Research methods
Handy list of different UX research methods that can be used for diverging or converging tasks.
Choosing the right method
The right research method can be determined after identifying factors like:
- What Mode the project is in?
- Diverging: Exploring an opportunity or a problem, or brainstorming new ideas
- Converging: Synthesising lots of data into insights or a project brief, or focusing in on a single solution
- What Outputs are need?
- More questions? More insights?
- Prototype designs?
- Identifying usability problems?
NOTE: Links to resources will be added soon.
| Method | Description | Best for | Inputs | Outputs | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor review | Review competitor’s sites or products against different criteria | Understand and learn from the user experience of a competitor | Criteria to review against | Recommendations for things to avoid and things to do | Diverging |
| Interviews | Face to face meeting with an individual or group where you ask a set list of questions | More in depth user research, takes more time but produces better insights | Open ended interview questions | Insights about attitudes and past behaviour | Diverging |
| Contextual inquiry | Like an interview, but conducted in the participant’s everyday environment | Great for understanding how a person’s context influences how they use a site or product | Open ended interview questions | Insights about how environment affects people’s behaviour | Diverging |
| Observations | Watch people interact with a particular exhibition or interactive | Learn about real, unpromted behavior | Observation recording template | Insights about existing user behaviour | Diverging |
| Co-design workshop | Users, as ‘experts’ of their own experience, play an active role and become central to the design process. | Idea generation and immediate validation | Workshop agenda | Fresh ideas, greater understanding of audience | Diverging |
| Survey | Usually done online, participants answer specific questions. | Gathering quantitative data | Survey questions | Quantitative data | Both |
| Visitor intercepts | Quick 5-10 minute interviews with visitors in the museum. | When you don’t have much time and need to validate/test an idea, we use this method the most at Te Papa | Intercept script including questions | Visitors attitudes and perceptions | Converging |
| Card sorting | Participants sort cards that represent content into the groups that make sense for them | You want to find out how people think your content is related. This is mostly used for designing or testing the Information Architecture of a site, however this method can be used for testing other perceptions. | Set of cards, categories (optional) | Content groupings | Converging |
| Facilitated user testing | Recruit participants to attempt tasks on a prototype or live site with a facilitator and notetaker | Use this to test for usability issues | Prototype, test script | Test findings and recommended improvements | Converging |
| Remote user testing | Set up tasks for participants to complete on your website and have them complete the test | When you want to find usability issues but don’t have the time to facilitate | Tasks for participants to complete, prototype or live site | Test videos | Converging |
| Heatmap | Find out where people are clicking on your website or interactive | Finding out what the most important elements are on a page | Live website | Screenshot of website pages with overlays showing click frequency | Converging |
| Analytics | Collect data on what people do on your website or interactive | Finding out what people are doing on your site | Set up and customise analytics | Data | Converging |