Different Approaches to UX Research

In any industry, the customer is very important for the brand’s success. UX Research should be done in
order to know the user experience about the product or the service. 

UX research helps in the development of analytical techniques used to know the user experience regarding
the product. The research should be conducted in such a way keeping in mind who the user is, in what
context they use a product and what they need from a product or service. The business owners need to be
clear of their resources and constraints before beginning a UX research. Once they are clear, they can start
the research.

Duration of research:

The duration of research and what a particular business wants to achieve decides either to choose Longitudinal
Research or Cross-sectional research.

Longitudinal Research

Longitudinal research mainly focuses on repeated observation of a group of users over time, at regular
intervals. This research is done in order to observe user perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours. The
main advantage of longitudinal research is that it extends beyond a single time frame. Because of this,
the events can occur in a proper sequence. The longitudinal study can be done in many ways like
diaries, participant observation, and repeated interviews/ surveys.

Cross-Sectional Research

Cross-Sectional Research is a study where the feedback is collected from a group of people at a single
point of time. Here the users are categorized into different groups named cohorts. It mainly involves
assessing customers with one key factor, at a specified time. For this, the business owners invite users
and categorize them into two or more groups and take their feedback.

Nature of data

Here, business owners should decide if they require statistical or opinions and other subjective data. Based on this, the quantitative and qualitative research can be done. 

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research includes anything that you can count: time on page, time to complete a task, user
flow, page view. The quantitative study in UX is more often used in market research as it involves large
data sets. Here, the research will be done keeping in mind the customer preferences.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research in UX involves mainly the behaviours, feelings, and attitudes of users. Qualitative
research is done in order to understand the factors that influence the customer's decision to buy a product,
experience in using that product and the impact it creates by taking the customer's feedback.

Source of data

The data can be collected in two ways: through Primary and Secondary research.

Primary research

Primary research is done through interviews, experiments or conducting questionnaires to acquire data. The
fresh data is collected rather than the data from the published sources. Primary research is both time and
resource-consuming as it requires direct interaction with the customers.

Secondary Research: 

Secondary research focuses on analyzing already existing sources like research papers, journals, articles.
For those who are having less time and limited resources, Secondary research will be an added advantage
as it takes relatively less time.

The objective of the Research

The objective of the research is to investigate the problem and trying to fix the problem in the most
efficient way. This can be done through Exploratory research, Descriptive research and Evaluative
research.

Generative or Exploratory research

Exploratory research is done in order to investigate the problem at the preliminary stage. This research
thus involves conducting interviews, group discussions with the customers as per the requirement and
identify the problem regarding the product.

Descriptive and Informative research

In descriptive research, the problem statement is already given and is used to gain a detailed
understanding of the problem. This research helps in providing the complete solution to the
problem after a detailed analysis of the problem.

Evaluative Research

Evaluative research is done by approaching the users and try to find out whether the solution which you
got in the Descriptive research works out or not. The main aim of this research is to see if the problem
got completely fixed or not.

The outcome of the Research

Pure Research:

Pure research is basic research in order to identify the relationship between variables. Pure research is
done completely out of curiosity and interest and is more exploratory in nature.

Applied Research:

Applied research is based on basic or pure research. This is done in order to solve the problem identified
in the pure research phase. The outcome of this research is mainly used for the present use, not for the

future.

It is also essential to choose the correct research approach for a product at the correct time.
The Nextbrain Studio uses these kinds of approaches for UX researches for better customer satisfaction.