UX Research is one of the most essential parts of the entire Design thinking process, and something most designers (and developers such as myself) find the most challenging. The entirety of course 4 is dedicated to UX Research, which establishes that the instructors at Google understood this pain point of the students, proving their expertise in this art of UX. 😋

Week 1: Planning UX Research Studies

UX Research Process

1. In a UX context, a research study is a step-by-step examination of a group of users and their needs, which adds realistic context to the design process.

2. There are four steps in a UX Research Study

   • Plan the study: (outlining the background for the project, setting goals for

     your research, establishing the steps to be taken, selecting the participants, etc.)

   • Conduct the research: (gather data using methods like usability study etc.)

   • Analyze and synthesize the result: (use the data to look for patterns in

     the quantitative data and explore trends in the qualitative data)

   • Share and promote the insights: (the presentation should include

     the research methodology, data collected, conclusions drawn, and recommendations for acting on those conclusions.)

Communication in UX Research

1. Avoid using words that are considered ableist.

   For example: Instead of saying something like “Let’s walk through the details of the study.", use an easier statement such as “Let’s go through the details of the study.”

2. The language you use while conducting research directly affects the language your participants use. A casual speaking style will make the participants feel more comfortable and open, while a formal speaking style may be more thought-provoking. Find a balance between the two depending on the context.

3. Seek clarification on language differences and ensure the translations of participants’ insights are accurate.

4. Establish an equal power dynamic between the participants and yourself.

   For example, if one person is sitting and the other person is standing, there’s an unequal power dynamic and the situation can feel awkward or off-putting.

5. Be mindful of the participant's environment, cultural differences, dialect, etc.

Step 1: Plan the Study

There are 7 elements that your plan should include:

Each step should be built around these questions:

1. Project Background: What led you to conduct this research?

2. Research Goals: What design problems are you trying to solve? And how will the results of the research impact our design decisions?

3. Develop Research Questions: What are the questions your research is trying to answer?

4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): How can you measure your progress toward the research goal?

5. Methodology: How will you collect data and how will you analyze the data once you get it?

6. Participants: Who will you survey? What characteristics do the participants have? Is the group diverse enough to overcome sample bias?

7. Script or Discussion Guide: What questions will you ask study participants? The script should speak to the KPIs you're trying to measure.

Project Background, Research Goals, and Research Questions

1. Project Background: This element summarizes the situation leading to the need for this research. Keep these three things in mind, as you write the project background:

   • Identify the signals that indicated research was necessary.

   • Describe any previous research that has been conducted or solutions that have been tried.

   • List insights the research will generate.

An insight is an observation about people that helps you understand the user or their needs from a new perspective.

1. Research Goals: Research goals state the specific ideas that you want to learn from the research or what you would like the outcomes of the research to be.

   • Research goals will fit into one of three categories depending on when

     during the product lifecycle, you run your research.

1. Research Questions: These should be the questions you want your research to

   answer and should align with the goals of your research, and not the literal questions you plan to ask study participants.😅

   • The way you write research questions will determine whether your research method should be quantitative or qualitative.

Key Performance Indicators

1. Time on Task: This measures how long it takes for a user to complete a task. A task could include filling out forms, making a purchase, or any other user activities. Generally, the less time it takes for users to perform a task,

   the more effective your UX design is.

2. Use of navigation vs search: This KPI indicates the number of people who use a website or app's navigation compared to the number of people who use the search functionality.

3. User error rates: This indicates the parts of a design that cause users to make errors. Example: Clicking on the wrong icon when trying to check out the cart.

   Keep in mind though, that just because a design element has a low error rate doesn't necessarily mean it's a strong design. Study participants could use the product correctly but still not understand what they're doing.

4. Drop-off rates: This shows how many users quit before reaching the end of purchase or some other endpoint you're trying to lead them to. And stating the obvious, we want to decrease the drop-off rates.

5. Conversion rates: It measures the percentage of users who complete the desired action.

6. System usability scale: A system usability scale, or SUS, is a questionnaire to measure the usability of your designs. The users are asked to respond to each statement on a "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree" scale. Example: Statements like, "I found the design unnecessarily complex", "I thought the app was easy to use", "and I felt very confident about using the app".

7. Net Promoter Score: This is a measure of how loyal users will be to your product or service. The NPS measures the likelihood that a user would recommend your product to a friend or colleague.

   • Promoters are participants who give a rating of 9 or 10, which means they would recommend your product to others.

   • Passives are participants who give a rating of 7 or 8, which means they are satisfied with your product, but they probably won’t pass it along to friends or colleagues.

   • Detractors are participants who rate from 0 to 6, which means they could warn people away from your product or service.

     NPS = % of promotes - % of detractors

     We want NPS to be a high positive number.

Methodology, Participants, and Script

1. The methodology is the steps you take to conduct your research. Your methodology will list the procedures you'll use while collecting the information you need to answer your research questions. This should include:

   • The time and place of the product tests and interviews

   • Who will conduct them and how?

   • Type of research methods involved (primary/secondary)

   • Type of data generated (qualitative/quantitative)

In order for your research to be reliable, you need to document it in a way that another researcher could repeat it and find similar results.

1. The participants in your study should represent your product’s potential users. Your research plan should include a list of the primary characteristics of the people you will recruit to participate in the study. The types of participants you select should be based on your research goals and the target users of the product you’re designing.

   • Use a screener survey to check if potential participants meet your desired characteristics.

   • Aim to engage a representative sample, that is a small group of participants who represent both your target user group and user groups that are often marginalized.

   • Recruit participants who use assistive technologies

Sometimes, the abbreviation a11y (pronounced “A eleven Y”) is used to refer to accessibility. It’s shorthand for representing the 11 letters between the letter “a” and the letter “y” in the word “accessibility.” More importantly, a11y resembles the word “ally,” which reflects the idea that UX designers need to be allies to people with all types of abilities.

1. A script, also called a discussion guide, is a list of tasks and follow-up questions a researcher presents to participants in the interview portion of a usability study. Two of the main reasons we use scripts are so we don't forget any instructions and so we keep the language consistent for each participant.

   • Some tips for writing interview questions:

     • Use the same set of questions for each interview.

     • Ask open-ended questions.

     • Encourage elaboration on the user's response.

     • Ask the same question from different angles.

     • Don't ask leading questions

2. The script will mainly consist of three parts

   • Introduction: Welcoming and thanking the participants, learning their basic details, getting consent to record the usability study, reminding them there are no right or wrong answers, and letting them ask questions, etc.

   • Usability tasks: Usability tasks should be based on the research goals written in your research plan. Example: If our goal is to research the ease of usage of our app, we can ask the participants to create an end-to-end flow without providing any clues.

   • Conclusions: Ask clarifying questions, end the recording, thank the participant, etc.

Interviewing users isn't just chatting with people; it's about getting to the core of what a user is trying to do, how they think and feel, and what their problems are.

Privacy in User Research

There are two main types of data you need to protect:

1. Personally identifiable information(PII): This is made up of specific details that could be used to identify a user. This includes names, home addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

2. Sensitive personally identifiable information(SPII): SPII is data that, if lost, compromised, or stolen could cause your user's financial harm or embarrassment, or potentially lead to their being discriminated against.

   This includes social security numbers, driver's license numbers, passport numbers, financial account numbers, date of birth, race, disability status, gender, sexuality, criminal history, and medical information.

3. Privacy and security practices:

   • Be transparent about data collection

   • Only collect user data that is absolutely essential

   • Detail how you'll use participants' info and protect privacy

   • Allow users to withdraw with ease if they want to

   • Inform users who will have access to their data

4. The safety of research data involves three main concerns:

   1. How do you plan to store the data? (Data Storage)

   2. How long the data will be retained? (Data Retention)

   3. Having a framework to record data with consistency (Data Recording)

5. Tools to maintain privacy:

   • De-identification: De-identification is removing any identifying information from a user's data that you collect during a study.

     For example, rather than attributing a quote to a participant by name, you might say participant 1 and change all pronouns to "they".

   • Alias: This helps keep the human element instead of numbering participants like participant 1.

   • Non-disclosure agreements: A non-disclosure agreement is a contract that gives one party legal protection against another party stealing their ideas.

And done. This is the longest one yet. Here's my UX Research Study Plan for the Portfolio project.