UX Research Methods

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Name	Description	Design Framework
User Interviews	1-on-1 discussion w/ a series of question on the topic in question	Attitudinal, Qualitative
Focus Groups	groups of 3 or more users are led through series of topics, giving verbal and written feedback through discussion and exercises	Attitudinal, Qualitative
Card Sorting	refine information architecture by asking users to organize items into groups and assign categories to each group	Attitudinal, Qualitative
Usability Testing	1-on-1 discussion w/ a given set of scenarios for user to interact w/ the product	Attitudinal, Qualitative, Behavioral
Surveys	measure attitudes of users through series of questions in a survey	Atitudinal, Quantitative
A/B Testing	measuring user reaction on different designs with some design elements remaining constant between multiple user groups	Behavioral, Quantitative
Comparative Analysis	comparing products, concepts, or ideas to one another to draw similarities and differences.	Qualitative
Contextual Inquiry	walk through w/ user on tasks while inquiring & observing behavior (similar to field studies and was developed to study complex systems and processes)	Behavioral, Attitudinal, Qualitative
Field Studies	studying users interacting w/ the product in the environment they’re most comfortable in (work, home, etc) to measure their behavior	Behavioral, Attitudinal, Qualitative
Tree Testing	testing usability of information architecture to determine how easy it is to find items in the hierarchy (relates to card sorting)	Attitudinal, Qualitative
Diary Studies	users log or record daily activities, giving contextual insights about real-time user behaviors and needs w/ a product	Attitudinal, Qualitative

Synthesis Methods

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Name	Description	Synthesis Framework	Resources
Affinity Mapping	Organizing related facts & data into distinct clusters or categories	Pain Points, Needs, Wants Insight	Guide, Template
How Might We’s (HMWs)	Constructing how-might-we questions for problems to generate solutions	Feasibility, Pain Points, Needs, Wants	Guide, Template
Empathy Mapping	Visualization of knowledge and insights of a particular user to understand user	Pain Points, Wants, Needs, Insight	Guide, Template
User Personas	Emphasizing key ideas of target audience by making a user persona (reccomended types: gesalt or collaborative personas)	Pain Points, Wants, Needs	Guide, Template(s)
User Journey Mapping	Visualization of user interaction with product to initial contact to maintaining user rentention	Feasibility, Insight	Guide, Template
The Five W’s	Use the five W’s: Who, What, Where, When, Why, to arrive at the core problem	Insight, Pain Points, Wants, Needs	Template
Point of View	A user need statement conducted from essential user insights (note: this is not your problem statement)	Feasibility, Pain Points, Wants, Needs, Insight	Guide
Crazy 8’s	A core Design Sprint method & a fast sketching exercise that challenges people to sketch 8 distinct ideas in 8 minutes	Insight, Feasibility	Guide, Template
Additional Comments	Order of methods represents suggested order of completion where the previous method usually informs the next method. Should you choose to do more than one method, the order is a loose guide for your exploration.