Research Methods Articles & Videos

  • Level Up Your Focus Groups

    To avoid common issues with focus groups, consider using these strategies to maximize participation and minimize the potential for bias.

  • Balancing Natural Behavior with Incentives and Accuracy in Diary Studies

    Diary studies involve a series of tradeoffs as researchers must capture participants’ natural behaviors, but the method to do so can be intrusive and reward producing more entries.

  • Writing Good Survey Questions: 10 Best Practices

    Designing a good survey is harder than it may seem. Ensure accurate and reliable data by writing questions that are appropriate for the method and worded to minimize bias.

  • Inductively Analyzing Qualitative Data

    Inductive analysis begins with no framework in mind and looks for naturally emerging patterns in the data.

  • What, When, Why: Research Goals, Questions, and Hypotheses

    Research questions, research goals, and hypotheses are 3 devices used to focus user research studies.

  • Tree Testing: Evaluate Menu Labels and Categories

    Follow these tips to effectively evaluate a site’s navigation hierarchy and to avoid common design mistakes.

  • Context Methods: Study Guide

    Unsure where to start? Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn about ethnographic research methods like field studies and diary studies.

  • Deductively Analyzing Qualitative Data

    Deductive analysis begins with a framework in mind and makes sense of the data through that lens.

  • Between-Subjects vs. Within-Subjects Study Design

    In user research, between-groups designs reduce learning effects; repeated-measures designs require fewer participants and minimize the random noise.

  • Why Prioritize Personas?

    Prioritizing your personas helps you make strategic design tradeoffs to ensure designs bring the most value to the business.

  • Usability Test Facilitation: 6 Mistakes to Avoid

    Become a better usability testing facilitator by avoiding common missteps, like asking leading questions or reacting to user behavior.

  • Informed Consent for UX Research

    Ethically sound UX research requires informed consent from a research participant. Informed consent means the participant fully understands what the study entails and the potential consequences of participating.

  • How and Why to Include Users in UX Workshops

    Inviting users to directly participate in UX Workshops can vastly improve the workshop output; however, the exact strategy and methods for including them vary based on the workshop type and goals.

  • Help Users Think Aloud

    Help users think aloud by explaining what it is and why it's useful, reinforcing the behavior, and prompting along the way.

  • Problem Space and Solution Space Research

    Both problem-space and solution-space research are needed to design products that are useful and usable.

  • The Hawthorne Effect or Observer Bias in User Research

    Individuals often modify their behavior if they know they are being observed. That phenomenon became known as the Hawthorne effect or the observer bias. We can mitigate this effect by building rapport, designing natural tasks, and spending more time with study participants.

  • Documenting a UX-Benchmarking Study

    All the details of your benchmark study need to be stored in your research repository for further reference. They include the study methodology, the tasks, the screener, the definitions of the collected metrics, as well as the raw data obtained from the study.

  • 5 Common Ethical Dilemmas in User Research

    In this article we discuss best practices when researching with vulnerable participants, tackling sensitive topics, using deception, and lack of confidentiality in user research studies.

  • Building Rapport with UX Research Participants

    Researchers should build rapport and embrace real human interactions to put participants at ease during a study.

  • Protecting Participant Data: 6 Best Practices

    Research participants are more vulnerable than ever as researchers conduct remote usability tests, use third-party applications, and store data online. Protect participant privacy by adhering to best practices before, during, and after data collection.