My Process
At a high level I approach research projects in the same way. I start by understanding the ask. This involves talking to stakeholders for context, developers for capability, and product owners for even more context. I then work with the team to find out what it is we really want to find out (or even if it's just a fishing expedition). Sometimes, rather than trying to fix someone a stakeholder has identified as an issue, what we really need to do first is find out if the users consider it an issue (what are the real pain points).
Sometimes I have access to a user pool, sometimes I have to dig them up myself. To do this, I've done everything from run site surveys to find participants by asking product managers to give me names (I NEED NAMES!).
Running an actual user study depends on what I'm trying to find out and what tools are available. Often it's Zoom. But Zoom, in the right hands, can do a lot. You can see the user's face, you can share screens, and you can record. The only drawback is that I have to do the math on my own.
Deliverables range from a write up of findings and recommendations to a fancy PowerPoint of the high level points to go along with the write-up. Some people just want to know what you found, others don't believe you without seeing the numbers for themselves.
Other tools I've used include heat maps, site recordings, and a mixture of everything.
Case Studies
ADP Tab Order
Role: UX Researcher
In this case, the ask was relatively simple. There had been some complaints that the tab order on our forms was counter intuitive. I set up a heat map study with users to see what they clicked on and in what order.
The tab order originally was left to right, but the study showed that people preferred left side, then right side. This was primarily due to how the form fields were designed.
Tech Data Redesign
Role: Head of UX Research
As part of the Tech Data redesign we wanted to see if the new design was doing what we wanted it to do. One of the concerns was that prospective users would see a lot of "stuff" but not know what we did or who we are (Tech Data is the largest company no one has heard of).
Using Qualtrics I set up a heat map survey to see where people were clicking based on task request.
For example, the question shown on the left was to determine if people knew how to find out what we did. The interesting part was that, although a majority figured it out, afterwards they didn't THINK they had figured it out. So the content was in the right place, but it was poor content.
Tech Data Card Sort
Role: Head of UX Research
As part of another Tech Data project, I was tasked with determining how to improve the Information Architecture of our content. For example, did everyone know what "Bad Box" meant, or was that an internal term only?
We used a card sorting product to see how our current users would categorize our content. Not surprisingly, they saw things differently from our internal product owners.
Other Research Deliverables
