User Research Ethics, Part 1: What is it?
This article is the first in a short series of articles that discuss user research ethics.
I spent the better part of last year building and refining a user experience (UX) research team. Part of this included establishing internal processes and approaches for every step of a research project, from understanding what we were researching to delivering powerful and actionable insights. Through this experience, I realized that there was another layer to user research that’s often neglected: ethics. However, I don’t often hear people talking about this. In fact, most people ask me what I’m talking about if I bring up the subject.
So, what does it mean to conduct ethical user research?
Definition
Research
Per Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations §46.102 (2018), research is defined as, “a systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.” However, most of the research conducted by UX researchers or UX designers does not contribute to “generalizable knowledge” (i.e. information that advances science and increases our understanding in different fields for the betterment of society). This means most UX research is not technically considered research, thus not regulated.
I first learned of this by reading an article by Nicholas Bowman — The Ethics of UX Research — which I wholly recommend you read if you’re interested in learning more about UX research ethics as he dives deeper into the laws that affect it.
Ethical user research
I define ethical user research as research that’s planned, executed, delivered, and documented in a lawful, moral, and empathetic way. Ethical research anticipates dilemmas that compromise these so that you can address them appropriately should they arise.
The basics
The ability to conduct ethical research starts with having the right attitude. Most articles and reports that touch on the topic of ethics in research — such as the Belmont Report — share the same sentiments. I’ve condensed these into four basic rules:
- Be transparent - Let your participants know what they’re getting into from the get go. This includes being honest about what the purpose of the research is, who you’re doing it for, and how you’ll document and use the information you gather, including their private information. Consent forms are a great way to give power to your participants over their data and ensure you’re legally bound to do right by them.
- Do no harm - User research should never hurt people. How you treat your participant before, during, and after sessions matters. This means being cognizant and respectful of their privacy, beliefs, heritage, culture, race, gender identity, and emotions. It also means using your findings responsibly by treating their information with care.
- Be kind - You never know what people are going through. Kindness goes a long way and it’ll help ease your participant’s nerves. Research sessions are already uncomfortable enough. Remember, participants are putting themselves in a vulnerable position by letting you into their world.
- Compensate fairly - Research participants take time out of their day to help you learn, so it is only fair that you compensate them for their time. Keep in mind that compensation doesn’t always have to be monetary. If you can’t afford to give participants cash or gift cards, you can always find alternatives (e.g. swag, free memberships or trials, free consultations, etc.).
What does an ethical dilemma look like?
While you may approach research with the best of intentions, you may still face difficult situations where having empathy and respect for your participants is not enough.
Some situations occur no matter where you are or what kind of research you do. However, the inverse is also true: there are situations that are specific to the industry you work in as well as your company’s size and maturity.
Not all ethical dilemmas will present themselves in the same way.
The examples below are some of my own experiences. Please note that these are not representative of all the ethical dilemmas you may face in your own work.
Story 1: Strong emotions
Last year, I conducted research for a health insurance company’s website. One of the participants told me a very personal and difficult story. I knew this not only from the content of the story but because they were on the verge of tears.
I had never seen anyone break down during a session before. What does one do in a situation like that? In that moment, I had many questions racing through my brain:
- Do I stop the session?
- Do I just listen?
- Do I comfort them? And am I allowed to comfort them?
- Do I move on to the next task in hopes it helps them calm down?
Health insurance is a touchy subject. It’s something you only think about when you sign up for it or pay it, or when something is wrong.
My mistake was treating the session like other research I had done before — I didn’t stop to think about how delicate research in the health insurance space would be. Anything that impacts someone’s livelihood is likely to cause strong emotions.
I didn’t redirect the conversation to a task, I didn’t look at the clock, I didn’t hurry them along through the rest of the session — I just gave them time. I listened and acknowledged their plight so they knew I was listening. Sometimes that’s all you can do before you can take the next step, whether that’s continuing with a task or stopping the session altogether. In my case, although I gave the participant the choice to stop the session or take a break once they felt more composed, they decided to keep going. However, I reduced the number of questions I would normally ask for the rest of the session to ensure I didn’t push the participant out of their comfort zone. When the session finished and we said our goodbyes, they thanked me for listening, among other things.
I did what I could in the moment, which was ensuring the participant felt safe and comfortable. To me, people are always the priority. Research takes the back seat the moment someone doesn’t feel OK.
Story 2: Unintentional discoveries
Back in 2018, I helped with user research for a survey my town’s Chamber of Commerce needed to run. The survey had an English and a Spanish version, which meant we needed to test it with Spanish speakers to ensure the translation made sense.
During the course of our interviews with Spanish speakers, we discovered that some of the people we talked with were undocumented. We didn’t consider this possibility and therefore weren’t prepared to handle the finding. This caused us to spend an additional amount of time on an already short timeline to figure out how to handle what we learned responsibly.
We promised our participants anonymity and it was thanks to that promise that they allowed us to interview them. Through our conversations, we earned their trust. As a result, they felt safe telling us their secrets — information they would, I assume, only share with family and close friends as it could harm their livelihood. Because of this, we took extra precautions to ensure none of the data we shared with our client revealed personally identifiable information.
If you promise anonymity, then you must follow through with that promise — unless there’s a chance someone will be harmed. Your political stance or personal beliefs should not play a role in how you handle participant data.
Good, ethical, and successful research always places the safety of people first.
Story 3: A right to privacy
Some time ago while conducting a research study, I learned my observers were looking up participants on the internet. This took me by surprise.
You might think there’s nothing wrong with looking up people who sign up for a study, but signing up for a study doesn’t give you permission to invade someone’s privacy. As a researcher, you may have access to sensitive information you may not otherwise come across if you were just searching online. We often offer anonymity because we know information is power and, in the wrong hands, could hurt the very people we want to help.
Rules around how to handle information get more complicated in larger organizations. This is even more so in heavily regulated industries.
If you need to know more about your participants, then use your screener and scheduled session as avenues to learn what you need to know. Make sure you plan your study well enough so you don’t over-collect information. If you’re not sure if you’re over-collecting, ask yourself why you’re collecting the information and how it will help with the goal of the study.
I like to think of participants as gracious hosts and research teams as guests. If you wouldn’t ransack your host’s house, then you shouldn’t ransack your participant’s life.
Conclusion
As you conduct your own user research, you may end up learning more than you expect or face situations that don’t feel quite right. Through my own experiences, I learned that there is a delicate balance you need to maintain to ensure participant safety and gather the insights you need to create great experiences. Research findings have the ability to hurt people if we don’t act on them appropriately.
I strongly believe that it’s our responsibility as researchers to relay our learnings — to our companies, team, bosses, the public, etc. — in a way that does not harm the people we talk to, our observers, and yourself. This requires that we put our own prejudices aside and be empathetic, patient, respectful of privacy, and wary of danger. We are nothing without our participants and the people who support us to make our studies possible.
Part 2 coming soon!
Stay tuned for the next part of my series, where I’ll go over the kind of information you need to gather to start putting together a plan for how to handle ethical dilemmas.
Resources
I put together a comprehensive list of resources for those interested in learning more about user research ethics.
Thank you Belem Medina, Chen Zhang, and Jessica Ivins for reviewing this article.
