The mighty user research toolkit is packed with techniques. It can do everything from blue sky innovation research, to need-finding and requirements gathering, to product validation and testing. But many teams don't exploit the full toolkit, sticking instead to one side or the other of the quant versus qual divide, or returning again and again to that tired old workhorse—usability testing. This presentation is a primer on the range of research methods available, and a guide for determining which is the best technique for what you’re trying to learn now (and for your budget).

1. The Right Research
Method for Any Problem
USER RESEARCH FOR EVERYONE, ROSENFELD MEDIA
OCTOBER 2016

2. When it comes to research, you have questions.
How do I convince
people research is
important?
How do I turn this
research into better
products?
How do I make sure
everybody understands
the research?
How can we do this
faster and cheaper?
How do I pick which
research to do?
How do I get more
participants?

3. When it comes to research, you have questions.
How do I convince
people research is
important?
How do I turn this
research into better
products?
How do I make sure
everybody understands
the research?
How can we do this
faster and cheaper?
How do I pick which
research to do?
How do I get more
participants?

4. Evidence to support
decisions to make changes.
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY RESEARCH?

5. CORPORATE
STRATEGY
MARKET
RESEARCH
CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE
RESEARCH
We often treat research as a departmental concern.
USER
RESEARCH

6. CORPORATE
STRATEGY
MARKET
RESEARCH
CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE
RESEARCH
We often treat research as a departmental concern.
USER
RESEARCH

7. Instead, we can think of research as a series of
questions that build on each other.

8. Instead, we can think of research as a series of
questions that build on each other.
1.
What is
happening
around us?

9. Instead, we can think of research as a series of
questions that build on each other.
1.
What is
happening
around us?
2.
What do
people need?

10. Instead, we can think of research as a series of
questions that build on each other.
1.
What is
happening
around us?
2.
What do
people need?
3.
What can we
make that will
help?

11. Instead, we can think of research as a series of
questions that build on each other.
1.
What is
happening
around us?
2.
What do
people need?
3.
What can we
make that will
help?
4.
Does our
solution really
work?

12. Instead, we can think of research as a series of
questions that build on each other.
1.
What is
happening
around us?
5.
What is
the impact?
2.
What do
people need?
3.
What can we
make that will
help?
4.
Does our
solution really
work?

13. 1.
What is happening around us?

14. Intuit conducted a series of studies to understand how
its customers’ world will change in the next 10 years.

15. Source: about.intuit.com/futureofsmallbusiness/
They identified trends that will shape customers’ needs and
experiences…

16. Source: about.intuit.com/futureofsmallbusiness/
… And highlighted implications for how products and
services will need to evolve to support people’s needs.

17. The goal here is to understand significant shifts that
will soon impact your organization—or may already.
Futures Research
Macrotrend Analysis
Demographic Research
Mining Customer Data
Comparative Benchmarking
Signals and Trend Spotting
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES TOOLS & PROVIDERS
$$$$
$
APPROACH
Analytical
Empirical
Periodic Continuous

18. 2.
What do people need?

19. Philips shadows patients and healthcare professionals
to understand how they do their jobs today.
Source: alicehyde.com

20. Using observations from field research, the Philips team
identifies key issues, which get captured as ‘issue cards.’
Source: Philips Design

21. Then the team maps out a framework to understand problems,
paint points, emotional needs, and mindset of users as they
move through their journey.
Source: Philips Design

22. From there, the team begins to explore potential concepts and
solutions.
Source: Philips Design

23. Potential solutions are reviewed, refined, and vetted with
stakeholders and team members in an opportunity workshop.
Source: Philips Design

24. The goal here is to understand people’s needs,
behaviors, mindsets, and motivations.
Ethnographic Research
Market Research
Research Communities
Diary Studies
Extreme User Research
Participatory Design
Customer Interviews
Customer Journey Mapping
Bodystorming
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES TOOLS & PROVIDERS
$$$$
$
APPROACH
Analytical
Empirical
Periodic Continuous

25. 3.
What can we make that will help?

26. Source: Medium, ‘Designing Facebook Collage’
For its Collage feature, Facebook first observed user
behaviors that suggested a need for a new feature.

27. Source: TheNextWeb.com
Next, Facebook prototyped successive explorations,
moving eventually into an MVP.

28. Source: Medium, ‘Designing Facebook Collage’
As a small initial beta, Facebook ‘dogfoods’ apps
with its own employees.

29. Source: Medium, ‘Designing Facebook Collage’
Finally, they tested in a regional beta and then
released it to all of their customers.

30. The goal here is to know the range of possible
solutions and which direction is most successful.
Concept Testing
A/B testing
Card Sorting & Tree Testing
Lean Experiments
Landing Page Tests
5 Second Tests
RITE Testing
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES TOOLS & PROVIDERS
$$$$
$
APPROACH
Analytical
Empirical
Periodic Continuous
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31. 4.
Does our solution really work?

32. Source: “Data-Driven Design In the Real World,” SmashingMagazine.com
An internal team at Volusion was tasked with improving
its registration conversion rate.

33. Source: “Data-Driven Design In the Real World,” SmashingMagazine.com
After finding that an alternate design made no difference
in conversion, they dug into their analytics data.

34. Source: “Data-Driven Design In the Real World,” SmashingMagazine.com
Based on this research, they developed a new trial page
and saw a 48% increase in trial registrations and a 57%
increase in trial-to-store conversions.

35. The goal here is to understand if people can
successfully use your products as you intend.
Beta Testing
Mining Analytics
Usability testing
Heuristic reviews
Dogfooding
RITE Testing
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES TOOLS & PROVIDERS
$$$$
$
APPROACH
Analytical
Empirical
Periodic Continuous

36. 5.
What is the impact?

37. Google’s HEART framework:
Happiness
Source: Google Ventures

38. Google’s HEART framework:
Happiness
Engagement
Source: Google Ventures

39. Google’s HEART framework:
Happiness
Engagement
Adoption
Source: Google Ventures

40. Google’s HEART framework:
Happiness
Engagement
Adoption
Retention
Source: Google Ventures

41. Google’s HEART framework:
Happiness
Engagement
Adoption
Retention
Task Success
Source: Google Ventures

42. Google’s HEART framework:
Happiness
Engagement
Adoption
Retention
Task Success
Goals Signals Metrics
Source: Google Ventures

43. Google’s HEART framework:
Happiness
Engagement
Adoption
Retention
Task Success
Goals Signals Metrics
Source: Google Ventures

44. Usabilla applied this framework to measure the success of
new two-step verification feature.
Source: Usabilla

45. Source: Usabilla

46. The goal here is to know how your product impacts
your customers (and by extension your organization).
VoC Programs
Behavioral Analytics
Text Analytics
Sentiment & Loyalty Analysis
Social Listening
Channel Surveys
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES TOOLS & PROVIDERS
$$$$
$
APPROACH
Analytical
Empirical
Periodic Continuous

47. Where do you go from here?

48. LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT HEAR
What should we do with [mobile/social, etc.]?
What should we prioritize first?
We have some ideas about what we need to do. How do we know we’re right?
You think customers will do X. I think they’ll do Y. Who’s right?
What’s the right [language, imagery, interaction method, etc.] to use here?
Did our changes make a difference?
Why didn’t our changes make a difference?
Why isn’t this [feature, product, etc.] getting as much traction as we thought?
What is the impact of [design, UX, research, etc.] on our business?

49. LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT HEARFOCUS HERE
What should we do with [mobile/social, etc.]?
What should we prioritize first?
We have some ideas about what we need to do. How do we know we’re right?
You think customers will do X. I think they’ll do Y. Who’s right?
What’s the right [language, imagery, interaction method, etc.] to use here?
Did our changes make a difference?
Why didn’t our changes make a difference?
Why isn’t this [feature, product, etc.] getting as much traction as we thought?
What is the impact of [design, UX, research, etc.] on our business?

50. LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT HEARFOCUS HERE
What should we do with [mobile/social, etc.]?
What should we prioritize first?
We have some ideas about what we need to do. How do we know we’re right?
You think customers will do X. I think they’ll do Y. Who’s right?
What’s the right [language, imagery, interaction method, etc.] to use here?
Did our changes make a difference?
Why didn’t our changes make a difference?
Why isn’t this [feature, product, etc.] getting as much traction as we thought?
What is the impact of [design, UX, research, etc.] on our business?

51. LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT HEARFOCUS HERE
What should we do with [mobile/social, etc.]?
What should we prioritize first?
We have some ideas about what we need to do. How do we know we’re right?
You think customers will do X. I think they’ll do Y. Who’s right?
What’s the right [language, imagery, interaction method, etc.] to use here?
Did our changes make a difference?
Why didn’t our changes make a difference?
Why isn’t this [feature, product, etc.] getting as much traction as we thought?
What is the impact of [design, UX, research, etc.] on our business?

52. LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT HEARFOCUS HERE
What should we do with [mobile/social, etc.]?
What should we prioritize first?
We have some ideas about what we need to do. How do we know we’re right?
You think customers will do X. I think they’ll do Y. Who’s right?
What’s the right [language, imagery, interaction method, etc.] to use here?
Did our changes make a difference?
Why didn’t our changes make a difference?
Why isn’t this [feature, product, etc.] getting as much traction as we thought?
What is the impact of [design, UX, research, etc.] on our business?

53. LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT HEARFOCUS HERE
What should we do with [mobile/social, etc.]?
What should we prioritize first?
We have some ideas about what we need to do. How do we know we’re right?
You think customers will do X. I think they’ll do Y. Who’s right?
What’s the right [language, imagery, interaction method, etc.] to use here?
Did our changes make a difference?
Why didn’t our changes make a difference?
Why isn’t this [feature, product, etc.] getting as much traction as we thought?
What is the impact of [design, UX, research, etc.] on our business?

54. LANGUAGE YOU MIGHT HEARFOCUS HERE
What should we do with [mobile/social, etc.]?
What should we prioritize first?
We have some ideas about what we need to do. How do we know we’re right?
You think customers will do X. I think they’ll do Y. Who’s right?
What’s the right [language, imagery, interaction method, etc.] to use here?
Did our changes make a difference?
Why didn’t our changes make a difference?
Why isn’t this [feature, product, etc.] getting as much traction as we thought?
What is the impact of [design, UX, research, etc.] on our business?

55. Web: leahbuley.com
Email: leah@leahbuley.com
Twitter: @leahbuley
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