1.
How to expand your research
approach beyond quant and qual
Hollie Lubbock & Rachel Jones
23.11.2021, UX Crunch
Mix and remix
your methods

2.
Rachel Jones
Design Lead
Hollie Lubbock
Design Principal
👋 Hi

3.
Today’s session
Why we use mixed methods
When we use different methods
Why include trends?
Case studies
Top tips

4.
We love research!
We believe it should be open
and inclusive and doesn’t sit
with one person or team.

5.
Why we use
mixed methods

6.
We practice mixed
method research to help
us answer questions
from different angles

7.
We get out and research
early & often

8.
Getting the right
idea
Getting the
idea right

9.
We make things for
people to explore
allowing us to find ways
to improve them

10.
Combining different
types of data get us a
fuller picture across the
product life cycle

11.
Could be
Understand the
problem space
Identify the key
problem to solve
Should be
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
Will be Alpha build
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration

12.
What methods do we mix?

13.
Primary
Secondary
Qualitative Quantitative
In-person interviews
Focus groups
Diary studies
Ethnographic
Segmentation
Client research review
Drivers Analysis
Competitor Research
Co-Design
Concept Testing
Concept Testing
Competitor Usability Test
Usability Tests
A/B, Multivariate Test
Live Usability Test
Site analytics
Brand Trackers
Social media listening
Sentiment analysis
Media topic coverage
Card sorting
Target audience profiling
Attitude and usage surveys.
Conjoint
Census data
Industry reports
Trend reports
Community
Remote Usability
Third-party data
Service safari
With soooo many options to
pick from, deciding what
type of research to do can
feel overwhelming...
Market sizing
Trend hunt

14.
Which are you most
comfortable with?

15.
Primary
Secondary
Qualitative Quantitative
In-person interviews
Focus groups
Diary studies
Ethnographic
Segmentation
Client research review
Drivers Analysis
Competitor Research
Co-Design
Concept Testing
Concept Testing
Competitor Usability Test
Usability Tests
A/B, Multivariate Test
Live Usability Test
Site analytics
Brand Trackers
Social media listening
Sentiment analysis
Media topic coverage
Card sorting
Target audience profiling
Attitude and usage surveys.
Conjoint
Census data
Industry reports
Trend reports
Community
Remote Usability
Third-party data
Service safari
Market sizing
Trend hunt

16.
When to use
different
methods

17.
It more than just a choice
of quant vs qual…
Quantitative Qualitative

18.
Always start by
mapping out
what you want
to achieve
Note: Don’t assume that a
qual interview is always the
best answer 😬
● What do you want to learn?
(research questions)
● Why are you doing it? (goals and
outcomes)
○ What will you do with your findings?
○ What decisions will your research inform?
○ What level of confidence do you need?

19.
Three big buckets
Trends &
Market
Quantitative Qualitative

20.
Qualitative
How, where,
when, why?
Used to understand beliefs,
thoughts and experiences.
Expressed as words and images:
thick data.
e.g what are the pain points users
experience, are there underlying
mindsets or beliefs?
Great at:
● Now / past
● Understanding context
● Building empathy
● Depth

21.
Quantitative
Who, what,
how many?
Used to tests theories and
assumptions. Shown as numbers
and graphs: stats or big data.
e.g How many of our audience
experience x problem or would
appreciate Y solution?
Great at:
● Now / past
● Validation
● Comparison
● Scale

22.
Trends &
Market
Which, what,
how soon?
Used to understand where the
world is and where is might go.
Shown as a mix of words and
numbers: wide data.
e.g Based on signals today how
might things change in the future?
Great at:
● Future
● Inspiration
● Provocations
● Emerging behaviours
● Drivers

23.
Qualitative
How, where,
when, why?
Great at:
● Now / past
● Understanding
● Building empathy
● Depth
Quantitative
Who, what,
how many?
Great at:
● Now / past
● Validation
● Comparison
● Scale
Trends & Market
Which, what,
how soon?
Great at:
● Future
● Inspiration
● Provocations
● Emerging behaviours
● Drivers

24.
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration
Understand the
problem space
Identify the key
problem to solve
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
How does that actually work?

25.
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration
Understand the
problem space
Identify the key
problem to solve
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
Discovery
interviews
Survey
Service safari
Market sizing
Trend hunt (PESTLE)

26.
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration
Understand the
problem space
Identify the key
problem to solve
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
Discovery
interviews
Survey
Service safari
Market sizing
Card sort
Concept test
quant
Topic deep dive and
qual concept test
Trend hunt (PESTLE)
Industry reports

27.
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration
Understand the
problem space
Identify the key
problem to solve
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
Discovery
interviews
Survey
Service safari
Market sizing
Card sort
Concept test
quant
Topic deep dive and
qual concept test
Fake door test
Usability test
Competitor
research
Trend hunt (PESTLE)
Industry reports

28.
Understand the
problem space
Identify the key
problem to solve
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration
Discovery
interviews
Card sort
Concept test
quant
Topic deep dive and
qual concept test
Survey
A/B test
Fake door test
Usability test
Service safari
Incontext
interviews
Competitor
research
Trends for future wheel
Market sizing
Social listening
Industry reports
Trend hunt (PESTLE)

29.
Wait a minute, why
add trends throughout?

30.
Trends help look further
into the future to
anticipate what might be

31.
Mainstream
Dominant
subcultures
Cultural
edge
Diagram based on dark art of trends

32.
Dominant
subcultures
Mainstream
—
Macro
trends
—
Slow moving
Cultural
edge
—
Micro
Trends
—
Fast
changing
Diagram based on dark art of trends

33.
Dominant
subcultures
Cultural
edge
Mainstream
—
How your audience
are now
Future Mainstream
—
How they might
change in the future
Future
cultural
edge
Diagram based on dark art of trends

34.
Great for ideation of future
states when looking at
how you might improve

35.
The Body Coach
Case study

36.
Imagining and launching
a digital business
making fitness and
healthy eating
accessible to everyone
Find out more about our work with The Body Coach

37.
Could be
Understand the
problem space
Should be
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
Will be Alpha build
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration
Identify the key
problem to solve

38.
Could be
Understand the
problem space
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration
Identify the key
problem to solve
Survey
Live experimentation
Analytics analysis
User testing Social feedback
Competitor
research

39.
We layer
analytics with
qual & survey
data
Identifying key problems

40.
Keeping an
eye on what’s
happening in
the world
Deciding on a problem
Article from C|NET

41.
Building to
learn and get
feedback
quickly
Improving solutions

42.
Telecoms
Case study

43.
A programme of
continuous proposition
discovery for a
millennial-minded
telecom

44.
Could be
Understand the
problem space
Identify the key
problem to solve
Should be
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
Will be Alpha build
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration

45.
Understand the
problem space
Identify the key
problem to solve
Find solutions to
the problem
Identify
improvements
Alpha build
Diagram based on Ideo creative collaboration
Industry
reports
Focus group
Diary study
Interviews
Quant
concept test
Qual concept
test
Trends

46.
We started
with activity
based focus
groups
Uncovering problems

47.
Adopting
WhatsApp to
run a diary
study
Narrowing the opportunity

48.
● Dig into behaviours and
motivations
● Explore needs through
card-sorting exercise
● Get feedback on some early
concept mood boards
Follow-up interviews to:

49.
Using trends
to predict
how needs
might change
Finding solutions

50.
Testing
concepts
through qual
& quant
Finding solutions

51.
Top tips

52.
Our top tips
1. Research early and often
2. Give people something to explore
3. Combine quant, qual, market & trends

53.
Thank you

54.
Consumer trends 101
Another way to look at
trends and use the, for
innovation..
Talk by Nayantara Dutta &
Rachel Mercer
Intro to trends and how they
are used in advertising /
planning
Futures wheel miro template
Workshop to run a future
forecasting session using the
futures wheel to look at
possible futures.
Find out more:
Trends and how find and to use them