What is UX Research? | Google UX Design Certificate

Summary

This video script delves into the diverse roles of UX designers across company sizes and emphasizes the importance of mastering both UX research and design. It outlines the product development lifecycle, detailing foundational, design, and post-launch research phases. The script also highlights key qualities of a UX researcher, such as empathy, pragmatism, and collaboration, and introduces various user research methods, including interviews, surveys, and usability studies. Finally, it discusses common biases in UX research and strategies to overcome them, aiming to enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of design decisions.

Takeaways

• 🔍 The role of a UX designer can vary greatly depending on company size, with larger companies often providing dedicated research partners.
• 📚 Learning both UX research and design is essential, as it prepares designers for diverse responsibilities and makes them more attractive to potential employers.
• 🤔 UX research aims to understand user behaviors, needs, and motivations, ensuring that both user and business needs are met while minimizing costly mistakes in product development.
• 🔄 The product development lifecycle includes continuous user research that occurs before, during, and after the design phase, with different types of research serving distinct purposes.
• 🏗️ Foundational research, also known as strategic or generative research, defines the problem to solve and identifies user pain points before any design work begins.
• 🛠️ Design research, or tactical research, informs how the product should be built by evaluating user interactions with prototypes and identifying areas for improvement.
• 🚀 Post-launch research assesses the success of a product feature in meeting user needs and can compare product performance against competitors.
• 🧘‍♂️ Key qualities of a UX researcher include empathy, pragmatism, and collaboration, which are essential for effective user research and design.
• 🔬 Research methods are categorized by who conducts the research (primary or secondary) and the type of data collected (qualitative or quantitative).
• 🗣️ Interviews provide in-depth insights into user experiences through open-ended questions, while surveys offer broader feedback from a larger user base.
• 🔍 Usability studies allow direct observation of user interactions with a product, identifying pain points for improvement before finalizing the design.

Q & A

What is the role of a UX designer in different company sizes?

In larger companies like Google, UX designers often have dedicated research partners and may not conduct research themselves. In smaller companies, a single UX designer might be responsible for both UX research and design.

Why is it important for UX designers to learn both research and design skills?

It's important because at smaller companies, one UX designer might need to handle both responsibilities. Additionally, having research skills can make a candidate more attractive to companies looking to hire new UX designers.

What is the main focus of UX research?

UX research focuses on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation and feedback, with the goal of prioritizing the user while also meeting business needs.

How does UX research fit into the product development lifecycle?

UX research is a continuous part of the product development lifecycle, taking place before, during, and after the design phase, specifically phase 3.

What is foundational research in the context of UX?

Foundational research, also known as strategic or generative research, is conducted before any design work begins and aims to define the problem that needs a solution.

What is the purpose of design research during the product development lifecycle?

Design research, also known as tactical research, occurs during the design phase and aims to inform how the product should be built, helping to identify and reduce user interaction problems with prototypes.

What is post-launch research and when does it occur?

Post-launch research occurs after the product has been launched and is used to evaluate how well a feature meets user needs, answering the question 'did we succeed?'.

What are some key qualities of a good UX researcher?

Key qualities of a good UX researcher include empathy, pragmatism, and collaboration, which allow them to understand users, solve problems practically, and work effectively with diverse teams.

How are research methods categorized in UX?

Research methods in UX are categorized based on who conducts the research (primary or secondary) and the type of data collected (qualitative or quantitative).

What is the difference between primary and secondary research in UX?

Primary research is conducted by the researcher themselves, such as interviews or usability studies. Secondary research uses information compiled by others, such as from books or articles.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of using interviews in UX research?

Interviews provide in-depth information and allow for follow-up questions, but they can be time-consuming and expensive, leading to a small sample size which may not be representative.

How do surveys compare to interviews in terms of UX research?

Surveys allow for feedback from a larger sample size quickly and inexpensively, but they limit the depth of feedback and may not capture detailed user experiences.

What is the purpose of usability studies in UX research?

Usability studies aim to evaluate a product by testing it with users to identify pain points, ensuring that the design makes sense to the end users and not just the designers.

What are some common biases that can affect UX research and design?

Common biases include confirmation bias, false consensus bias, primacy bias, recency bias, implicit bias, and the sunk cost fallacy, which can all lead to skewed research outcomes if not recognized and managed.

How can UX designers overcome confirmation bias during research?

Designers can overcome confirmation bias by asking open-ended questions, actively listening without leading the interviewee, and ensuring a diverse and large sample of users.

What is the sunk cost fallacy and how can it affect UX design?

The sunk cost fallacy is the reluctance to abandon a project due to the time or resources already invested. In UX design, it can lead to continuing work on a feature that doesn't address a user problem, simply because of the effort already put in.