People in the field of user experience (UX) design sometimes use the terms user research and usability testing interchangeably, but this is a mistake. User research is a broader term that usability fits into, and they have different functions and timing.
The UX Design Process
The UX design process is based on the questions why, how, and what. The process starts with research to discover why the user experience is what it is. The goal of this phase is to understand what the user wants from the experience. The Designer conducts surveys and interviews to discover the motivation and goals of users.
The definition phase involves using the data collected along with analytics to create a detailed description of the user experience. This phase involves creating user personas, flowcharts, and mapping to uncover patterns and trends.
Once the patterns emerge, design enters the third phase in which team members generate ideas about how to solve problems and improve the experience. A rough sketch of the product is developed, and from that come wireframes and prototypes.
The next phase is testing the product or website to see the user experience is what was expected. Depending upon the test results, the product will be redesigned to address problems found during usability testing. Repeated usability testing can also uncover new problems caused by some of the design fixes.
What is User Research?
UX Researchers conduct different types of tests to find out about users’ attitudes and behaviors toward the website or app under development. They conduct quantitative and qualitative research to test the product and then report on their findings. UX researchers conduct interviews, run surveys, and perform usability studies of various types. Then they analyze the data and report their findings to the design team.
Because UX design is a team effort that repeats as needed, research comes in at different times in the product development cycle. There are four basic stages of research:
- Foundation—Also known as strategic research, foundational research happens before the project gets the official go-ahead. This is the phase where data are gathered to assess the general situation. Foundational research includes field research and contextual research, where team members observe users in their environment. It also includes interviews and surveys.
- Definition—This phase of research defines the problem and identifies the pain points users are experiencing as they try to accomplish their goals.
- Design—This phase builds on the others and looks at how the product should be built. This is the usability testing phase.
- Post-launch—Post-launch research tests the success of the product and points to improvements for the future.
Research Methods
The type of research method you choose depends upon the stage of the design process and the questions you want to answer. If you are looking for answers to questions of howmany or how much, you want to do quantitative research. This includes various types of surveys, especially those that ask respondents to choose a numerical answer or indicate a number on a scale. If your question is about howthen you want to conduct qualitative research such as personal interviews, focus groups, and user observations.
Another way to group research is by whether it is primary research or secondary research. Primary research is done by you and your team. Whether it consists of interviews, surveys, or usability tests, if you collected the information, it is primary research. Everything else falls into the category of secondary research, that is information gathered by someone else. The most common form of secondary research is published information in books and articles, and this type of research is often done first by the product leads on the team. The advantage of using secondary research is that it saves time and money because you don’t need to repeat what someone else has already done, but a drawback of secondary research is that it doesn’t give you information about your product.
Research Tools
UX Researchers have various types of tools available to get the information they need to drive user-centered design. Interviews, surveys, analytics, journey maps, and usability studies all reveal different information about the user’s experience with a product.
Interviews
Interviewing users or potential users of a product lets you collect the opinions, thoughts, and attitudes towards a process and your product’s place in it. It is important to ask detailed, open-ended questions to gather the kinds of responses that are the most useful. This kind of interview is expensive and time-consuming, so the sample size tends to be small, but interviews help the UX Researcher understand what users think and why. You can also ask follow-up questions later. Interviews and observations conducted in the user’s own environment are the most useful.
Diary Studies
Diary studies ask users to make note of what they do every day and to keep a log of how they attempt to accomplish a goal or use the product.
Surveys
Surveys involve asking participants to choose from a list or make a numerical ranking. They include a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions and can provide a larger sample size. Surveys can be done quickly and are relatively inexpensive, but they don’t give the kind of in-depth feedback you get from interviews.
Types of Usability Testing
In usability studies, UX Researchers observe users interacting with the actual product. They can identify problems or pain points along the way. Usability studies can be used to challenge the assumptions of the design team and make sure the process is on track. The drawbacks of usability studies are that they only measure how easy a product is to use and they are expensive. They must be done on-site in a lab, the users are usually paid for their participation, and it is difficult to tell if users behave the same way in a lab as they would in real life.
There are two types of usability testing: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative testing looks at the quality of the user experience. Insights, anecdotes, and user feedback are what researchers are looking for here. Qualitative testing is the most common type of study. Quantitative testing looks at numbers and metrics and is most often used to test the time it takes users to perform a task or whether or not they were successful.
Below are some common tasks in usability testing.
Analytics
User analytics can provide insight into how users interact with the product. You can collect quantifiable data and identify trends, chart website traffic, and build reports. There are many different tools for collecting analytics like Google, Domo, and Grow.
Card Sorting
In card sorting tests, the UX researcher writes words and phrases on cards, then asks participants to organize them in the way that makes the most sense. The categories can be labeled to make sure the design is put together in the most logical way.
A/B Testing
A/B testing is a common form of usability test that has users compare two versions of a website to see which one works better. This type of test is useful further along in the design process.
Accessibility Testing
Accessibility evaluations are an important type of UX research because a product that isn’t usable by everyone is a failed product.
Eye Tracking
Eye tracking requires specialized equipment, but it can give the design team important information about where users are looking as they interact with the design. The eye tracker uses infrared light reflected off of the user’s eyes to track movement.
How to Conduct Usability Testing
To conduct a usability test, you need three basic components: a facilitator or the person administering the test, the tasks, and the participant. Most user testing is done in-person in a conference room, but it can be performed remotely using video conferencing software.
In some cases, you can also do remote unmoderated testing that uses software to records users’ responses. Some advantages of this type of testing are that you can have many more users than moderated testing; you aren’t constricted by time zones, and you can get data faster. Some disadvantages of unmoderated testing are that there is no one to explain the process to participants or answer questions, and users are often less engaged and do not perform as well on tasks that require imagination, emotional responses, or decision making when another human is not present.
For in-person testing, it is a good practice to have two people, one to interact with the participants and another to observe and take notes. The tasks will be specific, real-world activities that the users would do to accomplish a goal such as how do you find contact information for the company or how would you order lunch using this app. Choose
Realistic users as participants. They may already be customers, or they may simply fit into the defined user group. It is important to instruct the participants to “think out loud” and describe what they are doing during the testing.
Where to Learn UX Design
If you would like to learn more about UX/UI design to switch to a new career, one of the best ways to do that is to sign up for classes. You can choose classes that meet in-person or online to learn design software and other applications. Some people prefer to attend brick-and-mortar sessions when learning new information, but that isn’t always available. Live online classes have a similar set-up with a real-time, remote instructor who can answer questions and take control of your monitor—with permission—to show you how to do things. Training is part or full-time and available weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.
The best way to prepare for a career shift to a field like UX design is to enroll in a bootcamp or certificate program. These are intensive training courses that run from a few weeks to a few months and another plus of training is that you will leave class with a professional-quality portfolio that you can show to prospective employers.
It’s easy to learn UX design and start a new career. Check out Noble Desktop’s UX design classes. Choose between in-person sessions in NYC at Noble’s location or sign up for live online UX design courses and attend from anywhere. Use Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me to find other UX design bootcamps in your area.