ux-researcher

What this skill does

# UX Researcher

## Overview
This skill provides a complete framework for planning and executing user research—from choosing the right method through writing interview guides, running usability tests, synthesizing findings with affinity mapping, building personas, and writing a research report that drives product decisions. Good UX research replaces assumptions with evidence, ensuring product teams build things users actually need and can use.

## When to Use
- You need to understand why users behave a certain way (not just what they do)
- You want to validate or invalidate a product assumption before building
- You're writing a user interview guide for a research sprint
- You need to synthesize observations from multiple user sessions into insights
- You're creating user personas from research data
- You want to run a usability test on a prototype or existing product

## When NOT to Use
- Sizing a market or analyzing competitors (use market-researcher skill)
- Writing product requirements from research findings (use product-manager skill)
- Analyzing behavioral analytics data (use data-analyst skill)
- Writing a survey to validate market demand, not UX (use market-researcher skill)

## Quick Reference
| Research Method | Best For | Participants | Time |
|----------------|----------|-------------|------|
| In-depth interviews | Understanding motivations, mental models | 8–15 | 45–60 min each |
| Usability testing (moderated) | Finding interaction problems | 5–8 | 30–60 min each |
| Usability testing (unmoderated) | Broad task success rate | 30–100 | 15–20 min each |
| Card sorting | Information architecture, navigation | 20–30 | 20–30 min each |
| Tree testing | Validating navigation structure | 50–100 | 10–15 min each |
| Diary study | Longitudinal behavior tracking | 10–20 | 1–4 weeks |
| Surveys | Quantifying preferences, attitudes | 200–1,000 | 5–15 min |
| Field observation | Real-world context, workarounds | 5–10 | 1–3 hours each |
| First-click test | Discoverability of UI elements | 50–100 | 5–10 min |
| 5-second test | First impressions, clarity | 20–50 | 5 seconds |

## Instructions

### Step 1: Define the Research Goal
A research plan starts with a clear question. Write it in one sentence:
- "Why do new users drop off during the account setup flow?"
- "How do customer success managers currently track customer health?"
- "Can users successfully complete a payment using our redesigned checkout?"

Then list 3–5 specific learning objectives:
1. What does the current mental model look like for [task]?
2. What are the biggest pain points with the current experience?
3. What terminology do users use to describe [concept]?
4. Where in the flow do users get confused or stuck?
5. What workarounds have users developed?

### Step 2: Choose the Right Research Method
**Discovery research** (you don't know what the problems are yet):
→ In-depth interviews, field observation, diary studies

**Generative research** (generating ideas, understanding context):
→ Interviews, focus groups, co-design workshops

**Evaluative research** (testing a specific design or prototype):
→ Moderated usability testing, unmoderated usability testing, first-click tests

**Validation research** (confirming a hypothesis or measuring change):
→ A/B testing, surveys, benchmarking studies

### Step 3: Write a User Interview Guide
An interview guide structures the conversation without scripting it rigidly.

**Interview guide structure:**
```
1. Welcome and consent (5 min)
2. Warm-up: background questions (5 min)
3. Current behavior: how they do the task today (15 min)
4. Pain points and workarounds (10 min)
5. Concept exploration (if applicable) (10 min)
6. Wrap-up: anything else? (5 min)
```

**Sample interview guide — Understanding how project managers track work:**

---
**Research Goal:** Understand how engineering project managers track work and surface blockers.
**Participant criteria:** Engineering PMs at companies with 20–200 engineers; 2+ years in role.
**Duration:** 45–60 minutes.

**Welcome script:**
> "Thank you for making time today. I'm going to ask you questions about how you currently manage projects—there are no right or wrong answers. I'm here to learn from your experience, not to test you. I may take notes or have a colleague take notes. Is it okay if I record this session? The recording is only used internally."

**Warm-up (5 min):**
- Tell me a bit about your current role and team.
- How many engineers are on your team?
- What does your day-to-day look like?

**Current behavior (15 min):**
- Walk me through how you tracked last week's work, from Monday to Friday. (Probe: what tools did you use? What did that look like?)
- How do you know if a project is on track?
- How do you find out about blockers? How does that information reach you?
- Can you show me what your current project tracking setup looks like? (If screen share available)

**Pain points (10 min):**
- What's the most frustrating part of tracking work right now?
- When does the current process break down?
- Tell me about a time a project went off track. How did you find out?
- What workarounds do you use?

**Concept exploration (10 min, if showing a prototype):**
> "I'd like to show you something we're working on and get your honest reaction. This is early—nothing is built yet."
- Talk me through your first impression.
- How would you use this in your current workflow?
- What's missing? What would make this more useful?

**Wrap-up (5 min):**
- Is there anything important I didn't ask about?
- Who else do you think I should speak with?

---

**Probing techniques:**
- "Tell me more about that."
- "What do you mean by X?"
- "What happened next?"
- "Why is that?"
- "Can you give me a specific example?"
- "How often does that happen?"

### Step 4: Run a Usability Test
**Task writing principles:**
- Write tasks as scenarios, not instructions: "Imagine you need to add a new team member to your project" — not "Click on Settings → Team → Add Member"
- Tasks should have a clear, verifiable completion point
- Avoid jargon or product terminology in tasks (use the user's language)
- Provide realistic context: "You just hired a contractor, Sarah Chen..."

**Sample 30-minute usability test script:**

**Task 1 (Onboarding):** "You just signed up for this product. Please set up your account as you normally would."
- Success: User reaches the main dashboard
- Failure: User abandons or asks for help

**Task 2 (Core feature):** "You need to create a new project for the Q4 product launch. Please do that now."
- Success: Project created with a name and at least one team member
- Watch for: Discovery of "New Project" button, confusion around required fields

**Task 3 (Error recovery):** "Try to invite a colleague using the email address: not-an-email"
- Success: User sees error message and corrects it
- Watch for: Error message clarity, ability to recover without reload

**What to observe and note:**
- Where does the user hesitate (> 3 seconds without action)?
- Where do they go first? (reveals mental model)
- What do they say out loud? ("I'd expect this to be in Settings")
- Where do they make errors?
- What do they say about the language/labels?

### Step 5: Affinity Mapping — Synthesizing Research
After 8+ interviews, you'll have hundreds of individual observations. Affinity mapping organizes them into themes.

**Process:**
1. **Write each observation on a sticky note** (digital: Miro/FigJam): one idea per note
   - Good: "User said she checks email first thing every morning for project updates"
   - Bad: "User has communication problems" (too interpreted)
2. **Cluster similar notes** — move stickies that feel related near each other
3. **Name each cluster** with a theme label (the insight, not the description):
   - Not: "Email usage"
   - Yes: "Email is the default status update channel even when better tools exist"
4. **Identify patterns** across clusters: which themes appeared in 6/8 interviews?
5. **Generate insigh