User Research – Methods and Best Practices

Verified Competencies Demonstrated by Florencia Zanovello

By completing this curriculum to the standards of the IxDF Educational Codex, Florencia Zanovello has demonstrated mastery of how to:

• Plan, conduct, and analyze semi-structured qualitative interviews.

• Ask productive interview questions using Kvale and Brinkmann's nine question types, build rapport with participants, and use the critical incidents technique to prevent vague, generalized answers.

• Conduct thematic analysis of qualitative data for both deductive and exploratory studies, and recognize and counter common pitfalls.

• Plan, moderate, and report on usability tests using the think-aloud protocol, and apply the right testing approach and metrics for design decisions.

• Plan, run, and analyze a contextual inquiry using its four principles: context, partnership, interpretation, and focus.

• Plan and conduct observational studies (active or passive).

• Create engaging personas grounded in research data that communicate user needs and foster empathy within design teams.

• Use affinity diagrams, empathy maps, and user journey maps to synthesize qualitative data and communicate results for maximum stakeholder impact.

• Run design-thinking workshops that turn research insights into actionable design opportunities.

• Map stakeholders across business, engineering, and UX using Tomer Sharon's framework and conduct stakeholder interviews to surface constraints, history, and expectations, in order to gain support for research.

• Make the case for user research by articulating its three core purposes (relevance, usability, and ROI) and turning them into arguments that secure resources.

• Choose the right qualitative research method for the question at hand, understand when to combine methods, and know how qualitative research complements quantitative approaches.

• Keep qualitative research trustworthy through grounded theory coding and Kvale's three lenses for objectivity.

• Apply user research ethics, including informed consent, participant data safety, safeguards for vulnerable populations, and respect for participants' right to withdraw at any time.

• Write a comprehensive user research project plan, pilot it before recruiting participants, and document the full study.