User Testing Articles & Videos

  • Conducting Mobile Accessibility Research with Screen-Reader Users

    Use word of mouth to recruit research participants who rely on screen readers. Conduct the study in person to help participants feel comfortable, and plan to record the screen-reader output.

  • Best Practices for Building and Maintaining Your Own Research-Participant Database

    Developing your own research-participant database allows you to be efficient in recruiting study participants, enabling you to run more studies with faster turnaround.

  • 27 Tips and Tricks for Conducting Successful User Research in the Field

    Leave your office and go where the users are. Learn about common pitfalls and how to avoid them from our experience.

  • Why and How to Use Demographics in UX

    Well-designed questions related to age, gender, race, income and other demographic characteristics help UX researchers screen participants, recruit a diverse participant pool, and segment data. These questions are sensitive and should put research participants at ease.

  • Maintaining the Privacy and Security of Research Participants’ Data

    Maintaining participants’ data privacy and security before, during, and after data collection is critical to the user-research process. It protects participants from data breaches and cyber threats.

  • A Guide to Using User-Experience Research Methods

    Modern day UX research methods answer a wide range of questions. To help you know when to use which user research method, each of 20 methods is mapped across 3 dimensions and over time within a typical product-development process.

  • The Funnel Technique in Qualitative User Research

    The funnel technique is used in user interviews and usability tests and ensures you get rich insights while not compromising validity.

  • When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods

    To help you know when to use which user-research method, 20 methods are mapped across 3 dimensions and over time within a typical product-development process.

  • Obtaining Consent for User Research

    Better designs should never come at the cost of another person’s wellbeing. Informed consent is a fundamental part of an ethical research program, which respects participants and protects them from harm.

  • Checklist for Moderating a Usability Test

    Moderating a usability test? Follow these 10 simple steps to make your sessions go smoothly. Download an example facilitator guide at the bottom of this article.

  • Paper Prototyping: A Cutout Kit

    Easily (and cheaply) test early designs with this paper-prototyping kit.

  • 5 Facilitation Principles for Both UX Workshops and User Tests

    Both UX workshops and usability tests benefit when facilitators are focused on goals, follow a meeting guide yet are open to improvisation, encourage participants to act, and don’t talk too much.

  • Recruiting and Screening Candidates for User Research Projects

    Know the inherent biases in your recruiting process and avoid them in order to recruit study participants that are representative for your target audience.

  • 5 Facilitation Mistakes to Avoid During User Interviews

    Some common mistakes to avoid in UX interviews include poor rapport, multitasking, leading, insufficient probing, and poorly managed observers.

  • Three Levels of Pain Points in Customer Experience

    Pain points are problems that occur at the different levels of the customer experience: interaction level, customer-journey level, or relationship level.

  • International Usability Testing: Why You Need It

    User testing in different countries helps identify culturally specific usability issues. Testing correctly and at the right time will help you thrive in a new market.

  • Internal vs. External Validity of UX Studies

    Poorly designed qualitative or quantitative research may produce invalid results. Avoid encouraging certain responses or behaviors and make sure that your study conditions and participants are representative.

  • How to Test Content with Users

    When evaluating content, pay extra attention to whom you recruit. Closely tailor tasks to your participants and get comfortable with silence.

  • How and Why to Recruit Backup Participants (aka “Floaters”) in User Research

    Sometimes you should intentionally overrecruit test participants for one-on-one user-research studies. Backup participants must be recruited according to the same screening criteria and paid at least as much as regular participants.

  • Catching Problem Participants in Remote Unmoderated Studies

    Identify outliers, cheaters, and professional participants and remove their data from your analysis.