Ux Research

UX Research

Plan and execute user research that produces decisions, not just decks. Stack-agnostic. Tool-agnostic.

This skill is for generative and discovery research. For testing existing designs, use usability-testing. For mapping the full customer experience, use journey-mapping.

When to use

• Starting a new product or major feature without sufficient user understanding
• Diagnosing why something isn't working without clear data signals
• Generating new opportunity hypotheses
• Validating a strategic direction before significant investment
• Building empathy across a team that's drifted from users
• Translating "we should talk to users" intent into a real plan

When NOT to use

• Testing a specific design or prototype (use usability-testing)
• Mapping the full journey of an existing experience (use journey-mapping)
• Quantitative measurement (use analytics-strategy)
• Conversion testing (use cro-optimization)

Required inputs

• The research question(s) - what you need to answer
• Stakeholder buy-in (who needs the findings, what decisions hinge on them)
• Access to users (current customers, prospects, lapsed users, target segments)
• Timeline and budget
• Any prior research to build on

The framework: 6 phases

1. Frame the question

Bad questions produce bad research. Spend disproportionate time on framing.

Good research questions:

• Specific (not "How do users feel about our product?")
• Open-ended (not "Do users like feature X?")
• Decision-relevant (the answer changes what gets built)
• Researchable (can be answered through user contact, not just analysis)

Examples:

| Weak question | Better question |

|---|---|

| "Do users like our onboarding?" | "Where in onboarding do new users feel uncertain about whether to continue?" |

| "What features should we build?" | "What unmet needs do current users have when [specific job]?" |

| "Why is conversion low?" | "What's the user mental model when they reach the pricing page, and where does it diverge from our intent?" |

2. Choose the method

The method follows the question.

Generative methods (what's true?):

• In-depth interviews. 60 minutes, 5 to 15 participants. Best for understanding context, motivation, mental models.
• Contextual inquiry. Observe users in their environment doing their work. Best for workflow understanding.
• Diary studies. Participants log their experience over days/weeks. Best for behaviors that don't manifest in a single session.
• Field research. Spend time where users live/work. Best for cultural and contextual understanding.
• Surveys (qualitative-heavy). When you need broad signal with open-ended responses.

Validation methods (is this hypothesis right?):

• Concept testing. Show a description, mockup, or prototype. Get reactions.
• Card sorts. Validate information architecture.
• Tree tests. Validate findability without visual design influence.

(For testing usability of working designs, see usability-testing.)

3. Recruit

The recruit makes or breaks the research.

Recruit criteria:

• Match the audience the research targets (not "anyone willing")
• Mix of behaviors (active users, lapsed users, never-users)
• Mix of demographics where relevant
• Excludes friends, family, employees (biased)
• Excludes professional research participants if possible (different population)

Recruit channels:

• In-product recruiting (intercept current users)
• Email outreach to user segments
• Recruiting platforms (UserInterviews, Respondent, etc.)
• Customer support team referrals
• Field intercept for in-person

Incentive: Pay participants. Standard rates: $50 to $150 for 60 minutes, more for executives or specialized professions.

Recruit volume: Plan for 20 to 30 percent no-show. Recruit 7 to schedule 5.

4. Conduct

The interview or session itself.

Pre-interview:

• Send confirmation 24 hours and 1 hour before
• Test recording setup (audio quality is non-negotiable)
• Prepare interview guide (see template)
• Have a notetaker if possible (frees the interviewer to focus)

During the interview:

• Record video and audio (with consent)
• Open with rapport-building, not the research questions
• Use open-ended questions ("Tell me about the last time...")
• Use silence (let participants fill it; don't rush to the next question)
• Ask "why" but not too many times in a row (becomes interrogation)
• Ask for specifics and examples ("Can you walk me through what you did?")
• Probe contradictions gently ("Earlier you said X, now you're saying Y; help me understand")
• Watch for moments of emotion (often signal something important)
• Don't sell or convince - this is listening, not pitching

Anti-patterns:

• Leading questions ("Don't you find this confusing?")
• Hypothetical questions ("Would you use a feature that...?") - poor predictor of behavior
• Multiple questions at once
• Interrupting
• Filling silence
• Interviewing your hypothesis (only asking questions that confirm what you already think)

5. Synthesize

Notes don't become insights automatically.

The synthesis process:

• Capture observations. From recordings, notes, transcripts. Each observation is a single data point: a quote, a behavior, an emotion, a moment.
• Affinity mapping. Cluster observations into themes. Physical sticky notes or digital equivalents.
• Find patterns. Themes that appear across multiple participants are signal. One-off observations are interesting but weaker.
• Identify insights. An insight is more than a theme. It's a non-obvious finding that explains a why or implies a so what.
• Test the insight against the data. If the insight only fits some interviews, it's a hypothesis, not an insight.
• Distinguish signal from noise. A belief that 1 of 8 participants holds may be noise. A belief 6 of 8 hold is signal.

Heuristics for strong insights:

• They surprise the team (insights you already knew aren't insights)
• They explain a "why" the team has been guessing about
• They imply specific actions (so what?)
• They hold up across multiple data points
• They can be stated in one or two sentences

6. Communicate

Findings die in slide decks. Plan distribution.

Outputs that work:

• Top-line insights document. 5 to 10 insights, clearly stated, with supporting quotes.
• Highlight reels. Edited 5 to 10 minute video of key participant moments. More persuasive than any document.
• In-room workshops. Walk stakeholders through the synthesis themselves. They internalize when they participate.
• Per-stakeholder briefs. Different audiences need different framings. CEO wants strategic implications. Designers want pain points. Engineers want use cases.

Outputs that fail:

• 80-slide decks that get skimmed
• Reports that no one reads past the executive summary
• Verbose narrative summaries
• Insights that sit in a doc no one re-opens

Workflow

• Frame the research question. With stakeholders. Multiple iterations.
• Pick the method. Match to the question.
• Plan logistics. Timeline, budget, recruit, tools, team.
• Recruit. Start early. Slow recruits delay everything.
• Pilot. Run 1 to 2 sessions before the main batch. Refine the guide.
• Conduct. Stay disciplined to the guide while staying open to surprises.
• Synthesize. Don't wait until all sessions are done; start mid-way.
• Communicate. Multiple formats. Multiple audiences.
• Track impact. Did decisions change because of the research? If not, the research failed regardless of quality.

Failure patterns

• Research without a decision. Findings have no home. Effort wasted.
• Vague research questions. Bad questions produce uninterpretable answers.
• Recruiting "anyone willing." Sample doesn't match audience.
• Over-recruiting professional participants. Pattern-matched answers, not real users.
• Leading questions in the guide. Findings reflect the researcher, not the user.
• Skipping synthesis. Notes alone aren't insights.
• Insights that confirm the team's existing beliefs. Suspect those especially.
• Findings that never ship. Research findings that don't change product decisions are decoration.
• Single research project for years of decisions. Research has a shelf life. Refresh.
• Research as one-time project. Continuous discovery beats episodic research.

Output format

Default outputs:

• Research plan (before research starts) - research-plan-[topic].md
• Interview guide - interview-guide-[topic].md
• Findings doc (after synthesis) - research-findings-[topic].md
• Highlight reel (video, separately produced)

Findings document structure:

# [Topic] research findings

## Question we set out to answer
[Specific question]

## Method
[Approach, sample size, dates]

## Top insights
1. [Insight, stated in one sentence]
   - Supporting evidence: [Quotes, behaviors]
   - Implication: [What this means for product/strategy]
2. [Insight 2]
   ...

## Themes (less prominent than top insights, still worth noting)
[List]

## Outliers worth investigating
[Single-participant observations that may be signal in disguise]

## Recommended next steps
[Specific actions]

Reference files

• references/interview-guide-template.md - Structured interview guide template with example openings, probes, and closes.