My UX Researcher Process
When you see an airline pilot sitting in his cockpit with a clipboard and a list of pre-flight checks they are running through methodically and without skipping even one check, you don’t think to yourself ‘wow, they’ve been doing these enough times, surely they’ve memorised it by now’. You think ‘yes, good to see they never chance it’.
There comes a time when all of us think we can drop the training wheels, that we’ve brought that skill all the way from unknowing incompetence through to mastery. That we’ve moved another mental process from Type 2 to Type 1.
I’ve done a fair bit of UX Research now and I have to say, I’m not there. Nor will I be. And that’s good for you, as my client or employer, it means I use lists and stick to them. It’s not my job to test my skills on your time, it’s my job to test your product using the correct methods that are selected deductively as being best fit for purpose. Even that process needs a list.
A usability test is only useful when used at the right part of the process. It’s not an aspirin.
When I say I’m a good question-asker, that means I don’t think of the questions just before I ask them of the participant as part of a rolling interview that we’re both enjoying.
That’s called chatting.
Before asking a ‘User’ anything, there’s been a whole lot of thought gone into how these questions collectively answer the bigger research question that’s been deliberately hidden as it’s not for them to know. But when I do eventually ask the participant, I’m not really interested in their opinion, their projections, their ‘pennyworth’ or how they feel about something. I can’t use that. I ask them what they’ve done.
‘Tell me about the last job you applied for’ is asking for them to tell me a story that is hopefully true. They can top-line it and then we can dig deeper and deeper. By narrating their experiences, I capture what they do and why they do it.
I don’t ask them to think.
Before changing to reading Psychology at Exeter University, I was actually heading there to read Physics. I can tell you that story sometime. It’s not that interesting.
I like numbers. They tell compelling stories. Maybe not for a best man’s speech, but for making a strong case for doing something. I get a little weary of the ‘quant tells you what, qual tells you why’ schtick that pervades UX research. ‘Quant gets you budget and management’s attention and qual keeps you in the room’ works better for me.
So just like a pilot who doesn’t wing it, really. That’s my process.
I’ve got lots of case studies, just very few I can talk about here. NDAs and all that whatnot. I’ll tell you about them when we meet. My sports client has given permission for this one.
My UX Researcher Ethical Code
I will apply a mixed methodology approach to all research tasks, using quantitative and qualitative tools to generate the best user-centric insights
Every participant will feel heard and be heard
Every participant will leave the research feeling positive about their valued contribution
Every participant will be respected, even if the vetting process fails to filter them out for whatever reason
Every participant will feel safe and trusting in my role, before, during and after the session
I will always endeavour to research in the participant’s world, not an artificial or unfamiliar environment
I will always be punctual and take up as little of their time as is necessary to gain meaning from the session
I will always complete protocols prior to the session and make no assumptions
My role is to listen and learn, to prompt and guide, not to educate or assist
My recruitment process will always aim to include participants with accessibility challenges
My recruitment process will always aim to include low frequency/ low knowledge/ low experience participants
I will not change my core questions or tasks between participants, only adapt within constraints to ensure mutual understanding
I will record with consent and review all material no less than overnight to ensure a fresh engagement and unbiased analysis
I will encourage team members to attend, watch live remotely or watch back in full so they can experience the first-hand / unanalysed experience of the participant
My findings will be clear, timely, unambiguous, sensitive to team and stakeholders, useful, usable and centring to the development progress