The types of design research every designer should know NOW

In UX design, research is a fundamental part in solving relevant problems and/or narrowing down to the “right” problem users face. A designer’s job is to understand their users, which means going beyond their initial assumptions to put themselves in another persons shoes in order to create products that respond to a human need.

Good research doesn’t just end with good data; it ends with good design and functionality users love, want and need.

Design research is often overlooked in that designers emphasize the result of how a design looks. This results in having a surface level understanding of the people they design for. Having this mindset goes against what UX is all about; being user centered.

UX design is centered around research to understand the needs of people and how the kind of products/services we build will help them.

Here are some research methods every designer should know on the top of their head when going into a project, and even if they are not the ones doing research, they can communicate better with UX researchers to drive engagement in the industry.

Primary

Primary research is essentially coming up with new data to understand who you are designing for and what you would potentially plan on designing. It allows us to validate our ideas with our users and design more meaningful solutions for them. Designers typically gather this type of data through interviews with individuals or through small groups, surveys, or questionnaires.

It is important to understand what you want to research before going out of your way to find people as well as the kind/quality of data you want to gather. In an article from the University of Surrey, the author points out two important points to address when conducting primary research; validity and practicality.

The validity of data refers to the truth that it tells…