’Reilly
Tips for interviewing users
Conducting a user interview isn’t as simple as it seems. There are plenty of opportunities to make mistakes, such as leading respondents with biased questions or simply asking the wrong question. Posts below cover tips and best practices related to conducting user interviews:
- How To Conduct User Interviews, by UX Collective
- User Interviews: How, When and Why to Conduct Them, by Nielsen Norman Group
- How To Conduct User Interviews, by Interaction Design Foundation
- Conducting User Interviews: How To Do It Right, by Shopify
Tips for conducting user tests
Designing a good user test is both an art and a science - you have to be technical in your approach and measurement of what is being tested, but you also have to design a test that will engage the user and put them in the right frame of mind. Below are tips and best practices for getting the most out of user tests:
- A Comprehensive Guide to User Testing, by Smashing Magazine
- Your Ultimate Guide to Successful Usability Testing, by UX Studio
- Best Practices for Agile UX Testing, by UX Mastery
- Best Practices for On-Video User Testing, by UX Collective
Tips for discovering insights within research data
After you have a body of research data to sift through, it’s important to have a process for analyzing data and pulling out insights. Below are tips and best practices for pulling out important pieces of information from your research:
- Design Research From Interview To Insight, by Design Research Methods
- UX Research Field Guide: Research Analysis, by User Interviews
- Analyzing Usability Testing Data, by UX Collective
- How to do a Thematic Analysis of User Interviews, by Interaction Design Foundation
- The Carbon Five Guide to User Research: Interview Synthesis, by Carbon Five
Tips for incorporating research findings into experience design
Now it’s game time! You’ve conducted research, pulled out important findings, and how it’s time to design an experience that is sure to delight. The posts below contain tips and best practices for incorporating findings into the experiences you design:
- Turning Usability Testing Data Into Action, by Toptal
- A Quick Guide to Design Research, by InVision
- How to Turn User Research into Smart Design Decisions, by Adobe
- How to Turn UX Research Into Results, by UX Mastery
Good user research can be done on a budget and quickly, especially using the tips and best practices described above.
👉If you want to streamline your research even more, sign up for a free trial of EnjoyHQ and order free on-demand transcriptions for user interviews!