Tips for Understanding Research Fundamentals

You ran the sessions. You found the themes. The insights feel right. But before you present, a quiet question lingers, did I go deep enough? Did I check the right things? This is the part of qualitative UX research we don’t always emphasize. Not just doing the work with care, but supporting it with structure. Adding rigor isn’t about questioning your effort - it’s about strengthening your insights. It brings clarity, consistency, and confidence - for you, your team, and anyone who’ll act on what you’ve found. Here are eight practical ways to add that kind of rigor without slowing your work down. Start with triangulation. Don’t rely on just one type of data. Pair interviews with usability testing, behavior logs, or survey responses. Ask another researcher to take notes independently and compare interpretations. This builds confidence that your insights reflect more than one lens. Maintain an audit trail. Keep a record of key decisions, theme changes, or shifts in scope. Use a shared doc, spreadsheet, or even versioned codebooks. Others should be able to see how your findings evolved- not just the end product. Practice reflexivity. Before analysis, write down what you expect to find. During synthesis, notice when your background might be influencing what feels important. If you’re working in a team, make this a shared habit. You’re part of the instrument, and that’s worth tracking. Use member checking. Once your findings are drafted, send a summary to a few participants and ask if it reflects their experience. Their feedback will tell you where you’ve nailed it- and where you need to dig deeper. Use structured frameworks. Lincoln and Guba’s trustworthiness criteria are great for longer studies. The PARRQA checklist helps keep fast-paced projects grounded. Either way, frameworks give your work consistency and make your choices visible. Look for negative cases. Instead of just confirming patterns, search for outliers. Find the participant who doesn’t fit the theme. Revising your analysis to include their story makes your findings more durable. Make your insights transferable. Don’t stop at “users want X.” Add who those users were, what tools they used, and what constraints they faced. When findings are rich in context, teams can apply them more confidently. Document key decisions as they happen. Use a shared log or notes thread. Track sampling shifts, analysis changes, design pivots. Later, include this in your final report. It shows how you got from raw data to real insight- and helps others trust it. Rigor isn’t about adding more work - it’s about adding more strength. Even a few thoughtful checks, built into your workflow, can make your qualitative UX research clearer, more credible, and easier to stand behind when the pressure’s on.

Don't focus on tools or platforms at the beginning of your #UXR journey. First, learn how to conduct #userresearch without them. Master how to ask solid non-leading questions & interview. Then practice!!! Here are 7 reasons why this is critical: 1. ACCESS: You won’t always have access to the same tools. Access varies depending on subscriptions & changes regularly 2. APPROPRIATENESS: There isn’t always time, $$, or a need for a tool. Sometimes intercepts, guerrilla testing, interviews & or #data #analytics are a better choice 3. SUITABILITY: Tools have separate functions. Don’t compare them, or prioritize learning them, until you have a specific question set, or use case, to evaluate it against 4. FAMILIARITY: When you master a few tools before building a solid #uxresearch foundation you'll wind up trying to shove every study into the tools you know (because you won’t know any better) 5. EVOLUTION: Tech evolves. A strong methodological foundation will help you determine which approaches are best for the question at hand 6. PREFERENCE: People tend to prefer the method learned first — in everything (e.g. Mac users struggle with PCs). The first tool you learn will likely become your default platform, and it's also likely not to be the best tool long term 7. LEARNABILITY: You can always acquire new tools. The key is to master the underlying methodology in order to leverage the right tools effectively #ux #uxr #uxresearch #userresearch #curiositytank

Here are 3 ‘tricks of the trade’ UXRs can learn from therapists. Doing user research is a LOT like being a therapist. Think about it. Instead of trying to understand why someone is deathly terrified of babies, you try to understand why they’re confused by the nav bar.  Here are 3 things great therapists do that work during user interviews too. 🛋️USE RESTATEMENTS Users might talk in long, rambling sentences. Use restatements to clarify and align. A restatement repeats what you’ve heard in a shorter, more concrete way. If they say - “I feel like, doing this thing where, I don’t know how to get to the homepage after….” Follow up with - It sounds like you find it difficult to navigate to page X This does two things. It proves that you’re paying attention, creating user trust. It also ensures that you’re on the same page and allows the user to clarify if you misunderstood something.  🛋️DON’T INTERRUPT As long as your user is making sense, let them speak. Don’t interrupt. Therapists sometimes stay silent for a few seconds after the client’s statements. This opens up the space to share follow-up thoughts.  You’ll be surprised by the golden nuggets that come up when you let people ramble. 🛋️DON’T ASK ‘WHY’ It’s tough getting people to open up. But that’s also what therapists do best. They do this by asking questions in the right way. A “Why” question (“Why did you do this?”) has the potential of coming across as judgemental, and confrontational. This can put your user on the defensive and they won’t open up. Instead, ask “what” or “how” questions. Replace “Why didn’t you use the tag view?” with “What kept you from using the tag view?” and watch the magic happen. There’s a lot more to learn from therapists. You could do that by watching your own therapist in action, or just read this article for the best tips in the biz: https://bit.ly/44Up3ZE I’d love to hear your thoughts—what are your tricks to get users to open up? #userresearch #therapy #uxpsychology #userinterviews #uxresource

A crucial aspect of UX research most junior designers overlook: They believe that research is just "talking to users." It's a method that’s seen its fair share of use, but here’s where many get it wrong: - They rely solely on small, qualitative studies. - They lack validation from quantitative data. Focus on these 3 strategies instead 👇 1️⃣ Dive deeper into the research tools Understanding both qualitative and quantitative methods tells you different stories about the same problem. → Explore different methods—surveys, analytics, behavioural data, and more. → Read case studies, analyze research papers and engage with leading UX forums. 2️⃣ Understand business needs Before planning any study, consult with stakeholders to understand the core business problems. Ask them: → What do you need to learn from this research? → How will this information impact your strategy? 3️⃣ Generate actionable insights Find the right tool for the job. Triangulating data from multiple sources to uncover new insights → Engage with your data analysts. → Integrate different data types to uncover and validate new findings. _______________ Hi there, I'm Muskan! 👋 🌱 I help engineers break into design. 📈 DM me “design” to get started!