User Research: 4 User Research Methods

In technology and business, user research is the information and feedback learned from real-world users' and customers’ interactions with a product. Usability testing will often involve a target audience to get the best sense of qualitative and quantitative data. Companies can understand real users' needs when participants test the product in their natural environment. The responses of a user group help improve the product design, user interface, and overall user experience.

User research is often synonymous with UX research, but the latter typically focuses on the product development process rather than the user experience design postlaunch. For example, a company might employ A/B testing to understand how people interact with two different products as part of UX research to decide which design process to pursue. User research is more about user behavior with a product already on the market.

User experience research is vital to business practices for a few key reasons. On an economic level, stakeholders emphasize how well customers receive products, which ties to sales and the company’s growth. Companies can use quantitative and qualitative research to identify and understand user personas. This informs designers and marketers what users want and how they will best interact with products.

Companies must set research goals to get the most out of user research. The two main categories of user research are quantitative and qualitative research:

• Quantitative research: Companies gain quantitative analysis from research methods that ask for numerical responses to questions. Evaluations such as surveys or questionnaires offer clear-cut questions where users reply with a “yes” or “no,” or a rating on a scale. For instance, an example question might be, “How satisfied are you with this product?” The user can answer with a number from one to five, where one is very unsatisfied, and five is very satisfied. These statistics illuminate the customer experience and usability problems, and this market research can inform marketing and design decisions.
• Qualitative research: Generally, qualitative data involves collecting anecdotes and stories from target users to hear, in their own words, about their experience with a product. Qualitative methods for research gathering may include observational field studies or open-ended questions in focus groups.

Using many research methodologies can have a significant return on investment (ROI). Consider the following user research techniques:

1. 1. Diary studies: This qualitative study asks users to write about their experiences with a product at a similar time of day over a specific period. This method helps keep a distance between the brand and the user, allowing the participant to use a product independently without the influence of leading questions.
2. 2. In-person interviews: Conducting in-person interviews can offer a richer analysis of product usability and customers’ pain points. Interviews can combine qualitative and quantitative methods. While these interviews can have simple scaled questions with numerical ratings, they also provide the opportunity for user anecdotes and uninhibited thoughts that make for a robust qualitative research method. These take more time but can offer more significant insights.
3. 3. Focus groups: To form focus groups, companies bring in an outside moderator to facilitate a group of users. The discussions that follow can provide valuable insights into usability issues.
4. 4. Online surveys: Quantitative studies like questionnaires with yes/no questions or ones where users rate product features on a numerical scale provide clear metrics that reveal the effectiveness of quality control and, in turn, how the development process operates.

Get the MasterClass Annual Membership for exclusive access to video lessons taught by business luminaries, including Howard Schultz, Chris Voss, Robin Roberts, Sara Blakely, Daniel Pink, Bob Iger, Anna Wintour, and more.