In-depth conversations with individual users.
Interviewing app users about their frustrations and preferred features.
Moderated discussion with a small group of users.
Conducting a focus group to understand how a website can be made more user-friendly for senior citizens.
Ethnographic Field Studies
Observing users in their natural environment.
Observing doctors in a hospital setting to see how they use a new medical software program.
Participatory Design
Involving users directly in the design process.
Having potential customers help brainstorm ideas for a new clothing line.
Diary Studies
Asking users to keep a record of their thoughts and experiences over time.
Users document their daily experiences with a new fitness tracker in a journal.
Gathering user opinions and sentiments through various methods.
Analyzing customer reviews on an app store to identify common pain points.
True Intent Studies
Understanding users' underlying needs and motivations.
Eye-tracking software might reveal users are drawn to a specific section of a website even if they say they didn't notice it.
Desirability Studies
Evaluating how appealing a product or service is to users.
Showing users different design concepts for a product and gauging their emotional response to each.
Collecting data from a large number of users through questionnaires.
Sending an email survey to website visitors to understand their satisfaction level.
Comparing the usability of a product to industry standards.
Evaluating a new e-commerce website against known best practices for online shopping experiences.
Comparing two versions of a product or feature.
Testing two different layouts for a product landing page to see which one generates more clicks.
Analyzing user interactions with a website or app.
Seeing which sections of a website users visit most often and how long they stay on each page.
Tracking where users look on a screen.
Using eye-tracking to see if users notice a critical call-to-action button on a website.
Moderate Remote Usability Studies
Remote usability testing with a moderator.
Users complete tasks on a new mobile app while a researcher observes and asks questions remotely.
Unmoderated Remote Panel Studies
Remote usability testing without a moderator.
Users test a new website prototype on their own computers and provide feedback through surveys or recordings.
Usability Lab Studies
Usability testing conducted in a controlled environment.
Bringing users into a lab to test a new software program and identify any usability issues.
Unmoderated UX Studies
Remote UX research methods beyond usability testing.
Similar to unmoderated remote panel studies, but can encompass a wider range of methods.
Card Sorting
Asking users to organize items or information into categories.
Having users sort different website navigation menus to see how they group similar items together.