quantitative research in ux design

A Beginner’s Guide to Quantitative UX Research

UX research is at the cornerstone of UX design as it’s the best way to identify where there’s a problem and to uncover the design opportunities available to remedy them. Through various research methods, designers work to pinpoint the needs of their users and the best ways to meet those needs.

An important subcategory of UX research is quantitative user research . Quantitative user research is what most people imagine when they think of research data—it’s numerical or statistical information obtained through highly controlled testing environments. While its counterpart, qualitative data, gives researchers important subjective information, quantitative data provides crucial objective information that helps designers to evaluate their products and determine when a redesign might be necessary.

We’ve created this comprehensive guide to quantitative user research to help you understand what quantitative data is, how it’s used, and the different types of quantitative research methods employed by UX designers.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What is quantitative UX research?

When to use quantitative UX research

• Quantitative UX research methods
• Utilizing mixed methods in UX research
• Key takeaways

Now, let’s get started!

1. What is quantitative UX research?

Quantitative user research is the process of collecting and analyzing objective, numerical data from various types of user testing.

Quantitative research utilizes large sample numbers to produce bias-free, measurable data about a user population. It answers the questions of “how many, how much, and how often?”

The main goal of quantitative user research is to indirectly measure the usability of a completed or final product. However, quantitative research is also used to compare a product to its competitors or calculate a company’s ROI.

2. When to use quantitative UX research

Quantitative user research is best conducted on a product that is already in existence or when you’re completing a final design. This means that quantitative research is utilized at the very beginning or very end of a design cycle. However, to time your quantitative research well, you’ll need to evaluate your research goals and understand the benefits that running quantitative user research will have on your designs.

Here’s a brief overview of some benefits of quantitative research, some potential downsides, and the situations when you should use quantitative methods in your UX research.

Benefits of quantitative research

• Easier to avoid human-bias as it’s difficult to lead participants to certain outcomes in a structured and highly controlled testing environment
• Allows you to assign numbers to the usability of your product, which may be more convincing to some investors and stakeholders
• Results in data that is easily presented in the form of graphs, charts, etc.
• Helps you understand if changes in your designs create different (statistically significant) outcomes
• Warrants less direct contact with users and easy to conduct remotely

Potential downsides to quantitative UX research

• Can only give you an idea of what is happening, but doesn’t answer the question of why certain trends or patterns are present
• Doesn’t result in anecdotal data or direct quotes from users, which can also be impactful with some investors and stakeholders
• In order to obtain any sort of statistical significance, you need to have a lot of respondents/participants (a large sample size), which may be difficult to organize
• Can be costly due to the need for a larger sample size
• Lets you know if a redesign is necessary but doesn’t clue you in on how the product  should be redesigned
• When comparing your product to its competitors
• To determine if a redesign is necessary or worth doing
• When you need to analyze and compare different designs and whether the changes observed are statistically significant
• If you need to evaluate company goals, key performance indicators, or when justifying support for and investment in your UX design team to upper management

3. Quantitative UX research methods

There are many types of tests and research methods that can provide meaningful quantitative data when analyzing your product. Here, we discuss a few of the most common ones: Analytics, heatmaps, funnel analysis, cohort analysis, and A/B testing.

Analytics, and Google Analytics in particular, is one of the most valuable sources of quantitative user data. Through metrics like bounce rates, page views, conversion rates, and click-throughs, analytics helps give you a clear cut idea of the usability of a site and what users are doing when they interact with it. It can quickly give you numerical data that will suggest what parts of a site need work or if a complete redesign is warranted.

Mouse heatmaps

Similar to analytics, mouse heatmaps paint a pretty vivid picture (literally) of what is happening when a user interacts with a site. Mouse heatmaps help you visualize a user’s mouse movement and records when they hover, scroll, click, or pause when moving through a site. With radar-like color coding, mouse heatmaps show where your users’ attention is drawn and what areas can be leveraged for higher conversion rates.

Funnel analysis

Funnel analysis is a method that helps you visualize the steps needed for your users to complete a task and analyze how successful they are at doing so at each step. The map typically takes on the shape of a funnel as you assess what percentage of users are making it all the way to the final step of the task. A funnel analysis helps you visualize where most users are dropping out of the journey and what steps in the funnel need attention in order to maximize conversion rates.

Cohort analysis

Utilizing a cohort analysis helps you look at user engagement over time. The activity of your older users is often masked by the high rates of new users. So instead of lumping all your users into one category, a cohort analysis sorts them into related groups so you can accurately assess if engagement is improving over time or if it just appears that way due to growth. It will also show you where your users are dropping out and what areas need work in order to improve user retention.

A/B Testing

A/B testing allows designers to compare two or more versions of a design on users to see which one is more effective. It’s best that the designs differ by only one or two key features so that you can accurately assess if different outcomes of the test are actually due to differences in specific features. While you can obtain some qualitative data from in-person A/B testing (ie. quotes, facial expressions), A/B testing gives you a percentage of how many users prefer each design, giving you a distinct idea of which version is more effective.

4. Utilizing mixed methods in UX research

Quantitative user research can offer invaluable data when analyzing the usability of a product. However, when used on its own, it’s not enough to portray a complete picture of how successful a product is at fulfilling the user’s needs. This is where mixed methods research comes in.

Mixed methods research simply refers to using both quantitative and qualitative user research to investigate the efficiency of a product. 

As we’ve already said, quantitative data gives you objective, numerical data that answers all your “what, how many, and how much” questions. Qualitative data, on the other hand, provides crucial user feedback and subjective data to answer why certain trends are occurring, and how you might address any problems or pain points.

When used as a pair, quantitative and qualitative data give you a more thorough and detailed view of how users are reacting to a product, what areas have flaws or frictions, and how they might be remedied.

5. Key takeaways

Quantitative data is a crucial part of UX research that gives designers minimally-biased and objective numerical or statistical data about the efficiency of their products. Through various testing methods, UX researchers and designers employ quantitative user research to evaluate the usability of a product or determine if a redesign is necessary. However, quantitative UX research is best used alongside its qualitative UX research counterpart. When used in conjunction, designers can easily identify trends in user behavior, understand why they might be happening, and work towards resolving them.

To learn more about UX research, check out these articles:

• How to conduct UX research like a pro
• Qualitative vs. quantitative UX research—what’s the difference? 
• How to conduct inclusive user research
• 5 Mistakes to avoid in your UX research portfolio

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What is UX Research: The Ultimate Guide for UX Researchers

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Quantitative vs. qualitative UX research: An overview of UX research methods

UX research is a multi-dimensional process that includes different user research methods and techniques. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the quantitative and qualitative research methods and explain why the best solution uses a mix of both methods.

What are quantitative UX research methods?

Quantitative research is used to collect and analyze numerical data, identify patterns, make predictions, and generalize findings about a target audience or topic. The data is collected indirectly, either through a UX research tool that automatically records it, such as Google Analytics or Maze, or manually by measuring and analyzing UX metrics.

Qualitative UX research made easy

Explore the powers of both quantitative and qualitative research to discover new insights and test final solutions.

Here are some of the most popular quantitative research methods you can use to collect valuable quantitative data:

• Quantitative usability testing collects usability metrics like time on task, error rate, or success rate. You can use this information to keep an eye on your product's UX and make sure it improves over time.
• Web analytics (or app analytics) provides insights into what people actually do in your product. Analytics data can help you monitor your product's performance and identify problems.
• Card sorting is used to discover how people understand and categorize information. Analyzing the percentage of participants who grouped cards in a similar way can help you determine which categories would be understandable to most users.
• Surveys are a great way to gather information about your users' attitudes and behaviors. You can get qualitative data through open-ended feedback or quantitative data by tapping into a larger volume of responses.

Importance of quantitative research methods

Quantitative data provides a foundation for benchmarking and ROI calculations and can help you decide the best performing version of a design or product.

Quantitative UX researchers collect information by measuring actions, thoughts, or attitudes in different ways, such as conducting voluntary surveys and online polls or analyzing log data.

Duyen Mary Nguyen , Quantitative UX Researcher

Quantitative data aims to answer research questions such as ‘what,’ ‘where,’ or ‘when.’ For example, when collecting usability metrics such as task success rates, time on task, completion rates, clicks, conversion rates, and heatmaps, you can measure how well a design performs and spot issues on a page or in the user flow.

One of the advantages of quantitative research is the ability to run studies with large sample sizes and collect statistically relevant data. As opposed to qualitative feedback, which is interpretable by the researcher and subjective, quantitative research is more objective and representative of a broader audience.

I choose quantitative methods if I need to prioritize one solution over the possible alternatives or to validate an idea, wireframe, prototype or even MVP.

Yuliya Martinavichene , User Experience Researcher at Zinio

What are qualitative UX research methods?

Qualitative user research includes research methods like user interviews and field studies and helps you collect qualitative data through the direct observation and study of participants. Qualitative data yields an understanding of the motivations, thoughts, and attitudes of people. This type of research is key to uncovering the ‘why’ behind actions and develop a deep understanding of a topic or problem.

Yuliya Martinavichene , User Experience Researcher at Zinio, highlights: “Since researchers are curious folks, we prefer not only to observe what people are doing by looking at analytics but also to understand the “why” behind the user behavior.”

She compares the process of running a qualitative study to casting a wide lens to identify user behavioral patterns:

Qualitative research methods come into play when you need to discover, understand and empathize with users, and are not conducted only in the exploratory research phase, but iteratively, throughout the whole development process.

There are different qualitative research methods you can employ for your studies, such as user interviews, diary studies , focus groups, card sorting , usability testing , and more. We explore the most common UX research methods in the next chapter.

Choosing the right user research techniques depends on the project and your research goals. Yuliya explains:

In real-life, there is no “Oscar-winning” scenario and the best answer for the eternal question “What user experience research method should you use? is simply an unsatisfactory “It depends!” Different research pain points call for specific methods and approaches.

Yuliya collects qualitative feedback through different methods depending on the goals of the projects. For example, she might conduct walk-throughs with users and asks them to show her around the software she is researching to understand how they currently use the product. Or she may ask research participants to perform everyday tasks to observe their behavior in real-time, such as logging in or out of the platform.

To gather more qualitative insights, Yuliya also checks social media mentions, analyzes blog posts, and reads app store reviews to collect information about the experience users have with the product.

Qualitative research gives you rich insights about the people, product, and the problem you’re researching, and helps you inform decision-making throughout the design and product development process.

Quantitative vs. qualitative research methods

The key differences between quantitative and qualitative research are in the data they deal with and the questions they answer–where quantitative research focuses on numbers and statistics to answer ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’, qualitative research broadly looks to words and meaning for the ‘why’.

Both methods have their merits, and likewise their drawbacks. As we go on to explore, for the most robust and meaningful research, it’s best to use a combination of quantitative and qualitative, but in certain situations, such as challenges due to time or resource constraints, you may decide to use one or the other.

Quantitative research:

• Answers the questions ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’
• Provides a foundation for benchmarking and ROI calculations
• Allows for large sample sizes
• Analyzes numerical data, identifies patterns, makes predictions
• Collected indirectly through UX research tools or metrics

Qualitative research:

• Answers the question ‘why’
• Provides rich insights about the people, the product and the problem
• Allows tight focus on small sample sizes
• Develops a deep understanding of the topic or problem
• Collected through direct observation or study

Balancing qualitative and quantitative UX research

Employ qualitative research to explore ideas and discover new insights, and then tap into quantitative research methods to test a hypothesis or final solution.

While qualitative and quantitative research yields different data types, they are both essential for conducting effective research and getting actionable insights. Not one method can give you a complete picture, so using both in combination is often the best way to ensure you’re making the right product decisions that fit with your business goals.

Qualitative and quantitative research reinforce each other and help to triangulate the research results. You can be surer of the validity of your findings if both qualitative and quantitative approaches produce convergent results.

Usually, the best solution is built using a combination of insight sources. For example, you can kick-off the discovery phase of a project with qualitative research, and run user interviews to understand people’s needs, preferences, and opinions.

After this initial batch of research studies, the product and design team can start building an incipient solution, usually in the form of a low-fidelity prototype or mockups. The initial solution is then tested through interviews and surveys, and the feedback gathered can help you iterate on the solution until final.

Sometimes you want to start with a round of qualitative methods such as interviews, fly-on-the-wall observations, and diary studies to explore the field and follow up with a quantitative study on a larger sample to generalize the results.

Lastly, when you’ve arrived at a final product, doing user testing quantitatively will help you ensure your solution is easy to use, usable, and intuitive for the end-users—and there are no significant issues with the design before going into the development phase. This mix and match of methods is the best way to research and test during the entire design process until arriving at a solution.

Very often, the solution is built on mixed methods–less quantitative versus qualitative–and more somewhere in-between the two.

In the next chapter, we will dive deeper into common types of research you can use such as tree testing, card sorting, and usability studies, and help you choose the right one for you.

Frequently asked questions

What is quantitative UX research?

Quantitative research is a research methodology used to collect and analyze numerical data, identify patterns, make predictions, and generalize findings about a target audience.

What is qualitative UX research?

Qualitative UX research is a research methodology used to answer questions and understand the motivations, thoughts, and attitudes of a target audience.

What are examples of quantitative research methods?

Quantitative user research methods include usability testing, web analytics (or app analytics), card sorting, and surveys.

What are examples of qualitative research methods?

Qualitative user research methods include user interviews, diary studies, focus groups, card sorting, and usability testing.

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Quantitavive UX Research vs. Qualitative — a Comprehensive Guide (2023)

In the ever-evolving realm of user experience (UX) design, research acts as the compass that guides designers towards creating delightful and intuitive digital experiences.

As UX designers, we understand the vital role research plays in uncovering user insights, informing design decisions, and ultimately delivering exceptional products. However, within the expansive field of UX research, two dominant methodologies reign supreme: qualitative and quantitative research.

Qualitative and quantitative approaches each offer distinct lenses through which we can view user behavior, preferences, and needs. Yet, the question often arises: which research methodology should UX designers embrace to extract meaningful insights and optimize their design process?

In this article, we embark on a journey to demystify the complexities of qualitative and quantitative UX research specifically tailored to the discerning minds of UX designers.

What Is Quantitative UX Research

Quantitative UX research is a systematic approach to gathering and analyzing numerical data to gain insights into user behavior and preferences. It involves collecting data on a large scale, often through surveys, experiments, and analytics, with the goal of obtaining statistically significant results.

In quantitative UX research, designers use metrics, measurements, and statistical analysis to quantify user behaviors, attitudes, and opinions. The focus is on generating objective and measurable data that can be analyzed to identify patterns, trends, and correlations.

This data-driven approach provides designers with quantitative evidence to support decision-making throughout the design process.

Quantitative research in UX provides designers with valuable insights into user behavior at scale, helping them make data-informed decisions, identify usability issues, validate design hypotheses, and track the impact of design changes over time.

It complements qualitative research by providing a broader understanding of user preferences and behaviors, allowing designers to make informed decisions based on statistically significant data. Let’s review the various quantitative ux research methods.

Quantitative UX Research Methods

There are several quantitative UX research methods that designers can employ to gather data and insights. Here are some commonly used quantitative methods in the field of UX:

• Surveys: Surveys are one of the several quantitative research methods. It involves collecting data from a large number of participants using structured questionnaires. They can be administered online or in person and are useful for gathering information on user preferences, satisfaction, demographics, and more.
• A/B Testing: A/B testing -one of the most common quantitative user research methods- compares two or more variations of a design element or feature to determine which performs better based on predefined metrics. It allows designers to test hypotheses, evaluate design choices, and optimize user experiences.
• Analytics and User Tracking: Utilizing web analytics tools or tracking software, designers can gather quantitative data on user behavior within a digital product. Metrics such as click-through rates, page views, time spent on pages, or conversion rates provide insights into user engagement and interactions.
• Behavioral Analysis: Behavioral analysis involves studying large-scale user behavior data to identify patterns and trends. This can include analyzing user flows, funnels, drop-off points, or frequency of interactions to gain insights into user journeys and optimize the user experience.
• Task Performance Metrics: Task performance metrics measure specific aspects of user performance, such as task completion time, error rates, or efficiency. These metrics provide quantitative data on the usability and effectiveness of a design and can help identify areas for improvement.
• Eye Tracking: Eye tracking technology is used to measure and analyze where users look on a screen or interface. It provides quantitative data on visual attention, gaze patterns, and heat maps, which can inform design decisions related to visual hierarchy, information placement, and visual cues.
• Clickstream Analysis: Clickstream analysis involves analyzing the sequence of user actions and interactions within a digital product. It helps identify navigation patterns, user flows, and areas of interest or concern.
• Quantitative Interviews: In quantitative interviews, researchers use a structured interview format to ask predefined questions to participants. The responses are quantified and analyzed for statistical trends and patterns.

These are just a few examples of quantitative UX research methods. Each method has its strengths and limitations, and the choice of methods depends on the research objectives, the target audience, and the available resources.

Often, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the user experience.

Expert Considerations to Effectively Do Quantitative UX Research

Quantitative UX reasearch and successfuly interpreting quantitative metrics requires certain aspects that every UX researcher must keep in mind.

1. Plan for high-quality and relevant quantitative UX data

Proper interpretation of quantitative UX metrics starts before gathering any data. There are overarching questions that practitioners need to ask to keep on track and make sound interpretations. 

Some questions to consider are: What are the goals and objectives of the quantitative research you are gathering? What research questions are attempting to be answered with quantitative UX metrics? What methods will be used to interpret data? Who are the stakeholders who will use the data? 

Investing the time to define and answer these questions allow UX researchers to focus on highly relevant metrics to goals and objectives. 

2. Focus on UX-related metrics and not business metrics

There can be an overwhelming amount of metrics for business analytics. So the first step is to narrow it down so that time isn’t wasted focusing on irrelevant data to UX. 

Pro tips: understand UX Metrics versus KPIs. 

UX Metrics are quantitative data used to measure, compare, and track users’ experience interacting with a digital product over time. These are associated with user behaviors and attitudes. KPIs (key performance indicators) are quantitative data used to measure, compare, and track the overall goals. These goals typically are tied to revenue, growth, retention, and user counts. 

It is essential to focus on UX data that aligns with your goals and objectives for research.

3. Have a streamlined data wrangling process in place

A critical part of the quantitative data interpretative process is ensuring data is reliable before analyzing and leveraging it for insights. At this junction is where data wrangling (the process of discovering, structuring, cleaning, enriching, validating, and publishing the data) comes in. This process can be very lengthy and time-consuming. 

Data professionals spend as much as 80% of their time preparing data for analysi s. UX professionals cannot afford this much of their time to be sucked up in cleaning and organizing data. But suppose your research operations have streamlined processes for how to wrangle data. In that case, this saves a lot of time and removes the risk of gleaning insights and making interpretations from incomplete, unreliable, or inconsistent data.

4. Use storytelling to communicate findings

Data visualization is an art. And explaining data visuals is a craft. Not many can do these two things well. This is why storytelling is such a powerful skill. Graphs and charts are great, but if a researcher cannot tell a story to explain the data, the findings have minimal impact on business decisions. Additionally, people, including business leaders, are moved by stories.

It is essential to know how to choose the right data visualization type. Generally, there are four goals for data visualization types: 1. showing relationships, 2. showing distribution, 3. showing the composition, or 4. making comparisons. 

Asking the following questions will help you define the best visualization type for the right audience: 

• What is the story you want to tell?
• Who is the audience you want to tell the story to?
• Do we want to analyze trends?
• Do we want to demonstrate composition?
• Do we want to compare two or more sets of values?
• Do we want to show changes over time?
• How will we show UX Metrics?

Once these questions are answered, it becomes easier to decide if a pie chart, a line chart, a spider chart, a bar chart, or a scatter plot is the best visualization type to tell the user experience story.

5. Synthesize your insights and draw valuable conclusions

Now comes the moment where the synthesis of quantitative UX metrics data serves as a change agent for the user experience. Extract facts from the data. Remain objective by being aware of the pitfalls previously discussed. And make interpretations of the data. The goal is to generate valuable recommendations. 

Good recommendations are:

• Constructive. They offer a solution rather than focusing on the problem revealed by the data.
• Specific. They identify wherein the user experience recommendations are most applicable.
• Actionable. Suggestions should be active. Use language that is active rather than passive to inspire change. 
• Concise. Plenty of recommendations can be generated from any given set of UX data, but not all of them will significantly impact the user experience. Prioritize the most important ones. 
• Measurable. Good recommendations can be measured so that there can be evidence a change has occurred and an impact has been made.
• Balanced. Identify both the strengths and weaknesses.

What is Qualitative UX Research

Qualitative UX research is an investigative approach that focuses on gathering rich, descriptive insights and understanding the subjective experiences, attitudes, and motivations of users.

Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research aims to uncover the “why” behind user behavior rather than focusing solely on numerical data.

Qualitative UX research methods involve observing and engaging with users in a more open-ended and exploratory manner, allowing for in-depth exploration of user perspectives.

This type of research provides designers with a deep understanding of user needs, pain points, and aspirations, which can inform design decisions and drive empathy-driven solutions.

Qualitative research allows designers to gain a deeper understanding of user needs, motivations, and emotions. It helps uncover nuances, user pain points, and opportunities for improvement that quantitative data alone may not reveal.

By leveraging qualitative insights, designers can generate empathy, enhance user engagement, and create user-centered experiences that address real user challenges.

It’s worth noting that qualitative and quantitative research are often used together in a complementary manner, with qualitative research providing a foundation for hypothesis generation and quantitative research validating and measuring the impact of design decisions.

Qualitative research methods in UX

Qualitative research methods focus on gathering rich, in-depth insights into user experiences, attitudes, and motivations.

These qualitative user research methods allow designers to understand the “why” behind user behavior and provide valuable context for design decisions. Here are some commonly used qualitative research methods in UX:

• User Interviews: These qualitative methods require one-on-one or group interviews with participants to gather detailed information about their experiences, behaviors, needs, and goals. These interviews can be structured or semi-structured, allowing for open-ended discussions.
• Contextual Inquiry: Observe users in their natural environment while they engage with a product or service. This method provides insights into how users interact with a design in real-life situations, uncovers pain points, and identifies opportunities for improvement.
• Diary Studies: Ask participants to keep a diary or journal to record their experiences, thoughts, and behaviors over a specific period. Diary studies provide longitudinal insights into users’ lives, allowing designers to understand their daily routines, challenges, and emotional responses.
• Usability Testing with Think Aloud: A solid approach is to observe users as they perform tasks while verbalizing their thoughts and impressions. This method provides real-time insights into users’ decision-making processes, frustrations, and successes during the interaction with a design.
• Focus Groups: Facilitate group discussions with participants to explore shared experiences, opinions, and perceptions. Focus groups encourage participants to build upon each other’s ideas, generate insights, and identify common themes or patterns.
• Card Sorting: Engage users in organizing and categorizing information by asking them to sort and group items into meaningful categories. This method helps designers understand users’ mental models and how they perceive and organize information.
• Cognitive Walkthroughs: Walk through a design or prototype with participants while they share their thoughts and decision-making process. Cognitive walkthroughs help identify potential usability issues and gaps in user understanding.
• Ethnographic Research: Conduct in-depth, immersive studies in users’ natural environments over an extended period. Ethnographic research allows designers to deeply understand users’ cultural context, behaviors, and needs.
• Emotional Mapping: Use techniques such as user diaries, interviews, or visual exercises to explore users’ emotional responses and associations with a product or service. Emotional mapping helps designers create emotionally resonant experiences.
• Prototype Testing and Iteration: One of the several qualitative methods is tp share low-fidelity or high-fidelity prototypes with users and gather their feedback through observations, interviews, or usability testing. Prototyping allows designers to validate ideas, refine designs, and iterate based on user insights.

These qualitative research methods provide rich data and insights that go beyond numbers and metrics, helping designers gain a deep understanding of users’ experiences, perceptions, and needs. Combining different methods can offer a comprehensive view of user perspectives and inform user-centered design decisions.

When conducting quantitative UX research, there are several expert considerations to keep in mind to ensure the effectiveness of your study. Here are some key considerations.

1. Clearly define research objectives

Begin by defining clear and specific research objectives. Clearly articulate what you aim to achieve through your quantitative research and what specific questions you want to answer. This will guide your study design and data analysis.

2. Use validated measurement instruments

When selecting or creating measurement instruments such as surveys or questionnaires, use established and validated tools whenever possible. Validated instruments have been rigorously tested for reliability and validity, ensuring the accuracy and consistency of the data collected.

3. Pay attention to sampling and avoid bias in data collection

Ensure that your sample is representative of your target population or user group. Consider factors such as demographics, user characteristics, or usage patterns when selecting participants. A well-designed sampling strategy is crucial for the generalizability and validity of your findings.

Also, take steps to minimize bias in data collection. Provide clear instructions to participants, use neutral language, and avoid leading questions that may influence their responses. Additionally, consider factors such as the order of questions or the presentation of stimuli to mitigate potential biases.

4. Collect sufficient data

Ensure that your sample size is adequate to achieve statistical significance. Power analysis can help determine the appropriate sample size based on the effect size you expect to detect, the desired level of confidence, and statistical power.

5. Use appropriate statistical analysis and consider mixed methods

Choose appropriate statistical methods to analyze your quantitative data. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics (e.g., t-tests, ANOVA, regression), and correlation analysis are common techniques used in quantitative UX research. Consult with a statistician if needed to ensure the accuracy and validity of your analysis.

Also, consider combining quantitative data with qualitative insights to gain a more comprehensive understanding. Integrating qualitative data can provide valuable context and shed light on the “why” behind quantitative findings, enriching the interpretation of your results.

6. Interpret results within context and communicate findings effectively

Interpret your quantitative findings in the context of your research objectives, user behavior, and broader UX considerations. Avoid drawing overly simplistic or misleading conclusions and consider alternative explanations or factors that may influence the results.

Also, present your quantitative findings in a clear and concise manner, using visualizations and data summaries that are easily understandable to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Clearly communicate limitations and uncertainties associated with the research findings.

7. Iterate and refine

Remember that quantitative UX research is an iterative process. Continuously refine your research methods based on feedback, learnings, and new insights gained. Use findings to inform design iterations and further research efforts.

For UX practitioners, the volume of quantitative data available in today’s digital world is vast. And correctly interpreting quantitative UX metrics can be a daunting task. While it’s worth investing in highly technical skills, often, it’s more about processes that enable sound interpretations of UX metrics. The key is to remain objective, focus on relevant data, have simplified procedures for data cleaning and analysis, tell a good story with said data, and draw valuable conclusions to improve the user experience. Interpreting quantitative UX metrics is more about the process than sophistication in statistical knowledge (some tools take care of this). The goal is to have simplified, focused, and repeatable processes.

Interested in UX Testing?

Data visualizations, about the author: huyen hoang.

Huyen Hoang is a User Experience Researcher at Codelitt . Codelitt helps companies create better product experiences for their users by designing and building people-driven solutions with the speed, technology, and innovation of a startup.

About the Author: Collaborations

As collaborators, they contribute thoughtful and inspiring content that covers various aspects of the UX space, including emerging trends, best practices, and practical tips. Their articles are designed to help readers stay up-to-date with the latest developments in UX, as well as improve their own skills and knowledge in the field.

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World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience

Quantitative research: study guide.

August 29, 2021 2021-08-29

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The following tables contain links to some of our articles and videos related to quantitative user research. Within each section, the resources are in recommended reading order. 

Quantitative vs. Qualitative UX Research

In UX, we often use qualitative research to gather insights or observations about users. This type of research is useful for discovering problems and determining design solutions. (We also have a study guide for  qualitative usability testing .) 

With  quantitative research , our focus is different. We collect UX metrics — numerical representations of different aspects of the experience. Quantitative research is great for determining the scale or priority of design problems, benchmarking the experience, or comparing different design alternatives in an experimental way.

4-minute video:   Quantitative vs. Qualitative UX Research

In This Article:

Ux benchmarking and return on investment (roi), quantitative usability testing, analytics and a/b testing, card sorting and tree testing, analyzing quantitative data, visualizing and presenting quantitative data.

UX benchmarking  refers to evaluating a product or service’s user experience by using metrics to gauge its relative performance against a meaningful standard. Teams use benchmarking to track improvements to the user experience over time or to compare  against competitors. 

Benchmarking metrics are often also used to the calculate  return on investment (ROI)  of UX work; this type of calculation helps UX professionals prove their value and argue for more resources.

For more in-depth help, check out our report and full-day course. (Unlike the articles and videos in this study guide, these resources are not free.)

Report:  UX Metrics and ROI

Full-day course:  Measuring UX and ROI

In  quantitative usability testing,  researchers collect metrics (like time on task, success rates, and satisfaction scores) while participants perform tasks. This version of usability testing requires more participants and a more rigorous study structure than qualitative usability testing.

Analytics  data describe what people do with your live product — where they go, what they click on, what features they use, where they come from, and on which pages they decide to leave the site or app. This information can support a wide variety of UX activities —  it can help you monitor the performance of various content, UIs, or features in your product and identify what doesn’t work.

While you can use analytics metrics to monitor your product’s, you can also create experiments that detect how different UI designs affect those metrics — either through  A/B testing  or  multivariate testing .

Full-day course:  Analytics and User Experience

Quantitative  surveys  involve asking a large number of users to answer a standardized set of questions. These surveys often involve selecting a response on a rating scales and are used to quantify users’ perceptions. 

Card sorting and tree testing are both useful methods for assessing and improving your product’s information architecture.

In a  card-sorting  study, participants are given content items (sometimes written on index cards) and asked to group and label those items in a way that makes sense to them. This test can either be conducted in person, using physical cards, or remotely using a card-sorting platform. Card sorting can have qualitative and quantitative components.

In a  tree test , participants complete tasks using only the category structure of your site. It’s essentially a way to evaluate your information architecture by isolating it away from all other aspects of your UI.

Full-day course:  Information Architecture

To draw conclusion and interpret quantitative data, you’ll need to understand some statistics and study-design concepts. The following resources will introduce you to those concepts.

These resources won’t give you step-by-step instructions for calculating things like confidence intervals or statistical significance — these are too complex to be covered in a short article. If you want to learn those analysis procedures, please see our full-day course below.

Full day course:  How to Interpret UX Numbers

Related Courses

Measuring ux and roi.

Use metrics from quantitative research to demonstrate value

How to Interpret UX Numbers: Statistics for UX

When research data should be trusted; what statistics to use when

ResearchOps: Scaling User Research

Orchestrate and optimize research to amplify its impact

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• Research Methods Research Methods
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Product Instrumentation: 3 Benefits

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Between-Subject vs. Within-Subject Study Design in User Research

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Between-Subjects vs. Within-Subjects Study Design

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Collecting Metrics During Qualitative Studies

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Should You Run a Survey?

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Data Is More than Numbers: Why Qualitative Data Isn’t Just Opinions

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Quantitative UX Research in Practice

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Quantitative User-Research Methodologies: An Overview

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The Complete Guide to UX Research Methods

UX research provides invaluable insight into product users and what they need and value. Not only will research reduce the risk of a miscalculated guess, it will uncover new opportunities for innovation.

By Miklos Philips

Miklos is a UX designer, product design strategist, author, and speaker with more than 18 years of experience in the design field.

PREVIOUSLY AT

“Empathy is at the heart of design. Without the understanding of what others see, feel, and experience, design is a pointless task.” —Tim Brown, CEO of the innovation and design firm IDEO

User experience (UX) design is the process of designing products that are useful, easy to use, and a pleasure to engage. It’s about enhancing the entire experience people have while interacting with a product and making sure they find value, satisfaction, and delight. If a mountain peak represents that goal, employing various types of UX research is the path UX designers use to get to the top of the mountain.

User experience research is one of the most misunderstood yet critical steps in UX design. Sometimes treated as an afterthought or an unaffordable luxury, UX research, and user testing should inform every design decision.

Every product, service, or user interface designers create in the safety and comfort of their workplaces has to survive and prosper in the real world. Countless people will engage our creations in an unpredictable environment over which designers have no control. UX research is the key to grounding ideas in reality and improving the odds of success, but research can be a scary word. It may sound like money we don’t have, time we can’t spare, and expertise we have to seek.

In order to do UX research effectively—to get a clear picture of what users think and why they do what they do—e.g., to “walk a mile in the user’s shoes” as a favorite UX maxim goes, it is essential that user experience designers and product teams conduct user research often and regularly. Contingent upon time, resources, and budget, the deeper they can dive the better.

What Is UX Research?

There is a long, comprehensive list of UX design research methods employed by user researchers , but at its center is the user and how they think and behave —their needs and motivations. Typically, UX research does this through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies.

There are two main types of user research: quantitative (statistics: can be calculated and computed; focuses on numbers and mathematical calculations) and qualitative (insights: concerned with descriptions, which can be observed but cannot be computed).

Quantitative research is primarily exploratory research and is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics. Some common data collection methods include various forms of surveys – online surveys , paper surveys , mobile surveys and kiosk surveys , longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations.

This user research method may also include analytics, such as Google Analytics .

Google Analytics is part of a suite of interconnected tools that help interpret data on your site’s visitors including Data Studio , a powerful data-visualization tool, and Google Optimize, for running and analyzing dynamic A/B testing.

Quantitative data from analytics platforms should ideally be balanced with qualitative insights gathered from other UX testing methods , such as focus groups or usability testing. The analytical data will show patterns that may be useful for deciding what assumptions to test further.

Qualitative user research is a direct assessment of behavior based on observation. It’s about understanding people’s beliefs and practices on their terms. It can involve several different methods including contextual observation, ethnographic studies, interviews, field studies, and moderated usability tests.

Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group feels that in the case of UX research, it is better to emphasize insights (qualitative research) and that although quant has some advantages, qualitative research breaks down complicated information so it’s easy to understand, and overall delivers better results more cost effectively—in other words, it is much cheaper to find and fix problems during the design phase before you start to build. Often the most important information is not quantifiable, and he goes on to suggest that “quantitative studies are often too narrow to be useful and are sometimes directly misleading.”

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. William Bruce Cameron

Design research is not typical of traditional science with ethnography being its closest equivalent—effective usability is contextual and depends on a broad understanding of human behavior if it is going to work.

Nevertheless, the types of user research you can or should perform will depend on the type of site, system or app you are developing, your timeline, and your environment.

Top UX Research Methods and When to Use Them

Here are some examples of the types of user research performed at each phase of a project.

Card Sorting : Allows users to group and sort a site’s information into a logical structure that will typically drive navigation and the site’s information architecture. This helps ensure that the site structure matches the way users think.

Contextual Interviews : Enables the observation of users in their natural environment, giving you a better understanding of the way users work.

First Click Testing : A testing method focused on navigation, which can be performed on a functioning website, a prototype, or a wireframe.

Focus Groups : Moderated discussion with a group of users, allowing insight into user attitudes, ideas, and desires.

Heuristic Evaluation/Expert Review : A group of usability experts evaluating a website against a list of established guidelines .

Interviews : One-on-one discussions with users show how a particular user works. They enable you to get detailed information about a user’s attitudes, desires, and experiences.

Parallel Design : A design methodology that involves several designers pursuing the same effort simultaneously but independently, with the intention to combine the best aspects of each for the ultimate solution.

Personas : The creation of a representative user based on available data and user interviews. Though the personal details of the persona may be fictional, the information used to create the user type is not.

Prototyping : Allows the design team to explore ideas before implementing them by creating a mock-up of the site. A prototype can range from a paper mock-up to interactive HTML pages.

Surveys : A series of questions asked to multiple users of your website that help you learn about the people who visit your site.

System Usability Scale (SUS) : SUS is a technology-independent ten-item scale for subjective evaluation of the usability.

Task Analysis : Involves learning about user goals, including what users want to do on your website, and helps you understand the tasks that users will perform on your site.

Usability Testing : Identifies user frustrations and problems with a site through one-on-one sessions where a “real-life” user performs tasks on the site being studied.

Use Cases : Provide a description of how users use a particular feature of your website. They provide a detailed look at how users interact with the site, including the steps users take to accomplish each task.

You can do user research at all stages or whatever stage you are in currently. However, the Nielsen Norman Group advises that most of it be done during the earlier phases when it will have the biggest impact. They also suggest it’s a good idea to save some of your budget for additional research that may become necessary (or helpful) later in the project.

Here is a diagram listing recommended options that can be done as a project moves through the design stages. The process will vary, and may only include a few things on the list during each phase. The most frequently used methods are shown in bold.

Reasons for Doing UX Research

Here are three great reasons for doing user research :

To create a product that is truly relevant to users

• If you don’t have a clear understanding of your users and their mental models, you have no way of knowing whether your design will be relevant. A design that is not relevant to its target audience will never be a success.

To create a product that is easy and pleasurable to use

• A favorite quote from Steve Jobs: “ If the user is having a problem, it’s our problem .” If your user experience is not optimal, chances are that people will move on to another product.

To have the return on investment (ROI) of user experience design validated and be able to show:

• An improvement in performance and credibility
• Increased exposure and sales—growth in customer base
• A reduced burden on resources—more efficient work processes

Aside from the reasons mentioned above, doing user research gives insight into which features to prioritize, and in general, helps develop clarity around a project.

What Results Can I Expect from UX Research?

In the words of Mike Kuniaysky, user research is “ the process of understanding the impact of design on an audience. ”

User research has been essential to the success of behemoths like USAA and Amazon ; Joe Gebbia, CEO of Airbnb is an enthusiastic proponent, testifying that its implementation helped turn things around for the company when it was floundering as an early startup.

Some of the results generated through UX research confirm that improving the usability of a site or app will:

• Increase conversion rates
• Increase sign-ups
• Increase NPS (net promoter score)
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Increase purchase rates
• Boost loyalty to the brand
• Reduce customer service calls

Additionally, and aside from benefiting the overall user experience, the integration of UX research into the development process can:

• Minimize development time
• Reduce production costs
• Uncover valuable insights about your audience
• Give an in-depth view into users’ mental models, pain points, and goals

User research is at the core of every exceptional user experience. As the name suggests, UX is subjective—the experience that a person goes through while using a product. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the needs and goals of potential users, the context, and their tasks which are unique for each product. By selecting appropriate UX research methods and applying them rigorously, designers can shape a product’s design and can come up with products that serve both customers and businesses more effectively.

Further Reading on the Toptal Blog:

• How to Conduct Effective UX Research: A Guide
• The Value of User Research
• UX Research Methods and the Path to User Empathy
• Design Talks: Research in Action with UX Researcher Caitria O'Neill
• Swipe Right: 3 Ways to Boost Safety in Dating App Design
• How to Avoid 5 Types of Cognitive Bias in User Research

Understanding the basics

How do you do user research in ux.

UX research includes two main types: quantitative (statistical data) and qualitative (insights that can be observed but not computed), done through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies. The UX research methods used depend on the type of site, system, or app being developed.

What are UX methods?

There is a long list of methods employed by user research, but at its center is the user and how they think, behave—their needs and motivations. Typically, UX research does this through observation techniques, task analysis, and other UX methodologies.

What is the best research methodology for user experience design?

The type of UX methodology depends on the type of site, system or app being developed, its timeline, and environment. There are 2 main types: quantitative (statistics) and qualitative (insights).

What does a UX researcher do?

A user researcher removes the need for false assumptions and guesswork by using observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies to understand a user’s motivation, behavior, and needs.

Why is UX research important?

UX research will help create a product that is relevant to users and is easy and pleasurable to use while boosting a product’s ROI. Aside from these reasons, user research gives insight into which features to prioritize, and in general, helps develop clarity around a project.

• UserResearch

Miklos Philips

London, United Kingdom

Member since May 20, 2016

About the author

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Using Quantitative and Qualitative Research in UX Design

UX designers often get stuck focusing on the wrong things.

They focus on details like the latest Figma techniques without understanding the bigger picture.

This poses a challenge to businesses and stakeholders. Because at the end of the day, they have targets to achieve.

They need team members (designers included) who know this and deliver output to make this happen.

And that starts with a UX research strategy.

An important step is uncovering the insights from two types of research: quantitative (which tells us "what" people do) and qualitative (which explains "why" they do it).

This guide will explain each kind of research and how they are used in UX research.

On its own, however, it won't get anywhere. Its value lies in knowing how to apply it in the real world.

In our UX research course , learn the exact processes and tactics that Michael Wong (Mizko) used to help build a UX agency that generated over $6 million in revenue.

What is quantitative research in UX design

Quantitative research focuses on gathering and evaluating numerical data. The goal is to identify trends, calculate averages, or find connections between data points.

For example, Google Analytics uses quantitative research to monitor the total number of site visits, inquiry counts, and bounce rates. With this data, you get insights into how users behave on your site and how it's performing.

Quantitative research in UX: Knowing when and why use it

Quantitative research can be super helpful at different stages, mainly because it gives you solid numbers to work with.

Here's why it's important in your UX research:

1. You'll spot trends or patterns

Before diving into the nitty-gritty details of your design, you might want to get a general sense of user behavior or preferences.

Example: For example, you could use surveys to determine what features users want the most or analyze website traffic to see where users spend their time. ‍

2. Test your concepts and assumptions

Once you have some design ideas or changes in mind, quantitative research can test if those ideas resonate with a wider audience.

Example:  This is where A/B testing comes in handy. You might create two versions of a page and see which one performs better in terms of clicks, engagement, or conversions. ‍

3. Validate or refine your designs

After implementing your designs, you’ll want to know if they match your desired results. It also helps pinpoint usability issues.

Example: Use Google Analytics or other analytics tools to track conversions and engagements to assess if your product meets your objectives.

Types of quantitative research methods in UX design

Let's explore the common quantitative research methods in UX:

1. Usability testing (Benchmarking)

• What is it: This method measures the usability of a product by quantifying user performance on specific tasks. Sample metrics include task success rate, time to complete a task, and error rate.
• Best used for: A starting point for usability and tracking progress over time. It's useful for objectively evaluating how design changes affect usability.
• Tools: Zoom, Maze.co , and Optimal Workshop. ‍

2. Web or app analytics

• What is it: Software that tracks and analyzes how users interact with a website or app. You can see what features people use the most, where they spend their time, and where they drop off.
• Best used for: Understanding user behavior on a large scale. It's great for spotting trends and patterns in how users navigate and interact with your product.
• Tools: Google Analytics, PostHog, MixPanel, Amplitude, FullStory, and HotJar. ‍

3. Visual heatmaps

• What is it: Mouse heatmaps show where users click, move their mouse, or scroll on a page. Radar-like color coding is used to indicate areas of high and low activity.
• Best used for: Visualizing user engagement and interest on specific webpage or app screen sections. It helps identify which areas attract the most attention and which are ignored.
• Tools: FullStory and Hotjar. ‍

4. Funnel analysis

• What is it: This method tracks users' steps towards a specific goal within your app or website. This includes making a purchase or signing up. It shows where users drop off in the process.
• Best used for: Identifying stages in the user journey where people are leaving or getting stuck. This is crucial for optimizing conversion rates.
• Tools: Google Analysis, Mixpanel, and Amplitude. ‍

5. Cohort analysis

• What is it: Cohort analysis involves grouping users based on shared characteristics or behaviors, such as sign-up date and tracking their actions over time.
• Best used for: Understanding how different groups of users engage with your product over their lifecycle. It's useful for spotting long-term trends and the impact of changes or features.
• When to use: Measuring user retention, engagement, and the effectiveness of updates or new features.
• Considerations: You'll need to decide how to segment your users into cohorts and what metrics to track for each group.
• Tools: Google Analytics. ‍

4. A/B testing

• What is it: A type of testing that shows two variants of a web page, app screen, or feature to different segments of users. This is done to determine which one performs better against a predefined goal.
• Best used for: Making data-driven decisions on design changes, new features, or content strategies. It helps determine what works best for your users.
• Tools: Mixpanel and Amplitude. ‍

5. Fixed-question surveys or questionnaires

• What is it: Research methods that collect feedback directly from users through answers to specific questions.
• Best used for: Gathering data that can be analyzed statistically for patterns or trends.  For instance, respondents may be asked to rate satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 5 or gather demographic details to see broader trends.
• Tools: Typeform and Google Forms.

Challenges of quantitative research in UX design

Here are the problems UX designers might face:

• Doesn't dig deep into complicated ideas: Quantitative research may not fully capture feelings and opinions. Numerical data alone can't express these complexities in detail.
• Overlooks the "why": It might overlook important reasons behind what users want and how they decide because it only looks at what they do, not why they do it.
• Limits on what people can say: Quantitative research has predetermined answer choices, so it might not capture every user's viewpoint. This can lead to participants choosing options that don't fully represent their thoughts.

What is qualitative research in UX design

Qualitative research gathers non-numerical data to understand concepts, thoughts, or experiences. It provides depth and context to user behaviors, motivations, and emotions.

Qualitative research in UX: When and why to use it

Qualitative UX research is all about understanding the stories, feelings, and thoughts behind user actions. You talk to users, watch how they interact with your design, or see their reactions to understand their experiences.

Here are the reasons why qualitative research is important in UX design:

1. To get inspired

Before you even start designing, talking to potential users can give you inspiration for what to build by understanding what they need or what problems they have. This can spark ideas for what to build.

Example: Before starting a new app for home gardeners, you talk to potential users and discover common pain points. They struggle with remembering watering schedules and managing pests organically. This feedback inspires the idea of an app that sends watering reminders and offers natural pest control tips. ‍

2. ​It gets to the heart of the problems

Hearing directly from users and understanding their experiences makes creating solutions that appeal to them easier. This includes understanding user needs, behaviors, and the context of their problems.

Example: Imagine you're developing a new fitness app. At this stage, you might interview users to understand their fitness routines, exercise motivations, and frustrations with current fitness apps. This can help you identify features your app should have, like personalized workout plans or motivation tracking. ‍

3. Improve something specific

Even after your design is out in the world, you’ll want to keep improving it. Talking to users can help you understand what’s working, what’s not, and why. It also builds industry insights and bridges knowledge gaps.

Example: When redesigning a public transportation app, holding focus groups could reveal that users want real-time updates about delays. ‍

Types of qualitative research methods in UX

1. user interviews.

• What is it: One-on-one conversations with users to explore their experiences, needs, and challenges. Unlike structured surveys, these interviews allow for open-ended responses and follow-up questions.
• Best used for: Gaining deep insights into user behaviors, motivations, and attitudes. They can help you understand the nuances of user needs and the context of their interactions with a product.
• Tools: Calendly, Zoom, Google Sheets, and ScreenApp. ‍

2. User observations

• What is it: This method involves watching users interact with a product in their natural environment to see how they use it without interference.
• Best used for: Identifying usability issues and understanding user behavior in a real-world context. Observations can reveal how intuitive a product is and how users navigate it.
• Tools: FigJam and Miro. ‍

3. Usability testing

• What is it: A method where users are asked to complete tasks using the product while observers or UX resarchers note where they encounter problems or confusion.
• Best used for: Directly assessing the functionality and user-friendliness of a product. It helps pinpoint specific areas where users struggle, informing targeted improvements.

4. Open-ended surveys

• What is it: Unlike fixed-choice surveys, these surveys primarily use open-ended questions to allow respondents to express their thoughts and feelings in detail.
• Best used for: Gathering qualitative data on user opinions, experiences, and suggestions. They offer rich, narrative data that can uncover new insights or deepen understanding of known issues.
• Tools: Typeform and Google Docs. ‍

5. Focus groups

• What is it: A moderated discussion with users about their experiences, perceptions, and opinions regarding a product or service.
• Best used for: Exploring diverse viewpoints on a topic, generating new ideas, and understanding user attitudes.
• Tools: Calendly, Zoom, and FigJam. ‍

6. Diary studies

• What is it: A research method where users record their experiences, thoughts, and frustrations while using a product.
• Best used for: Understanding long-term user behavior, experiences, and patterns that emerge over time. Diary studies capture how feelings and usage may change in different contexts.
• Tools: Journey, Daylio, and Google Sheets. ‍

7. Card sorting

• What is it: An interactive method where users organize topics into categories that make sense to them.
• Best used for: Structuring or reorganizing content on a website or app. It reveals how users conceptualize different information groups.
• Tools: Dovetail and OptimalSort. ‍

Challenges of qualitative research in UX design

While qualitative research in UX design offers deep insights, it comes with its own set of challenges:

• Limited scope of participants : While qualitative research goes deep, it does so with fewer participants. This means you hear from a relatively small group while you get detailed insights from each person. This limits how much you can extrapolate findings to represent a larger population.
• Requires a lot of time, effort, and resources to analyze: Breaking qualitative data into actionable insights can take much time and effort. Unlike quantitative data, it's not as straightforward to visualize through charts or graphs. This makes it harder to grasp or present findings quickly.
• Risk of bias from researchers : The subjective nature of qualitative research means it's more open to bias from the researcher or participants. Reproducing the exact results can be tricky since every interview or focus group may unfold differently.
• Generalization issues : Because qualitative studies typically include small group participants, applying the findings to larger trends or behaviors among users is hard.
• Privacy concerns: People might not always feel comfortable sharing their thoughts in settings where their identity is known, especially on sensitive topics. This might make people hold back or change their answers, making the data less genuine and helpful.

How quantitative and qualitative research work together in UX

Doing both qualitative and quantitative research methods in UX design is like having the best of both worlds.

Qualitative research digs into the "why" behind user actions, while quantitative research offers solid stats to back up your findings and spot trends.

Pairing these two methods gives you a full view of what's happening and why. Start with qualitative methods, like interviews, to get raw, in-depth feedback.

Next, conduct surveys or similar quantitative techniques to determine if those feelings or issues are common among your users.

Both research methods can sometimes uncover deeper insights that using one method alone might miss.

Let's take a look at a real-life case study from Spotify.

Case study: How Spotify used the mixed-method approach

Problem: Qualitative data revealed a discrepancy compared to the quantitative numbers from an A/B test on using a new feature that lets you skip ads.

They noticed users were engaging with the feature in different ways. However, when they talked to users directly, they realized there was confusion about how it worked, which the numbers alone didn't explain.

What Spotify did: Spotify's Product Insights team, which consisted of a mix of User Researchers and Data Scientists, adopted a mixed-methods research strategy known as " simultaneous triangulation ."

This approach involved:

• Clearly defining the research questions to focus the study effectively.
• Combining qualitative methods (user interviews and diary studies) with quantitative methods (A/B tests and data tracking) to gather insights.
• Using these methods together on the same group of users helps get a complete picture of how users behave and what they think.

How it helped: This integrated approach allowed Spotify to understand why there was a difference between user feedback and the data.

For example, they found that users they thought were "power skippers" were just confused about the rules for skipping ads. Only talking to users could reveal this, showing a full view of how people interacted with the feature.

Outcome: Using both user feedback and data, Spotify could fix misunderstandings.

They sent messages to users confused about whether there was a limit to skipping ads. They explained clearly that they could skip as many ads as they wanted. This clear communication messaging greatly improved how well the feature worked and doubled its feature success metrics.

By combining both research methods, Spotify solved the puzzle of mismatched insights and made better decisions for their product.

Boost your skills in 10+ hours and impress your stakeholders

To gain the confidence and trust of stakeholders, designers often focus on making their designs look prettier and on-trend.

That's the old way of thinking. Companies nowadays seek designers who go beyond that and bring more results.

And it starts with understanding their users.

To truly meet their needs and solve their problems, you need to dive deep into their world.

Understanding how your work fits the larger business objectives is crucial to stand out.

Learn how to master UX research in just 10+ hours with Mizko's Practical UX Research & Strategy Course .

This course is your bridge to knowing your users and truly understanding them. By the end of the course, you'll be able to know what type of research methods to use in your projects to uncover crucial insights.

Here’s what makes it stand out:

• Hands-on learning: Apply what you learn through real-world challenges. Knowing UX research is one thing, knowing how to apply it.
• Efficiency: Forget about sifting through countless pages or websites. Get straight to the heart of effective UX research methods.
• Expert guidance: Learn from Mizko, an experienced designer who successfully transitioned to an agency owner and startup advisor. Get exclusive access using the resources and templates that helped him succeed.
• Flexible learning: Study at your own pace without the stress of a fixed schedule.

You’ll also learn how to:

• Draw valuable insights to inform your designs.
• Choose the right participants for meaningful feedback.
• Visualize research findings for easy understanding.
• Prioritize insights into actionable design tasks.
• Clearly communicate your findings and recommendations to stakeholders.

This course has already helped over 6,800 designers from top tech companies like Google, Meta, and Squarespace to integrate UX research into their daily work.

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"I'm 100% more confident when talking to stakeholders about User Research & Strategy and the importance of why it needs to be included in the process. I also have gained such a beautiful new understanding of my users that greatly influences my designs. " - UX/UI Designer Alyssa Durante

"The process in this course connects the dots and its easy to lead the clients through this process... + I can adapt the process based on the resources and the needs of the client. Life is now way easier to be honest because I have clear path to show to the clients even before we start the project because I can build expectations from the start." - UX/UI Designer Milosh Jakjimovski

"As I was struggling to find a high-level research framework for my day-to-day design work, I was able to fill many of the knowledge gaps because I took this course. It provides a well-structured research process that cuts out the "guesswork" that I'm adopting in my projects. Mizko covers his reasoning for every decision he took from start to end. Real-life examples and practical solutions throughout the course were incredibly helpful. Right now, I'm more confident than ever with my design decisions, presenting meaningful briefs to stakeholders, and so on." -  UX Designer Al Razi Siam

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A complete guide to qualitative vs quantitative ux research methods.

How can we build this product?

What can we do to improve this product?

Why are the conversion rates so low?

These are some of the burning questions that every organization faces. In today’s competitive world, understanding consumer behaviour is the quintessential ingredient for the recipe of success.

After all, users are at the heart of any experience of a product, and up to 90% of users are reported to leave using an application due to bad performance. Billions of dollars can be lost when businesses do not prioritize UX Research and turn to the guesswork game.

What is UX Research?

Also known as user experience research, it involves the study of user needs and preferences. While developing any product, platform, or service, it is imperative to understand the user's behaviour. With the help of UX Research, businesses can understand the different aspects of product development and customize it in a way that aligns with the user's needs. This process also helps in improving the product.

With the growing complexities of consumer demand and the rising need for customized products, understanding these changing trends is the need of the hour. One of the ways is to research and analyse consumer behaviour that can help in boosting experience, thus driving conversion.

Studies have proved that a good user experience can be rewarding to companies . Hence, companies are now actively investing in harnessing the power of UX Research. Moreover, with this surge of new technologies like ML and AI, it has become easier to understand the nuances of consumer preferences, thus ensuring better products and services.

  UX research has two subsets:

• Qualitative Research
• Quantitative Research

Qualitative and quantitative research methods are both crucial in understanding user experience (UX) that translates into informed design decisions. Each method offers unique insights and benefits, and often, they are used together to provide a comprehensive understanding of user needs and behaviours. 

This blog takes you through both these concepts and will unfold its key features and applications.

What is Quantitative Research in UX?

‍ Source: Image of Quantitative Research in UX

As the name highlights, this method of UX research focuses on tangible parameters to understand human behavior and assess the usability of a product. The focus of quantitative research in UX is to collect quantifiable data from a large sample and use it to analyze the trends in the market.

To measure user behaviour, preferences, choices, and experiences by analyzing numerical data.

It gives answers to questions such as "what" and "how much." For example:

What percentage of users were able to complete the task in under 2 minutes?

How many errors did the users face while completing this task?

Key Features of Quantitative Research in UX

Data collection.

Collecting data is a critical aspect of quantitative research. Hence, the researchers deploy different methods like surveys, A/B testing, and others to collect the data. This data is usually in the form of clicks or time spent on a webpage or product or satisfaction rates.

Focus on Measurable Data

The focus of this method is on collecting quantifiable data from a large set, such that this information can be analyzed and help in deriving accurate results.

Since quantitative research depends on measurable data, the results are more authentic and give substantial support for a change or improvement.

Large sample sizes

The method focuses on a larger sample size, which ensures that the results are statistically significant. Hence, we can generalize the results to the whole population.

‍Limitations of Quantitative Research in UX

Although quantitative research in UX can help in giving measurable outcomes, it cannot provide support for why the consumer is behaving in a particular way. To get a more sustainable proof, it is important to follow a combined strategy of using qualitative research methods.

It lacks the depth and context that the insights generated from the qualitative UX research bring to the table.Overall, quantitative research is a powerful tool for UX professionals.

By using data to measure user behaviour, you can create products that are not only useful but also enjoyable to use.

Some of the Common Quantitative UX Research Methods

Here's a breakdown of some popular quantitative UX research methods, including their descriptions, features, and examples:

This helps in gathering feedback through structured questions to quantify the preferences, opinions, or experiences of users with a product. However, it is important to mention that this method can also be used in qualitative testing based on the kind of questions it asks. For example, close-ended questions can be a part of the quantitative research method. Conversely, open-ended surveys allow users to provide detailed, narrative responses to gather their feedback and understand their sentiments, thus falling in the category of qualitative research.

• It focuses on a large audience
• The data points are measurable and hence is easy to analyze
• It helps in measuring user satisfaction with a new product, service, or website design
• Understand the interests of the consumer
• Tracking the consumer behaviour pertaining to a particular design

2. A/B testing

This compares two or more design variations to determine which performs better (leading to higher user engagement or conversion rates).

• It highlights the impact of specific design changes.
• Optimize user experience based on real user behaviour.
• Quantify the improvement in conversion rates or other metrics.
• Test two different headlines on a landing page to see which one drives more clicks.
• Compare two checkout form designs to see which one reduces cart abandonment rates.
• Experiment with different button colours to see which one gets more users to sign up.

3. Website Analytics

Understanding website analytics can unfold several patterns, like user behaviour on the website, engagement rate, clicks, and conversion rates. All these insights can help highlight trends and patterns.

• Get a detailed insight into the website traffic.
• Identify user engagement
• Highlights the popular trend on the website
• Assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
• Find out the bounce rate of different web pages
• Highlight the popular content amongst the user

These are some of the common quantitative research methods. Using them, the researcher can gain valuable insights into consumer behavior that can help in improving the overall experience.‍

What is Qualitative Research in UX?

Source: Image of Qualitative Research in UX

Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research in UX design focuses on understanding the reason behind the consumer's behaviour or preference.

It focuses on collecting descriptive and non-numerical data points such as the motivation behind the purchase decision, the need, and the thought process of the consumers. Analogous to quantitative research, the qualitative methods force the subjective experience of the user.

To find out the underlying motivations, emotions, and perceptions of users.

It gives answers to questions such as "why" and "how." For example:

What challenges did the user face while signing up?

(This answers the question: Why the user took a longer time to sign up/ couldn't sign up)

What improvements could improve your experience of the app?

(This answers the question: How can we improve the user experience of the app)

Key Features of Qualitative Research in UX:

Focus on the "why".

As mentioned above, quantitative research deals with numbers, but qualitative research focuses on addressing the why behind the behavior of consumers. It helps the researcher understand the thought processes and emotions that drive the decisions of the consumers.

Uncover User Needs and Experiences

The qualitative research method helps to understand the needs of the consumers. It also sheds light on the challenges and overall experience of the consumers, which eventually helps build a product or service that is in coherence with the demands of the consumers. It relies on various methods like usability testing and interviews to gather this information.

In-depth Exploration

Understanding the nuances of consumer behavior is the foundation of qualitative research in UX. Focusing on smaller and more targeted users helps the researcher unfold the depth of a specific topic and gain detailed insight.

Flexibility

While using the qualitative research methods in UX, the researchers have flexibility in their approach.

Sample Size

The sample size is much smaller, typically till the saturation point, where the responses from the participants get repetitive. According to the NN Group, the recommended sample size so far has been between 5 to 50. The relatively smaller sample size allows for an in-depth exploration of user experiences.

Data Analysis

Thematic analysis, content analysis, or qualitative coding are used to identify the patterns, themes, and insights from the data collected.

Some of the Common Qualitative UX Research Method

Qualitative UX research methods help you understand the "why" behind user behavior. Here's a breakdown of some popular methods, including their descriptions, features, and examples:

1. User Interviews

This involves one-on-one conversations with users to understand their preferences, motivations, and experiences.

• Get in-depth insight into the user needs
• Highlight the reason behind user behavior
• Gain rich, detailed insights into user needs and motivations.
• Uncover unspoken thoughts and feelings that might not appear in surveys.
• Tailor questions to specific user segments.
• Interviewing e-commerce shoppers to understand their purchase decision process.
• Talking to new mobile app users to identify onboarding pain points.
• Discussing users' mental models for a complex software program.

2. Usability Testing

This involves observing the users as they interact with the product to find usability issues and gather feedback.

• Get first-hand information on how the user interacts with the designs
• Find out if the user is facing any confusion while using the website
• Testing the checkout flow of potential customers
• Watch how the user is completing a particular task within the app

3. Focus Group

This brings together a small group of participants to discuss their attitudes and perceptions regarding a product.

• Gain insights from group dynamics and user interactions.
• Identify common themes and concerns among a specific user segment.
• Spark new ideas and areas for exploration based on user feedback.
• Conducting a focus group with new parents to understand their needs for a baby monitoring app.
• Gathering feedback from experienced gamers on a new game concept.
• Discussing user expectations and pain points related to a new financial service platform.

By using these qualitative methods, UX researchers can build a comprehensive understanding of user needs, motivations, and behaviors.

Limitation of Qualitative UX Research Method

Such insights cannot be statistically validated and generalized to the larger population.

Summary of Qualitative Research vs Quantitative Research Methods

Qualitative UX Research

Quantitative UX Research

Type of Data

Focuses on non-numerical data.

Measurable and tangible data.

In-depth understanding

More generalized approach

Method of Data Collection

Interview, Focus Group, Usability Testing.

Surveys, A/B Testing, Website Analytics

Gives the reason behind the consumer behaviour and also highlights the user perception and motivation behind the decision.

Gives statistical validity and tangible reasons to support the decision and highlights the trend and patterns.

Limitations

It gives a more subjective outcome, and the process is time-consuming.

This method lacks depth and is not able to highlight the nuances of consumer behaviour. Also, there is a possibility of data biases.

Final Verdict: Qualitative vs Quantitative Research, Which is Better?

Both quantitative and qualitative research in UX have their pros and cons, offering the researcher different options. The right approach would be following mixed-methods research.

It is necessary for companies to recognize which methodology will be the most beneficial to their product success by asking the right questions. When successful UX research is conducted, it can lead to products and experiences that resonate with the diverse needs and stories of your users and user journey.

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Our approach of blending together innovativeness, creatively, and technical excellence provides outstanding results every time.  Connect with our UX experts today!

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What is the goal of quantitative research in UX?

The goal of quantitative research in UX is to measure user behavior, preferences, choices, and experiences by analyzing numerical data.

What types of questions does quantitative research answer?

Quantitative research provides answers to questions such as "what" and "how much." For example, it can determine the percentage of users able to complete a task in under a certain time frame or the number of errors users face during a task.

What are some common methods used in quantitative UX research?

Common methods include surveys, A/B testing, and behavioral data analysis. Surveys gather feedback through structured questions, A/B testing compares design variations, and behavioral data analysis examines user actions within a digital product.

What is the goal of qualitative research in UX?

The goal of qualitative research in UX is to uncover the underlying motivations, emotions, and perceptions of users.

How does qualitative research differ from quantitative research in terms of sample size and data analysis?

Qualitative research typically involves a smaller sample size compared to quantitative research, allowing for in-depth exploration. Data analysis in qualitative research focuses on identifying patterns, themes, and insights through methods such as thematic analysis or content analysis.

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UX design research methods

Effective user experience design is intuitive, accessible, and engaging. But how do you design a delightful experience that meets your target audience’s needs? Conducting user experience research gives you a glimpse inside your users’ heads, so you can understand what they care about and the challenges they face.

In this article, Figma Designer Advocate Ana Boyer weighs in on:

• What user experience research is, and why your team needs it
• Different types of UX research that support product development
• UX design research methods made easier with Figma

What is user experience research?

User experience research helps design teams identify areas of opportunity to improve user interfaces and enhance the overall user experience. According to Ana, UX research can reveal insights about target users across all phases of product development—from strategy and planning to product launch and post-launch improvements. A robust UX research framework includes both quantitative and qualitative research.

Quantitative research

Using information gathered from larger sample sizes, quantitative research yields concrete numerical data that reveals what users are doing. Researchers run statistical analyses and review analytics to gain insights into user behavior. For example, Ana says, “you might try tracking the number of times users clicked a CTA button on a newly designed web page, compared to an old version."

Qualitative research

For qualitative research, researchers collect subjective and descriptive feedback directly from users, tapping into users’ personal feelings and experiences with a product or design.  "Qualitative research gives you a more thorough explanation of why someone is doing something in the context of a flow,” Ana says.

User-centered design research often covers two types of qualitative research: attitudinal and behavioral. Attitudinal research examines users’ self-reported beliefs and perceptions related to a user experience, while behavioral research focuses on observing first-hand what users do with a product.

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3 benefits of user experience research

According to Ana, with UX research you can:

• Validate your design. "You can learn whether or not your design is hitting project goals and your users are able to accomplish a task—for example, ordering an item from your platform.”
• Put your users front and center. UX research uncovers what users want and need, so you can deliver a product that delights customers.
• Save time and resources. Doing user research and testing early and often allows you to make smaller adjustments quickly and easily. That way, Ana says, “you can take a more iterative approach to design—without having to backtrack and redo your entire UX design.”

How to conduct  UX research

Most common UX research methodologies break down into these essential activities:

• Observe how users act and react . This not only includes clicks and scrolling onscreen, but also their body language and facial expressions. Careful observation helps you understand how users normally perform a task, what interactions users pick up easily or enjoy, where they get stuck in a flow, and more.
• Empathize with your users . To create a useful and usable product, you need to consider how users' context influences them as they interact with your design.
• Analyze information to surface common themes. “Tagging key user responses helps you pinpoint what needs the most work and refinement to improve the user experience," Ana advises

When to use key UX research methods—at a glance

Given all the UX research methods you can use for  product development, when is each most useful? Ana offers these pro tips.

• User personas help you understand your core users in the early stages of development. “If you don’t know who you’re building for, then the time you invest in building and creating something will be wasted,” Ana explains. FigJam’s user persona template will help you get the ball rolling.
• Interviews gather in-depth information directly from users to test your ideas, so you can lower the risk of building a product that misses the target. FigJam’s user interview template will help you lay the groundwork.
• Card sorting invites users to show you what they think is the most intuitive way to organize high-level information in your design. Try FigJam’s card-sorting tool to shape your product’s information architecture.
• Task analysis studies users as they use your site or app to complete tasks, or jobs to be done. Use it to validate your design, and ensure users can quickly and easily accomplish their goals. Get started with FigJam’s jobs to be done template .
• Eye tracking analyzes where users look, when, and how long as they interact with your product.
• Surveys indicate how useful and usable your design is. Surveys  can provide useful insights at any phase of product development, pinpointing where users are struggling with an interface, and revealing user sentiment about a product’s colors, fonts, and overall design.

Launch & post-launch

• A/B testing shows which version or iteration of a webpage, app screen, or CTA button performs better with your users.
• Analytics track KPIs like time spent on page, bounce rate, number of clicks on key CTAs, and more to see what’s working—and what isn’t. Analytics may also reveal useful insights about your users, including location, device usage, age, and gender.
• Usability bug testing identifies and helps fix usability issues that affect your product’s quality and ease of use. “Teams struggle to invest the time and process in doing this, but it can have a huge impact on quality,” Ana says.
• Diaries captured in writing or on video track users’ thoughts and impressions over a certain time period. This self-reporting approach reveals how a product fits into and enhances users’ daily lives.

Kick off user experience research with Figma

No matter where you are in the product development process, FigJam’s research plan template can help you define your research goals. Figma’s research and design templates help you conduct research with user interviews , user personas , card sorting , and Sprig study integration .

With the insights gained from your research, you're ready to design, develop, and prototype engaging user experiences. Use Figma’s UX design tool to:

• Give and receive instant feedback on designs or prototypes—and enjoy real-time collaboration with your team. Figma's Maze integration makes testing prototypes easy.
• Set up design libraries to quickly launch user research projects and improve UX design.
• Easily share assets between Figma and FigJam to help keep your projects moving forward.

To jumpstart your UX research, browse inspiring UX research resources shared by the Figma community .

Now you're ready to roll with UX research!

Go to next section

[1] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/

[2] https://www.uxbooth.com/articles/complete-beginners-guide-to-design-research/

Balancing qualitative and quantitative data in UX research: Our full guide

Last updated

21 August 2023

Reviewed by

Jean Kaluza

UX research helps designers deeply understand their customers, ensuring they’re front of mind at every step. It typically involves various research methods that collect two main types of data: Qualitative and quantitative. Both have advantages and shortcomings. 

So, which should you choose for your project? Which is the most reliable? And which will help you better understand your customers? 

This guide will explain the differences and help you make the most of both types of research to boost your findings and power better research. 

• What are qualitative and quantitative data?

Qualitative and quantitative data tell two different, complementary stories. 

Qualitative data is non-numerical, subjective information. This type of data comes directly from users, typically through research methods like focus groups , usability testing , and field studies . 

Rather than simple numbers, qualitative data provides a holistic view of the user’s experience, attitudes, and beliefs to give a contextual picture. Ultimately it helps teams discover the ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind user behavior. 

Some examples of qualitative data include: 

Collated notes from user interviews  

A focus group video recording

A collection of diary studies 

Observations recorded during usability testing 

User feedback and comments through various platforms  

Quantitative data is numerical values gained indirectly from users––things that involve what happened and when it happened. This data involves measurements such as ‘how many,’ ‘how often,’ and ‘how much.’ 

Researchers typically measure quantitative methods with mathematical analysis or data collection . Surveys , A/B testing, and analytics are research types that provide this type of data. 

Some examples of quantitative data include: 

The number of unique visitors a website receives in a day

NPS survey ratings

The length of time for users to complete an in-app task

Heatmap data from mouse-tracking tools

Shopping cart conversion rates 

• The benefits and limitations of qualitative and quantitative data in UX research

Qualitative and quantitative data are critical in UX research as both offer benefits and limitations. It’s not true that one is better, but one type may be better depending on the circumstances. 

The benefits of qualitative data

Context: Qualitative data provides the ‘why’ behind user behavior for more context and understanding. It can add color to quantitative data, giving an explanation and rationale. Qualitative data can uncover nuances in human behavior that would otherwise disappear in a series of numbers.

Deeper insights: Qualitative methods give more specific information about users’ motivations than quantitive types. They provide in-depth insights into users' experiences, emotions, and thinking. 

That’s because qualitative methods encourage users to explain their thoughts during research. This helps teams uncover new and interesting insights.

Iterations: As developers create products, qualitative data can drive improvements through customer feedback. Qualitative research can bring the customer in at early stages to assess likability, usability, and preferences. This prevents wasting time and money on an unwanted product. 

The limitations of qualitative data

Subject to bias: Because researchers collect qualitative data, they can unduly influence the interpretation or collection method. As findings aren’t usually figure-based, this limits objectivity and researchers’ neutrality. Ultimately, this limits the validity and reliability of the findings.

Attitudinal data : Qualitative data may more often provide attitudinal insights. Interestingly, though, while users may say they prefer something, their behavior may tell a different story. 

While gaining an insight into users’ attitudes is important, behavioral data is essential to validate any attitudinal insights, which often come from quantitative research .

Small samples : As qualitative data usually derives from research methods such as interviews, focus groups, diary studies, and usability testing, it’s usually limited to small sample sizes . 

These small sample sizes limit the reliability of the research as the findings may not be applicable to a wider audience.

Time-consuming : Qualitative research can be time-consuming to arrange and run. Finding participants, planning questions and tests, conducting the research, and analyzing the findings take significant resources to complete. This can heavily impact the overall project. 

The benefits of quantitative data

Measurable: As quantitative data deals with numbers, researchers can measure data in standardized ways. This means discovering trends and patterns is efficient. The analysis process isn’t just simpler to conduct; it’s more accurate too. 

Reliability : Data sets tend to be larger in quantitative methods like surveys and A/B testing, so insights are more applicable to the broader target audience. This makes quantitative data more reliable for decision-making.

Faster and simpler : Quantitative data may also be faster and simpler to conduct. Deploying a closed-question survey, conducting A/B testing, or analyzing website analytics can be relatively efficient and straightforward with advanced tools. This means companies can quickly act upon insights that benefit customers.

The limitations of quantitative data

Lack of context: Quantitive data doesn’t look into why people do things. For teams to understand behavior and gain more information, they usually need a qualitative method.

Simplification: Numerical values may not fully explain why users prefer one option or are dropping out at a certain point. 

Quantitative data may oversimplify complex questions and remove the nuance. This could ultimately be unusable for decision-making.

Overreliance on tools : While advanced tools play a critical role in data analysis, there may be an overreliance on tools to gain insights as they can be easy to use. This is particularly true if the team is unskilled in statistical analysis. 

Sometimes, data scientists are necessary for proper data rendering. If the research team makes mistakes, results could be incorrect, causing a ripple effect across the organization. 

• Choosing the right method for specific research questions

The research you choose can heavily impact the data you gather, the insights you uncover, and your decisions. Making the right research choices is critical. 

When deciding which research type to use, you need to consider many elements, including:

Goal-setting

Any research methods should relate to well-established project goals. Rather than setting broad goals that lack accuracy, ensure all goals are SMART: Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. 

Any goals should also align with the overall business strategy to ensure consistency across the organization. 

Project needs

Whether your team chooses qualitative or quantitative research depends on the specific project requirements. Qualitative forms will be most appropriate if your team needs to deeply understand the motivations and thinking behind certain behaviors. 

If you need to measure user preferences without explanation, quantitative types will be better. 

Time and budget

You need to consider project limitations. Tight timelines or budgets may rule out longer forms of research, like diary studies, or research that requires significant planning, such as focus groups. 

Fortunately, there are many ways to maximize research with limited budgets and timing. 

• Research method checklist

When choosing the right type of research, it can be helpful to consider this checklist as a guide: 

Have we considered the core gaps in our knowledge? 

What problem are we looking to solve?

What do we need to focus on and discover in this round of research?

Are we choosing research that will answer our overall questions and goals? 

Will the research method help us deeply understand our target market? 

Will the research allow us to gain diverse views? 

Have we considered accessibility data? 

Are we clear about time and budget limitations and how they restrict our choices?

What incentives might be most appealing to our target user?

Will the research give us a broad range of actionable information? 

Are we considering our end users at every stage? 

• Combining qualitative and quantitative data for richer insights

In most cases, you’ll need more than one type of research to deeply understand users and bake those insights into products. Typically, complementary methods will ensure you gain enough information to confidently use for reliable decision-making. 

Mixed-method approaches are popular as they combine qualitative research types with quantitative ones. Quantitative data can provide core facts and figures, but qualitative data can add color to those numbers, telling a complete story about your users. 

A mixed-method approach is considered the most powerful for many reasons. These include: 

Cross-validating data

Gaining data from different sources allows you to validate what you’ve already found. Data from multiple findings is much more reliable than data from a single source. 

Unexpected responses

Conducting different research types makes you more likely to gain unexpected or nuanced responses. This will give the data richness and may open the door to further investigations on topics the team didn’t previously consider. 

Holistic view

Combining qualitative and quantitative data will ensure research teams see the whole picture, not unreliable snapshots. 

• Best practices for data collection and analysis in each method

Several best practice steps are necessary for qualitative and quantitative methods. These practices ensure accurate, unbiased data collection, so you can rely upon it for projects. 

Once you’ve chosen the core methods, it’s helpful to consider the best ways to operate those research methods. 

Some best practice steps differ depending on the research type you’re conducting.

In qualitative research, some critical steps include: 

Clear research questions

All qualitative research methods should begin with clearly defined research questions. Starting with the right questions––which link to the overall project goals––will help researchers discover the necessary pieces of information about participants. 

Some examples of research questions could include:

What are the key pain points for our customers?

Does our solution solve the problems they’re experiencing? 

Where are our customers finding the most friction in our app?

Can our users complete tasks quickly? 

Identify participants

Recruiting participants can be one of the most challenging aspects of qualitative research. It’s essential to find participants who are relevant and willing to be a part of the research. 

Social media, email callouts, professional networks, and usability testing platforms can be useful in identifying the right participants. 

It’s also helpful to build a rapport with participants to create a safe environment for more relevant and honest responses. 

Open-ended questions

For nuanced, unrestrained answers, open-ended questions are helpful in qualitative methods. These reduce bias and promote spontaneous responses that may give new and helpful insights. It’s essential to avoid any leading questions that may invalidate the responses.

In quantitative research, some best practice steps include:

Standardized responses

Measurements are a core aspect of quantitative methods. It’s crucial to define the core variables and answers at the outset, such as: 

Calculating ratings out of 10

Multiple choice responses

‘Yes’ or ‘no’ responses

Number of clicks

Defined testing group

As with qualitative methods, you need to recruit the right participants. A test group may mean developing a sampling plan, like using a group of website or app users to analyze and discover trends and insights. 

Buying survey participants is sometimes an option to ensure statistical significance. 

Data quality

Before performing any analysis, exclude things like missing values, data that raises red flags, inconsistencies, or outliers. Cleaning the data set before starting will ensure research integrity and reliability for insights. 

Using advanced tools to collect and measure quantitative data can speed up the collection process. It can also reduce errors in manual methods and boost analysis accuracy and speed. The larger the dataset, the more important it is to use relevant tools. 

It’s also important to consider ethical issues for both qualitative and quantitative methods. 

This may include gaining informed consent from participants, minimizing any risk of physical or mental harm to participants, and protecting personal privacy throughout. 

• Tips for ensuring data quality and minimizing bias in each method

It’s impossible to gain accurate and reliable insights without accurate data. Skewed, biased, or incorrectly gathered data will lead to exaggerated or even false takeaways. This can negatively impact the entire project. 

Solving the wrong problem can also cause widespread issues. Your products may address challenges your customer doesn’t have if you don’t have the right insights. And while you’re busy fixing nonexistent problems, you’re not solving their actual issues.

Reliance on low-quality data can have long-term impacts on the entire organization.

To minimize bias and boost data quality , consider: 

Addressing missing data and outliers

If you have missing pieces or outliers in your data, consider the broader impact. Determine whether the missing aspects are integral to the project or impact the validity of the findings. If they are, it may mean re-performing the research; if not, those entries may be fixable.

Removing bias

Most of us hold well-established opinions about certain topics. For researchers, it’s essential to consider bias, regardless of their data collection method. 

Bias can occur at any project stage. Whether in the initial questions, collection process or during analysis, bias will lead to unreliable and unhelpful data. 

Having diversity

Diverse views ensure insights are reliable and applicable to a broader user base. Information from a narrow group will likely skew the data and not represent the market. 

Consider diversity from different geographical, educational, cultural, gender, and accessibility backgrounds. These views will help your team create usable products for a broader population.

• Presenting research findings in a clear and meaningful way

Once you’ve conducted the UX research and discovered valuable insights, it’s important to present those findings to the wider organization. 

It’s best to transcribe and organize the findings into a cohesive, readable, and actionable plan for all stakeholders. 

To present findings: 

Choose the right analysis technique

The best analysis technique aligns with your project and overall goals. It should also be relevant to your data. Techniques such as descriptive statistics, user journey mapping , and thematic analysis are just a few ways to organize the information.  

Lean into tools

Consider learning styles.

People consume and understand information differently. When presenting findings to stakeholders, consider different learning styles to ensure the key points come across quickly. 

Use color, highlight critical sections, clearly summarize the most important findings, and use graphs to further explain the data. This will help your team understand the insights and act on them accordingly. 

• The balanced approach for deeper insights 

UX research is critical to delight your customers and create truly user-centered products. 

While no research method is perfect, qualitative and quantitative data sourcing can help you understand your users and create better products. 

For the best results and research that delivers on the promise of UX, it’s helpful to take advantage of the benefits of both data types. 

Combining qualitative and quantitative data will ensure you understand the numbers, rationale, and context. It’s the best way to design products that truly solve problems and provide meaningful experiences.

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative data in UX research?

UX researchers use qualitative and quantitative research methods. 

Qualitative data is usually non-numerical. It looks at the user’s experience through behavior, thoughts, and attitudes toward things. Common qualitative methods include focus groups, open-question surveys, and user interviews.  

Quantitative data is usually numerical or measurable. It deals with things like ‘how many.’ ‘how much,’ and ‘how often.’ Standard quantitative testing methods include surveys, A/B testing, and performance metrics like clicks and completion rates. 

How do I decide which data type to use in my UX research?

The right type of data for your research depends on many factors. Consider: 

The project’s time and budget

The research questions you need to answer

The project stage

How you might gather more information using multiple methods

Typically, it’s most useful to use a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods to gather enough information about users. These will ensure you back up any numbers with rationale into the user’s thinking, preferences, and motivations.

What are the best practices for balancing qualitative and quantitative data in UX research?

When balancing research data, relying on a mixed methods approach is typically most helpful. This means integrating data from qualitative and quantitative sources to build a more accurate and relevant story. The multimethod approach is the most comprehensive and allows a team to lean into the strengths of both types.

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Quantitative vs. qualitative research

In this post, we’ll delve into the differences between quantitative vs. qualitative research and the benefits and drawbacks of using each one

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Learn how to start your UX career with hard facts and practical advice from those who have gone before you. In this report, we look at UX hiring trends in 2024 to help you break into the industry.

UX designers strive to create the most user-friendly products and services possible. But without speaking directly to users about what they want and need, UX designers can only guess what the best user experience will be. This is why UX research is such an essential part of the UX design process. 

UX research involves asking users to identify what problems a product or service can help them solve and provides insights into the best ways to do so. There are a wide variety of methods a UX researcher can use, but in general, each of these UX research methods will fall under the umbrella of either quantitative research or qualitative research. 

In this post, we’ll delve into the differences between quantitative vs. qualitative research and the benefits and drawbacks of using each one by discussing the following topics:

What is quantitative research?

What is qualitative research, examples of quantitative research, examples of qualitative research, which method should you choose, presenting quantitative versus qualitative research.

[GET CERTIFIED IN USER RESEARCH]

Quantitative research answers questions about quantity such as:

For example, you might want to conduct a quantitative study to find out how often people use a product, how much time they spend with the product, and how many features of the product they use. 

Quantitative methods involve collecting numerical data that can be analyzed using statistics. This means quantitative studies are often straightforward to implement and can be easily automated and conducted remotely, however they also require enough participants to ensure they yield statistically significant results.

• Studies are quick to implement and cost effective
• Analysis is fast
• Results are statistically significant and considered objective
• Numeric results are often easy to understand and use to improve a product’s UX

Disadvantages

• A large number of participants ( at least 20 ) are required to ensure statistical significance
• Someone of the team must have expertise in statistical analysis
• Results lack context, so they can reveal what people did but not their reasoning

Qualitative research answers questions about quality such as how users feel about an experience, why they like or dislike a feature, and why they make certain decisions when completing tasks. Ultimately the goal of qualitative research is to delve into users’ thinking to find out “why.”

Qualitative methods involve collecting data in the form of written or spoken words that are then analyzed for prominent themes and patterns. As a result, both the data collection and analysis of qualitative studies can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. On the other hand, only a few participants are required to arrive at valuable results that can provide nuanced insights into users’ thoughts and feelings about a product.

• Only a small number of participants (usually around 5) are required
• Provides detailed, first-hand insight into UX issues 
• Allows for flexibility during data collection
• Results in compelling stories that help stakeholders foster empathy for users 
• May identify unexpected information about the user’s experience with the product 
• Time consuming to plan, run, and analyze
• Tends to cost more than quantitative studies due to the time commitment required
• Analysis is subjective and therefore results may be influenced by researcher bias

[GET CERTIFIED IN UX]

Quantitative research includes any studies and tests that yield numerical data, such as: 

• First-click tests
• Surveys with yes/no and multiple choice questions

Many of these methods can be implemented remotely with a growing group of UX research tools . For example, first-click tests and surveys can be run through Optimal Workshop , Google Analytics can provide any required analytics data, and Hotjar can record user interactions with your product in order to generate heatmaps of how users navigate through it. You’ll also use software, such as SPSS (or plug formulas into a Google or Excel spreadsheet) to statistically analyse quantitative results.

Qualitative research is often carried out in person either in a lab where users come to participate in the study or in the field where researchers go to where users are. It can include the following methods:

• User interviews
• Focus groups
• Ethnographic studies
• Shadow sessions
• Surveys with open-ended questions

Qualitative studies usually require at least one researcher to be there to perform tasks such as asking users questions during user interviews or observing users during ethnographic studies. However, there are some tools that enable researchers to run qualitative studies remotely. For example, video research platform Lookback enables researchers to run either moderated or unmoderated remote interviews. 

Furthermore, while analysing qualitative data is a very hands-on process, researchers can use platforms like Rev to transcribe things like interview recordings and programs like Dedoose , NVivo , and Reframer to organize, synthesize, and analyze the large amount of text data qualitative studies inevitably yield.

Qualitative and quantitative research can be used at pretty much any point in the design process but each method is most useful at different times.

Quantitative research tends to be most valuable during the design phase of the UX process when it can quickly uncover if the UX solutions being designed are working the way the UX team intends. Quantitative studies are also helpful to validate the final design of a product before it goes live. At this point, quantitative research can confirm the design is ready to go to clients and stakeholders or point to the tweaks that need to be made to ensure the product is the best it can be.

Quantitative research, often with Google Analytics, is also utilized once a product goes live to evaluate the product’s ongoing usability, compare it to competitors, and track its return on investment. 

On the other hand, qualitative research is most valuable during the discovery phase of the UX process when it can provide extensive insight into users’ thoughts and feelings about the product the UX team is getting ready to design or redesign. Qualitative studies can also be valuable during the design phase when the UX team wants to understand how users feel about key user experience features, especially if they’re unique or unusual. Findings from such studies can help the UX team determine if it’s pursuing the best possible solutions.

Combining quantitative and qualitative research

While it can make sense to focus on either quantitative or qualitative research in some circumstances, more often than not, it can be incredibly valuable to combine them to conduct a mixed methods study. That’s because quantitative and qualitative methods are complementary approaches. For example, a survey can include a series of quantitative multiple choice questions that help point to how much users like a product’s different features, as well as several qualitative questions that enable participants to explain the reasons for their answers to the multiple choice questions. 

Mixed methods research is the best of both worlds, ensuring you can answer not only the questions of how much and how many but also why. This provides results that have both statistical weight and depth of insight, with the findings of each method strengthening the other. 

Some examples of mixed method research include:

• Card sorting where users explain their reasoning as they organize the cards
• Tree testing where users describe their decisions out loud
• Surveys that include multiple choice and open-ended questions

Whether you performed quantitative, qualitative, or mixed method research, each UX research report should follow the same basic outline: 

• An introduction
• Research goals
• Business value
• Methodology
• Key learnings
• Recommendations

Most of these sections involve explaining what you did and why you did it, but in the key learnings section, where you’ll present the findings from your research, the data and artefacts you present will depend on the research methods you used. 

For instance, if you performed a quantitative study, this is where you’ll present any relevant statistics you found, such as the percentage of participants who preferred one UX design solution over another. If you performed a qualitative study, there are more ways to present your findings and you’ll have to decide which ones best represent your results. Options can include sharing the main themes or patterns you found in the qualitative data, illustrative quotes from participants, or artefacts like personas, journey maps, affinity diagrams, or storyboards. 

To present the best key learnings section, it helps to combine qualitative and quantitative results whenever possible. This provides an opportunity for you to back up the statistical results uncovered by your quantitative research with quotes, personas, affinity maps, or other findings from your qualitative research. Not only does this create a convincing demonstration of the value of your research, it makes a stronger case for your findings and fosters greater empathy for your products’ users.

Both quantitative and qualitative UX research has strengths and weaknesses. As a result, UX researchers must think carefully about the goals of the research studies they’re conducting before deciding which method to utilize. No matter which one you choose, however, the results of UX research can make an invaluable contribution to the success of the user experience of any product. 

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Quantitative Research in UX

Quantitative Research answers the questions: how much, how many, and allows you to establish in a specific and measurable manner the size, extent, scope, frequency, and intensity of a given phenomenon.

Quantitative and Qualitative Research (e.g., focus groups, expert audits, and heuristic analysis) should be a permanent element of every digital product design.

The use of the potential of both types of research allows you to learn about the needs of end users (e.g., customers in an online store) in a more profound, multidimensional, and reliable way.

It allows you to create solutions that are adequate to the needs of end users.

It enables you to adjust the design of the website or mobile application to their specific and discovered, through research, preferences.

In practice, Quantitative and Qualitative Research should be treated as complementary and not opposing approaches.

What is the basic difference between Quantitative and Qualitative Research? How do these research methods differ?

Qualitative Research provides answers to the following questions: Why? In what way? When? Where?

In turn, Quantitative Research provides answers to How frequently? How much?

It may seem that for User Experience problems, Qualitative Research is more appropriate.

The quality of experiences and problems with usability refers to the impressions, opinions, emotions, attitudes, biases, and behavioral issues that are much more easily captured by this method.

So is Quantitative Research even useful regarding UX /UI design and offering a positive user experience?

What value can Quantitative Research bring to research, design, and optimization processes? How can you use Quantitative methods in UX?

Today we'll introduce you to the issue of Quantitative Research in UX. It's worth familiarizing yourself with it because it's an essential supplement to Qualitative Research.

It allows you to obtain a more complex, multidimensional, and complete picture of problems with usability. It gives you insight into the scope of these problems and their intensity.

As always, we cordially invite you to read the article!

Do you want to perform UX Research?

Quantitative Research — what is it?

Quantitative Research admittedly doesn't answer why a given phenomenon occurs, its causes, or what conditions it, but it shows for how many users a given problem is real.

Therefore it allows you to estimate the scale of the phenomenon.

What is Qualitative Research? For example, Qualitative Research can explain why a contact form achieves a low conversion rate.

The reason might be too many fields or incomprehensible labels.

In turn, Quantitative Research determines how many people consider the number of form fields as problematic.

It also enables you to identify the change that occurs during the optimization process when the number of fields is reduced.

By repeating Quantitative Research regarding this issue, you will discover if the number of users facing this problem increased or decreased.

Objective results will replace assumptions and unrealistic results.

Only the combined results of Qualitative and Quantitative Research (which, unfortunately, are not achievable in the short term) will enable you to make more rational and justified decisions regarding optimization.

The most important types of Quantitative Research in UX include the following:

• Benchmarking
• Web analytics
• A/B tests in UX
• Card sorting
• Eye-tracking.

Every UX research method is characterized by its own specificity in the following aspects:

• Scope of application
• Difficulty in acquiring data and recruiting respondents
• Problems involved in analytical and interpretative work
• Context and conditions in which the study is performed
• Research utility and ability to compile results with other methods, types of research
• Research goals
• Time required to perform the study
• Exploratory value.

For example, card sorting is a method that gives you insight into the mental models of the website's users.

In particular, it allows you to see how they categorize and name phenomena.

Card sorting allows you to learn the terminology used by users to describe and group phenomena and determine what a product is.

This method determines the most optimal wording and forms of labels and information and architecture structures used in digital products .

It is very affordable, and at the same time, the data collection is uncomplicated. Card sorting doesn't cause many problems regarding interpretation.

Currently, it's possible to conduct this type of research on users in stationary conditions and remotely through a dedicated tool.

Card Sorting is sometimes called an indirect method because it gives you both quantitative and qualitative results.

It allows you to learn the names, terminologies, and categories and will enable you to determine the frequency of their use.

It's extremely useful in designing information architecture and, above all, creating categories and names in menus that will better suit users' mental models.

Major advantages of Quantitative Research

Naturally, the advantages of Quantitative Research are much broader and diverse.

By performing Quantitative Research, you gain insight into a given phenomenon in the following ways:

• Objective, through tools and tasks that are standardized
• Possible to compare results over time
• Statistically relevant, hence the credibility of this research is high.

In UX Research, Quantitative Research usually means performing Quantitative Usability Tests. Quantitative Usability Testing involves performing tasks defined by researchers on a website.

Adopted by the researcher UX Metrics allow them to express the efficiency of task performance in numerical form. A metric or UX indicator can be time or amount.

Usually, respondents are asked to do various tasks on the website (e.g., to find a product card or use a contact form).

The UX metrics that allow you to indirectly evaluate usability most often include the following:

• Time of performing a task
• Number of completed tasks
• Number of made mistakes during a task
• Quantified user satisfaction ratings for websites or mobile apps .

Admittedly, metrics won't indicate the causes. Still, they help you check or confront usability with competitive solutions (or previous designs) and thus determine the increase or decrease of the attractiveness for users.

As we've already mentioned, a limitation of Quantitative Research is the inability to discover the causes of quantitative results.

The conclusion you will draw will only relate to the frequency of the behavior.

Quantitative Research results don't determine or define the problems users encounter. They don't suggest solutions.

This kind of insight and knowledge can be gained from Qualitative Research.

Furthermore, Quantitative Research requires more respondents, which of course, raises the cost, increases the time needed to perform it, and raises organizational issues.

It also poses challenges for UX researchers to statistically process and interpret the results.

Nevertheless, an advantage that can't be underestimated is the far greater objectivity of this kind of research.

The randomness and low credibility of results are reduced by well-proven techniques for performing research and a whole background of mathematical and statistical knowledge that helps guarantee the expected credibility.

It's also worth remembering remarks made by Kate Moran in the article " Quantitative User-Research Methodologies: An Overview ."

Researcher associated with Nielsen Norman Group observes, very aptly, that Quantitative Research should be an inseparable element of the corpus of tools of every UX researcher.

The justification of this belief, approach sounds very compelling.

According to Kate Moran, Quantitative Research enables you to:

• Obtain data that are significant in the decision-making process and make it possible to convince various stakeholders in a more concrete way
• Compare, estimate, evaluate, and rank
• Calculate and estimate the ROI level, which is especially important in optimization work.

Quantitative Research also measures the following:

• Effectiveness and efficiency of the digital product — most often, an indicator of high efficiency is the short time required to complete a task because time correlates with ease and intuitiveness of use.
• User satisfaction during the product use — it's measured just after performing a task, e.g., through a Subjective Mental Effort Questionnaire (SMEQ).
• Effectiveness (accuracy and completeness) — indicated by success rate and the number of mistakes made during a task.

Other differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research

In the most general sense, the main difference between Qualitative and Quantitative Research is its scope and depth.

Quantitative Research, compared to Qualitative Research, provides the following:

• Larger scope
• But lower depth.

Moreover, both types of research pose other challenges to researchers in terms of the following:

• Size of the sample
• Recruitment
• Organization or performance of research
• Research tools
• Methods of analyzing and interpreting
• Time required to conduct it
• Moment — the performance of Quantitative Research is recommended at later stages of the design process because, with their help, the performance of a website or mobile application is tested.

The reasoning behind doing Quantitative Research at later stages of the design is also its cost.

Usually, for performing Quantitative Research, you need at least several dozen respondents, while for conducting Qualitative Research, you only need a few (at least 5).

It's also worth remembering, as Raluca Budiu , the author associated with NN Group , states in the article " Quantitative vs. Qualitative Usability Testing ," that Qualitative Research results usually allow you to:

• Gain insight into the strong and weak sides of the design
• Prioritize problems.

And simultaneously, they:

• Depend on the knowledge, experience, and reliability of a researcher
• Are susceptible to the evaluation effect — various research will identify different sets (sometimes overlapping) of problems with usability.

Raluca Budiu also writes that both types of research must provide the following:

• External validity — respondents need to be a representative group, and the course of the research should be as close to the natural conditions in which the tasks are performed as possible.
• Internal validity — research should be conducted in precisely the same conditions, circumstances, and contexts to avoid the influence of unknown and uncontrollable variables.

How to conduct Quantitative Research on User Experience?

The choice of the research method is naturally crucial.

Nevertheless, if you want to find out how frequently a given problem occurs, you need to, above all, define what problem you have in mind.

Focusing the study on a specific research goal enables you to obtain much more reliable results.

When you know what you want to study, you can proceed to the next step, in which you have to match the adequate metrics to the research problem that will be able to capture the scale of the issue.

Standard indicators, such as the average time needed to finish a task or the number of mistakes, can be combined with more study-specific ones.

Determining indicators can be difficult, especially for researchers with little experience.

A tool, namely Google's framework — Heart — recommended in the article " Google's HEART Framework for Measuring UX " written by Interaction Design Foundation may prove helpful.

Quantitative Research, as well as Qualitative Research, can be performed stationary or remotely or be moderated or unmoderated.

The choice of a particular configuration depends on the following:

• Research problem — its complexity and difficulty
• Time scheduled for performing a task
• Experience and competencies of researchers
• Available research tools.

In the next step, it's necessary to create a research scenario, a detailed plan, in which you should define tasks, goals, tools, and contexts.

With a ready UX research scenario , you can proceed to the phase of recruiting respondents according to the adopted criteria.

In particular, you should take care of the representativeness of participants and the size of the sample — usually, it shouldn't be smaller than 30 respondents.

The last phases include: performing the research and preparing results in a statistical sense.

Remember that recruitment in Quantitative Research is one of the biggest challenges UX researchers face due to the sample size.

UX Research requires thorough preparation. The choice of the research method is the clue of the researcher's work, but the most challenging task is the selection of the sample. It's problematic regarding representativeness, gratification, and availability of respondents within the scheduled period.

In any research project, you should bet on optimal solutions and match the research method to the research problem, but you shouldn't exclude different methods if you have a limited budget and time.

It's also important to remember that while conducting Quantitative Research on UX, the most important, according to the article " Usability Testing ," factors that condition the size of the budget include the following:

• Size of the research team
• Number of respondents
• Number of days necessary to study all of the participants
• Costs of recruitment (e.g., costs of the specialized companies that recruit respondents according to imposed criteria)
• Remuneration for participants
• Costs of a laboratory and/or dedicated access to research platforms.

Quantitative Research in UX. Summary

• UX Research, Quantitative and Qualitative Research should be performed simultaneously during the design process or creating websites or mobile applications.
• UX Research (Qualitative and Quantitative methods) should be treated as complementary approaches.
• UX Research, especially Quantitative Research, allows you to determine the phenomenon's size, scope, frequency, and intensity.
• The combined results of Qualitative and Quantitative Research provide the most reliable, credible, and exhaustive approach to making rational design decisions.
• The essential types of Quantitative Research include: benchmarking, A/B tests, card sorting, surveys, and eye-tracking.
• Performing Quantitative Research gives you insight into a phenomenon in an objective, comparable, statistically relevant way.
• Quantitative Research most often involves conducting Quantitative Usability Tests in practice.
• User Experience Research, Quantitative Usability Tests consists of performing defined by researchers tasks on a website or in a mobile application.
• Quantitative Research results don't determine or define the problems users encounter.
• Using mathematical and statistical knowledge reduces randomness and low credibility of results.
• Quantitative methods allow you to compare, estimate, evaluate, rank, and calculate the level of ROI.
• Quantitative Research, compared to Qualitative Research, provides a larger scope but lower depth.

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Recording sessions in UX Research

• HEART Framework
• How to Use Google’s HEART Framework to Make Product Decisions
• Measuring UX and ROI
• Understanding Statistical Significance
• What Does Statistically Significant Mean?
• Quantitative Studies: How Many Users to Test?
• Quantitative Research
• A Beginner’s Guide to Quantitative UX Research
• Quantitative vs. Qualitative UX Research Methods
• Qualitative vs. quantitative user research: the answers you will (and won’t) get from each
• The “Why” Behind Qualitative User Research

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UX Design Processes

What are ux design processes.

User experience (UX) design processes are systematic approaches to create meaningful and relevant experiences for users. They usually involve research, ideation, prototyping, testing and implementation. Designers seek to understand user needs and behaviors, and craft intuitive and user-friendly interfaces that enhance user satisfaction and loyalty via optimal usability, accessibility and more. 

Author and Human-Computer Interaction Expert, Professor Alan Dix explains the stages of an interaction design process in this video: 

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Why an Effective UX Design Process is Vital

An effective UX design process is not merely a sequence of steps to create an appealing interface of visual design; it is a comprehensive approach that ensures the final product is user-centric, functional and successful in the market. When designers and design teams follow a structured series of steps, they can: 

Create successful interfaces that meet organizational quality standards.  

Integrate prototyping with UI components. 

Ensure that the design process remains focused and efficient.   

The essence of a UX design process lies in its adaptability across projects . Design teams incorporate varied research methods, define project scope and utilize prototyping tools to refine their solutions.  

Here are several reasons that illustrate how critically important it is to follow a well-defined UX design process:   

1. User-Centric Solutions

At the heart of UX design is empathy —how designers understand and address the real needs and problems of users. A robust UX process involves thorough research and testing. Designers and design teams depend on these to gather deep insights into user behaviors and preferences. This close examination of users as they move through their user flows and journeys helps expose accurate scenarios and problem statements. Teams then can use these as a compass to guide the design of solutions that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional and easy to use.  

2. Quality and Consistency

A standardized UX design process helps maintain high quality and consistency across a product's interface. This uniformity is essential not only for the user's intuitive interaction with the product but also to reinforce the brand's identity and reliability. 

This is the Interaction Design Process, as Professor Alan Dix explained.

© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0

3. Collaboration and Communication

The UX design process fosters collaboration among various teams. These include design, development and marketing. As teams work together from the early stages of a design process, this cross-functional approach can ensure that the product aligns with business goals and user expectations. 

UX Designer and Author of Build Better Products and UX for Lean Startups , Laura Klein explains the value of cross-functional teams: 

4. Economic Efficiency

As organizations integrate UX design early and throughout the project lifecycle, they can identify potential usability issues before these become expensive problems. Brands and project managers can therefore reduce the risk of costly revisions and rework later in the development cycle, and save on future redesign and development costs.   

5. Risk Reduction

UX design process steps include rigorous usability testing and feedback loops that help refine the product iteratively. This ensures that the final version meets user needs effectively and reduces the likelihood of failure post-launch.   

6. Enhanced User Satisfaction and Engagement

A well-designed, user-friendly interface increases user engagement and satisfaction. These are crucial metrics for the success of any digital product.   

7. Brand Loyalty and Trust

Consistently positive user experiences build trust and loyalty towards the brand. Good experiences encourage repeat business and word-of-mouth recommendations, which are invaluable for long-term business success. This applies to products, but also services that UX design teams create. 

AI Product Designer, Ioana Teleanu explains important points about how to design for trust with AI in this video: 

8. Increased Conversion Rates

Effective UX design simplifies user interactions, and makes it easier for users to navigate and perform desired actions. Such interactions include making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, which directly contributes to higher conversion rates.   

9. SEO and Visibility

Search engines favor websites that offer a good user experience, including fast load times, mobile responsiveness and easy navigation. A meticulous UX design process helps achieve these criteria. It also improves search engine rankings and visibility.  

10. Inclusive and Accessible Design

A comprehensive UX design process includes considerations for accessibility, and ensures that products are usable for people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities. This inclusivity not only expands the market reach but also complies with legal standards and ethical practices in many regions. 

When designers and design teams start a UX design process, they make a strategic investment that pays dividends in customer satisfaction, brand loyalty and overall business success. Whether it’s to revisit existing products so they can add the best improvements or to start from scratch in the problem and solution space, teams rely on their design process to structure the way forward. 

This is an overview of what a UX design process involves.

What Types of UX Design Processes are there?

It’s common to find mention of the UX/UI design process, product design UX process, UX design process for websites, or mobile app UX design process—for example. Similarly, an end-to-end UX design process tends to include four, five or six steps, such as: understand, define, create, prototype, test and implement.   

However, there is more than a single UX design process. Several common processes are widely recognizable and feature consistently across the industry. The process of UX design can vary significantly depending on the project, the team and the goals of the design initiative. Here are some of the most notable processes:  

1. The Design Thinking Process

Design Thinking is a user-centered approach that emphasizes understanding the user's needs, ideating solutions, prototyping, testing and implementing solutions. The design thinking process for UX consists of five phases, where designers:  

●  Empathize: Understand the users and their problems through research.  

●   Define: Clearly articulate the user's needs and problems.  

●   Ideate: Brainstorm a range of creative solutions.  

●   Prototype: Build a version of the solutions, from paper prototyping to high-fidelity versions.  

●   Test: Test the solutions with users and refine.  

Watch this video on Design Thinking for more insights into this process: 

2. The Double Diamond Process

© Daniel Skrok and the Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

The Double Diamond UX design process is a visual representation of the design process, which splits into four distinct phases where designers:  

●   Discover: Research the problem space.  

●   Define: Define the area to focus on.  

●   Develop: Develop potential solutions.  

●   Deliver: Finalize and launch the solution.  

3. User-Centered Design (UCD)

The User-Centered Design Process

User-centered design is a framework of processes in which design teams give usability goals, user characteristics, environment, tasks and workflow of a product, service or process extensive attention at each stage of the design process. UCD follows several steps, where design teams:  

●   Establish the context of use: Understand the users, tasks and environments.  

●   Gather requirements: Define the user needs and requirements.  

●   Design solutions: Develop design solutions.  

●   Evaluate: Test the designs with users.  

Don Norman, often known as the Father of UX Design, explains user-centered design: 

The Lean UX Design Process

© Rosenfeld Media, Fair Use

The Lean UX design process focuses on a rapid cycle of design iteration on the basis of user feedback and minimal design to test concepts. The emphasis here is that designers:  

●   Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP): The simplest version of a product that they can release.

●  Learn: Gather data and insights from how users interact with the MVP.  

●   Build: Make improvements based on feedback.  

5. Agile UX

Agile UX integrates UX design into Agile methodologies, which typically feature in software development. In the Agile UX design process, design teams tend to:  

●   Collaborate: Among cross-functional teams.  

●   Do iterative design: Short, iterative cycles of design and feedback.  

●   Gather user feedback : Constant collection of user feedback to guide design decisions.  

UX Designer and Author of Build Better Products and UX for Lean Startups , Laura Klein explains the nature of Agile UX: 

6. Goal-Directed Design

The Goal-Directed Design Process

© Hugh Dubberly, Fair Use

Goal-directed design, as put forward by Alan Cooper, the “Father of Visual Basic,” focuses on satisfying specific needs and desires of the end-user. Among the tasks that it involves are that design teams:  

●   Create personas: Develop detailed personas representing user types.  

●   Develop scenarios: Craft scenarios that outline how personas interact with the solutions.  

●   Do prototyping and validation: Develop prototypes and validate with target users.  

Each UX design process has its unique approach but shares a common goal: to put the user's needs and experiences at the forefront of the design effort. The choice of process often depends on the specific requirements of the project, the team's working style and the project timeline.  

The Steps in a Typical UX Design Process

Any UX design process is a meticulous journey through several stages. Each stage is crucial for teams to deliver a user-centric product. The first step of a UX design process tends to involve discovery, understanding or research. Similarly, iterative UX design processes indicate the importance of continued improvements.  

Brands or design teams may select which process to follow, and processes vary as to where and how they start, the order of the steps they take and which steps they include. However, the following are generally fundamental design process steps of UX projects:   

Step 1: Define Project and Scope

●   Objective : Establish the project's goals and boundaries.   

●   Activities :   

Engage stakeholders from business, design, product and technical teams.   

Identify the problem, project scope, deliverables and timeline.   

Conduct stakeholder meetings and create initial low-fidelity concept sketches.   

Step 2: Perform UX Research

●   Objective : Understand the users and the market environment.   

●   Activities :        

Conduct comprehensive user research using interviews, surveys and focus groups.   

Perform market analysis including industry trends and competitive landscape.   

Analyze user behavior, needs and motivations through ethnographic studies. 

Watch as UX Strategist and Consultant, William Hudson explains the importance of UX research: 

Step 3: Analyze & Plan

●   Objective : Plan the approach to meet user needs effectively.   

Develop user personas and user stories to capture the essence of the target audience.   

Create wireframes and high-level project roadmaps.   

Outline the user journey to envision the complete user experience.   

Watch as Professor Alan Dix explains user personas and why they’re important: 

Step 4: Design

●  Objective : Design the interface focusing on user interaction.   

●  Activities :   

Sketch interface layouts including information architecture and navigation plans.   

Design detailed UI elements like microcopy, color schemes and typography.   

Ensure accessibility and usability are integral to the designs—or wireframes at this stage.   

William Hudson explains wireframing in this video: 

Step 5: Prototype

●    Objective : Transform designs into interactive prototypes.   

●    Activities :   

Develop both low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes using various tools.   

Prototypes should enable stakeholders and testers to review the look and feel of the product.   

Watch as Professor Alan Dix explains prototyping: 

Step 6: Test

●   Objective : Validate the design and functionality with real users.   

Conduct usability testing to gather feedback and identify pain points.   

Perform iterative tests to refine interfaces based on user feedback.   

Ensure the product meets the required accessibility standards.   

William Hudson explains valuable aspects about user testing: 

Step 7: Launch 

●   Objective : Deploy the product to the market.   

Collaborate with the development team to ensure accurate implementation.   

Monitor the launch process to address any immediate issues.  

Co-founder of Hype4, Szymon Adamiak explains how designers can communicate better with developers: 

Step 8: Iterate

●   Objective : Continuously improve the product post-launch.   

Collect and analyze user data and feedback.   

Make incremental changes to enhance functionality and user experience.   

Each of these steps represents a critical phase in the UX design process. Every step helps ensure the final product not only meets but exceeds user expectations. If teams adhere to this structured approach, they can deliver high-quality user interfaces that are both functional and appealing.   

Laura Klein explains how Agile teams iterate: 

Who Does What in a UX Design Process?

If empathy is the heart of UX design, collaboration is the lifeblood. The number of roles and departments will vary between brands and across industries. This also applies to the scopes and sizes of these roles and departments.  

Outside of stakeholders and non-design-related areas, such as marketing, these are the roles that larger brands with more resources might have on board: 

UX designers make low- and high-fidelity prototypes, wireframes, mockups and more. They’re also responsible for the user flows and layout of the finished product. 

UX researchers conduct user testing, analyze data and communicate findings. They create user personas, journey maps and affinity diagrams. Researchers also test prototypes and live products that require improvement. 

UX writers make sure the UI says the right things in the right way to users. They’re in charge of microcopy—the text that features in menus, error messages, buttons and more. 

UI designers (along with web developers) transform prototypes into the final products users will encounter. Typically coming from technical backgrounds, they leverage their expertise to maintain the live product after release. 

Note: UX designers who work for smaller brands and startups will be more likely to perform some or even all of these functions. 

For example, Spotify's UX design process features the use of personalized content recommendations ("Recommended" in the center of this screenshot).

© Spotify, Fair Use

What are UX Design Process Best Practices?

To implement a successful step-by-step UX design process involves a series of best practices. These can help ensure that the design not only meets the users’ needs but also aligns with business objectives. Here are essential practices to consider:   

1. Apply User-Centric Thinking and Empathy

●   Do user research well: Conduct thorough research to understand the users deeply. This includes their behavior, preferences and challenges. Use quantitative and qualitative research methods like interviews, surveys and usability testing.   

●   Design with empathy: Understand and address the actual needs of users. This might involve creating personas and empathy maps to better represent and address the user's perspective. Design thinking is particularly useful as empathize is the first step of the UX design thinking process.   

2. Build and Maintain a Design System

●  Consistency : Establish design patterns and use consistent branding elements such as typography, color schemes and UI components across all platforms. This helps in maintaining a seamless user experience.   

●   Design libraries : Develop and maintain comprehensive libraries and pattern systems that are reusable. This not only speeds up the design process but also ensures consistency and reliability across different parts of the product. 

Watch this video to learn more about UI design patterns: 

3. Have Effective Communication and Collaboration

●   Work in cross-functional teams : Collaborate closely with developers, marketers and other stakeholders throughout the UX design process. This ensures that everyone involved in production can consider and integrate all aspects of the user experience into the final product.   

●   Incorporate regular feedback : Implement regular feedback loops with stakeholders and users to continually refine and improve the design. This collaboration should be an ongoing part of the design process, not just at set milestones. 

Google’s Design Sprint captures a highly successful approach.

4. Implement UX Best Practices Strategically

●   Progressive disclosure : Use progressive disclosure to reveal information progressively, to keep the user's cognitive load low and encourage continued interaction without overwhelming them. 

●   Simplified interfaces : Design interfaces that minimize the number of elements, focusing on core functionalities to enhance usability and reduce clutter.   

●   Accessibility and inclusivity : Ensure that all users, including those with disabilities, can use the product effectively. This also means to adhere to accessibility standards like WCAG and integrate features that enhance usability for everyone. 

Vitaly Friedman, Senior UX Consultant, European Parliament, and Creative Lead, Smashing Magazine explains progressive disclosure in this video: 

5. Test and Iterate

●   Usability testing : Conduct extensive usability testing during and after the design process. This identifies any issues with the design that users might encounter, allowing for adjustments before the final release.   

●   Design iteratively : UX design should mean there’s an iterative design process that is dynamic. After launching, continue to test and refine the product based on user feedback and behavior.   

What are Additional Practical Tips to Implement UX Design?

●   Ensure clear and intuitive navigation and layout : Users should be able to easily understand how to navigate the site or app, with clear paths to follow. It’s therefore important to apply UI patterns and design principles optimally. 

●  Optimize for mobile : With a significant amount of web traffic coming from mobile devices, it's crucial to ensure that UX design is fully optimized for mobile usage.   

Frank Spillers delivers some helpful tips about mobile UI patterns in this video: 

●   Seek engagement through Gamification : Incorporate elements of gamification to make the interaction more engaging. This can include rewards, leaderboards or interactive elements that encourage user participation and retention.   

The key is to remain focused on the user's needs while balancing technical constraints and business goals. This holistic approach not only enhances the user experience but also contributes to the overall success of the product in the market.   

How a brand approaches a project and which design process it uses can depend on various factors—it’s vital to leverage the chosen design process to the best advantage and reveal unknown considerations early on.

Which is the Best UX Design Process for which Project?

Many organizations will be familiar with a favored design process. Still, to select the most suitable UX design process for a project depends heavily on how well designers or design teams understand the project's unique context, goals, user needs and constraints. 

Budget plays a crucial role as to how to determine the extent and depth of which UX design process a brand uses. A larger budget allows for more extensive user research and testing. Meanwhile, a tighter budget might require focusing on core functionalities with limited user testing. 

An important point is that designers should be aware of the gulf that can exist between stakeholders and design team members. A brand’s level of UX maturity can have a significant bearing on what a designer does—and how—within a design process. Sometimes, a designer might even be the entire design team, in that their role is a UI-UX designer and they have more to do from a design perspective than they would in a larger organization. 

It’s important to be able to advocate for users and explain points about design to other project personnel, some of whom may need to understand what UX design involves. 

Design Director at Société Générale, Morgane Peng explains some of the issues designers can face when they work with people who don’t understand the intricacies of design: 

By understanding these aspects, teams can choose a UX design process that best fits their specific project, and ensure the design is effective, user-friendly and successful in achieving its intended goals.   

Overall, it’s important for designers to consider the benefits of each type of process rather than approach a generic or basic UX design process and methodology. The decision can have a significant impact on what they manage to achieve as they strive to solve problems optimally and realize the key factors of UX for their users and their brand. 

Learn More about UX Design Processes

Take our course User Experience: The Beginner’s Guide to gain a foundational grasp of UX design processes. 

Read our piece The Ultimate Guide to Understanding UX Roles and Which One You Should Go For , for valuable insights into how roles slot into design processes. 

Go to What is the UX Design Process? Everything You Need To Know by Simplilearn for helpful tips, insights and more.  

Consult Choosing the Right UX Process for Your Software-Development Model by Deepak Arasu for more valuable insights.  

Read 10 steps of the UI/UX design process every expert does! by Navid Semi for further insights.  

See What is the UX design process? A step-by-step guide by Louise Bruton for more information. 

Consult Mastering the UX design process by UserTesting for more insights.

Questions about Ux Design Process

In UX design, several common challenges may emerge. These include lack of user involvement, insufficient research, misalignment with business goals and scope creep. You can address these issues effectively with clear strategies. First, ensure consistent user involvement throughout the design process. Conduct regular testing sessions and gather feedback to understand user needs and preferences. This approach helps you design solutions that truly resonate with the target audience.  

Second, prioritize comprehensive research. Before you begin designing or defining the problem, gather extensive data on the user environment, behaviors and expectations. This research forms the foundation of informed design decisions and reduces the risk of costly revisions later on.  

Third, align the UX design process with broader business objectives. Communicate regularly with stakeholders to ensure that the design aligns with business goals. This coordination guarantees that the design contributes to the company's success. 

Lastly, manage scope creep proactively. Define clear project boundaries and deliverables from the start. Regularly review project progress and adjust as necessary, and ensure that changes don’t derail the project's timeline or budget. If you adopt these strategies, you can tackle the prevalent challenges in UX design and enhance the overall effectiveness of your projects. 

Take our User Research – Methods and Best Practices course. 

UX design effectively integrates with Agile methodologies by focusing on user needs and rapid iteration. Agile methodologies prioritize flexible planning, early delivery and continuous improvement, which aligns closely with the iterative nature of UX design. In this integration, UX designers work in sprints, similar to software developers, to continuously refine and evolve design elements based on user feedback and testing results. 

This collaborative approach ensures that the design process remains user-centered, as teams incorporate feedback quickly into prototypes and make adjustments in real time. This synergy between UX design and Agile methods enhances the product's usability. It also ensures that the final output closely aligns with user expectations and needs. 

 For practical application, UX teams can start each sprint by focusing on user stories that define target user needs and expected functionalities. Regular stand-up meetings and collaborative sessions between UX designers and developers help maintain a unified vision, streamline communication, and adapt quickly to any changes or new insights. 

Take our Agile Methods for UX Design course. 

UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface) are crucial but distinct aspects of the design process. UX focuses on the overall experience that users have when interacting with a product, including how easy and pleasant the product is to use. UI, on the other hand, specifically concerns the product's visual and interactive elements, like buttons, icons, spacing, and color schemes. The key distinction lies in their scope. UX design involves extensive research to understand user needs, behaviors, and the journey they undertake while using the product. This research guides the design to ensure it solves real problems and enhances the user's experience.  

UX designers look at the bigger picture: how all elements of the product work together to deliver a seamless user experience. UI design, however, is more focused on the aesthetics and the interactive elements of a product's interface. UI designers ensure that the interface is visually appealing and that each visual element communicates the right message to the user. They also focus on making sure users can interact with the product intuitively. While UX is about the overall feel of the experience, UI is about how the product's surfaces look and function. Both roles are essential, and they often overlap; great product design depends on both seamless UX and appealing UI. 

Our video explains the differences between UX and UI design: 

Take our Mobile UI Design course. 

Read our piece, UX vs UI: What’s the Difference?   

To ensure accessibility in UX design, you must consider the diverse needs of all users from the start. Follow these practical steps: 

●   Use accessible color schemes: Make sure text contrasts well with background colors. Tools like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide standards for visual contrast. 

●   Enable keyboard navigation: Design your interface so users can navigate using a keyboard. This helps people with motor disabilities or those who prefer not using a mouse. 

●  Provide text alternatives for non-text content: Offer captions or descriptions for images, videos, and other visual content. This helps visually impaired users understand what the content is about. 

●   Ensure your design works with screen readers: Use semantic HTML and ARIA labels to help screen reader software interpret the elements of your interface correctly. 

●   Create content that is easy to understand: Use clear, simple language and provide explanations for complex terms. This assists users with cognitive disabilities. 

When you incorporate these strategies, you create a UX design that is usable for people with various disabilities, thereby enhancing the overall user experience.    

Take our Master Class Introduction to Digital Accessibility with Elana Chapman, Accessibility Research Manager at Fable. 

Take our Accessibility: How to Design for All course. 

The UX design process typically involves five main stages: 

●   Research: Understand user needs, motivations, and behaviors through interviews, surveys, and observing potential users. This stage helps identify the problems that need solving. 

●  Define: Synthesize the research data to define the core user problems. Designers often create personas, user stories, and scenarios to keep the users' needs at the forefront during the design process. 

●   Ideate: Generate a range of creative ideas to solve the defined user problems. Techniques like brainstorming, sketching, and ideation workshops are common in this stage. 

●   Prototype: Build a testable version of the product. This can range from paper sketches to interactive digital prototypes. Prototyping is crucial for testing design concepts without committing to final development. 

●   Test: Evaluate the prototype with real users to gather feedback. Testing can reveal usability problems or areas for improvement. Iterative testing allows designers to refine the product until it meets user needs effectively. 

By following these stages, UX designers ensure that they create user-centered designs that are both functional and engaging. 

Take our Design Thinking: The Ultimate Guide course to understand that design process in full. 

Wireframes play a critical role in the UX design process by serving as a blueprint for the layout and functionality of a website or application. Designers create wireframes in the early stages, typically during or right after the ideation phase. These wireframes provide a clear, visual structure of the user interface before any detailed design or development begins. 

 Wireframes focus on what elements will appear on key pages and how users will interact with them. They are usually devoid of stylistic choices, such as color and typography, to concentrate on usability and function. This allows teams to test and refine ideas without the distraction of visual design elements. 

When designers use wireframes, they can iterate quickly, and make adjustments based on feedback and insights they gain from user testing. This step ensures that the product aligns well with user needs and leads to more efficient development, as it lays out the interface components and user interactions clearly before high-fidelity designs and coding start. 

Wireframes are therefore essential tools that help bridge the gap between conceptual design and actual user experience, ensuring the final product is both user-friendly and aligned with the project's goals. 

William Hudson explains wireframing in this video: 

Read our piece on How to Create Wireframes: An Expert’s Guide . 

Several metrics are particularly useful to evaluate UX: 

1. Usability: This includes success rate, error rate, and the time it takes to complete tasks. These metrics help determine how easily users can interact with a product and complete their intended tasks. 

2. User satisfaction: Surveys and feedback forms measure how satisfied users are with a product. Tools like the System Usability Scale (SUS) provide a standardized way to assess user satisfaction. 

3. Engagement: Metrics such as the number of user sessions, session duration, and frequency of use indicate how engaging a product is. High engagement levels typically suggest a positive user experience. 

4. Conversion rates: This measures how effectively the design leads users to take desired actions, like signing up, purchasing, or subscribing. A high conversion rate often reflects a design that aligns well with user needs. 

5. Retention rate: The percentage of users who return to a product over time. High retention rates can indicate that the product continues to meet user needs and provides lasting value. 

These metrics, when teams monitor them regularly, provide valuable insights into user behavior and preferences, and help UX designers improve the product iteratively. 

Take our Master Class Survival Metrics: Getting Change Done In An Agile and Data-Informed Way with Adam Thomas, Product Management Expert and Technologist. 

Service design and UX design share a close relationship as both focus on optimizing and enhancing user interactions. While UX design typically concentrates on users' experiences with digital interfaces, like websites and apps, service design covers a broader scope, including the overall experience of a service across multiple touchpoints, which can be both digital and physical. 

 The main goal of service design is to ensure that service interfaces are efficient, usable and meet user needs. It involves mapping out the entire journey of a user, considering every interaction they might have with a service, from start to finish. This could include visiting a website, interacting with staff or using a product directly. 

UX design, on the other hand, often dives deeper into the specifics of user interaction with a particular interface, focusing on elements like usability, accessibility and how engaging the interface is. 

In essence, service design sets the stage for UX design by defining the context and scope of the user interactions that UX designers will then refine and optimize. Both are crucial in creating a seamless and satisfying user experience. Together, they ensure that they consider every aspect of the user's journey and design it to be as intuitive and enjoyable as possible. 

CEO of Experience Dynamics, Frank Spillers explains the service design process in this video: 

Take our Service Design: How to Design Integrated Service Experiences course. 

When you want to tailor a UX design process to different types of products, it requires understanding the unique needs of each product type and the users it serves. Here are some steps you can take: 

Define the product's goals and the target audience: A tech gadget aimed at young adults will have different user expectations than a healthcare app for seniors. Start by identifying these goals and user profiles to guide your design decisions. 

Adapt your research methods based on the product type: For physical products, you might focus more on ergonomics and user interactions with the product. For digital products, usability and interface design become more critical. Choose research techniques that provide deep insights into how users will interact with the product. 

Adjust the prototyping phase to suit the product: For software, you can use wireframes and interactive digital prototypes. For hardware, you may need 3D models or physical mockups to evaluate the design's practical aspects. 

Customize the testing phase to the product's nature: Ensure that the testing environment mimics real-world use cases as closely as possible. This approach helps you identify any design flaws or user experience issues before the final product goes to market. 

By following these tailored steps, you can ensure that your UX design process effectively meets the specific requirements of any product type. 

Watch our video on product design for valuable insights: 

Remote teams can collaborate effectively on UX design projects by using a combination of communication tools, regular meetings and shared documents to ensure everyone remains on the same page despite physical distances. 

First, utilize collaboration tools such as Slack for communication, Figma or Adobe XD for design sharing, and Asana or Trello for project management. These tools allow team members to communicate in real-time, share progress, and track tasks efficiently. 

Second, establish regular check-ins and updates. Daily or weekly meetings via video conferencing platforms like Zoom can help team members discuss their progress, brainstorm ideas and address challenges. These regular interactions build a sense of team unity and keep everyone aligned with the project goals. 

Third, create shared documentation. Google Drive or Confluence can host project files where all team members can access and contribute to UX research, design specifications, and user feedback. This shared resource ensures that all team members have the latest information at their fingertips, promoting consistency in the design process. 

Lastly, embrace asynchronous communication. Since team members may be in different time zones, it's important to maintain a workflow where individuals can contribute at their own pace without delaying the project. Clear documentation and updates in shared tools facilitate this asynchronous work. 

When remote UX design teams integrate these strategies, they can maintain productivity, foster collaboration and deliver successful projects. 

Take our Master Class How To Balance Remote and In-Person UX Work with Cory Lebson, Principal and Owner of Lebsontech LLC. 

UX designers collaborate with developers and product managers through clear communication, shared goals and iterative feedback to ensure a seamless product development process. 

The collaboration starts with a shared understanding of the user needs and business objectives. UX designers often lead this discussion by presenting research findings that highlight user behaviors, needs, and the problem areas that the product aims to address. 

Throughout the design process, UX designers work closely with product managers to align the design with overall product strategies and timelines. They ensure that every design decision supports the product's goals and delivers real value to users. 

With developers, UX designers ensure that their designs are technically feasible. They provide detailed design specifications and work alongside developers to translate these designs into functional software. Regular meetings between UX designers and developers help address any technical challenges that may arise during development. This ensures that both design and function align closely. 

Feedback plays a crucial role in this collaboration. UX designers incorporate feedback from both product managers and developers to refine the product. This iterative process of testing and feedback helps improve the design continuously until it meets all functional requirements and user expectations. 

Through these collaborative efforts, UX designers, developers, and product managers strive to create products that are not only functional but also provide a delightful user experience. 

UX Designer and Author of Build Better Products and UX for Lean Startups , Laura Klein explains the value of cross-functional teams and Agile collaboraton: 

Take our Master Class A Guide To Hassle-Free Designer-Developer Collaboration with Szymon Adamiak, Co-Founder, Hype4 Mobile. 

To do user testing well, UX designers or researchers need to evaluate a product by observing real users as they interact with it. This process helps designers or researchers understand user behavior, preferences, and the overall usability of the product.  

To conduct user testing, begin by defining clear objectives. Decide what aspects of the product you need to test, such as the effectiveness of its navigation or the clarity of its content.  

Next, recruit participants that represent your target audience. These participants will use the product while you observe their interactions and listen to their feedback. Prepare tasks for the users to complete during the testing session. These tasks should reflect common actions users would perform with the product. As users engage with the product, take notes on their behavior, any difficulties they encounter and their feedback. Integrate user testing into the UX process at multiple stages. Initially, test early prototypes to catch major usability issues early on. This preliminary testing prevents costly redesigns later. Continue testing throughout the development cycle, using insights from earlier tests to refine the design. 

Finally, conduct tests on the near-complete product to ensure it meets all user needs and expectations. User testing is essential to create user-friendly products. It provides direct insights into how users interact with your product and highlights areas for improvement. 

Take our Conducting Usability Testing course for more details.  

When you evaluate the success of a UX design process, you need several key metrics and feedback mechanisms to ensure the product meets user needs and business goals effectively. 

First, measure user satisfaction through surveys and feedback tools immediately after they interact with the product. Ask specific questions about the ease of use, aesthetic appeal and overall satisfaction with the product. High satisfaction scores generally indicate a successful UX design. 

Second, analyze user behavior data. Metrics like time on task, error rates and completion rates for key actions provide insight into how well users can navigate and use the product. Lower error rates and shorter completion times typically suggest a more intuitive user interface. 

Third, conduct usability tests at various stages of the design process. This involves observing users as they interact with different versions of the product. Successful designs will show gradual improvements in user performance and satisfaction across these tests. 

Fourth, consider the achievement of business objectives. If the UX design aligns with and supports broader business goals such as increased sales, higher customer retention or reduced support calls, this indicates success. 

Lastly, ongoing feedback from real-world use after product launch can offer additional insights into the UX design’s effectiveness over time. Continuous improvement based on this feedback can lead to lasting success. 

When you use these methods, you can accurately assess the effectiveness of a UX design process. 

Take our Master Class How to Get Started with Usability Testing with Cory Lebson, Principal and Owner of Lebsontech LLC. 

Also, users can sometimes reveal additional important insights. Watch as Product Design Lead at Netflix, Niwal Sheikh discusses some valuable dimensions of discoverability: 

1. Holtzblatt, K., & Beyer, H. (1993). Making customer-centered design work for teams . Communications of the ACM, 36(10), 92-103.  

This publication is highly influential as it introduced the concept of contextual inquiry, a user-centered design method that involves observing and interviewing users in their natural environment. It has become a cornerstone of the UX design process, helping teams develop a deep understanding of user needs and behaviors. 

2. Kujala, S. (2003). User involvement: a review of the benefits and challenges. Behaviour & information technology, 22(1), 1-16. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01449290301782  

This paper has been influential in highlighting the importance of user involvement throughout the UX design process. It reviews the benefits of involving users, such as improved usability and user satisfaction, as well as the challenges, such as the time and resources required. The insights from this publication have shaped best practices in user-centered design. 

3. Gould, J. D., & Lewis, C. (1985). Designing for usability: key principles and what designers think. Communications of the ACM, 28(3), 300-311. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3166.3170  

This publication is influential for its early recognition of the importance of usability in the design process. It outlines three key principles of user-centered design: early focus on users and tasks, empirical measurement and iterative design. These principles have become foundational to the UX design process. 

1. Hartson, R., & Pyla, P. S. (2012). The UX Book: Process and Guidelines for Ensuring a Quality User Experience . Elsevier.    

This book provides a comprehensive, practical guide to the UX design process. It distills human-computer interaction techniques into an easy-to-understand format, equipping readers with a solid understanding of UX methods and principles. The book covers the entire UX life cycle, from research and ideation to prototyping and testing. It serves as an invaluable resource for UX and interaction designers at all experience levels, and helps them create engaging and user-friendly digital experiences. 

2. Gothelf, J., & Seiden, J. (2013). Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience . O'Reilly Media.    

This book introduces a Lean UX framework that encourages a more iterative, outcomes-focused approach to UX design. It explains how to apply Lean principles, such as removing waste, improving team efficiency, and shifting away from relying on a single expert. The book equips designers with the tools and strategies to create effective user experiences while optimizing their design process for speed and flexibility. 

3. Yablonski, J. (2024). Laws of UX: Using Psychology to Design Better Products & Services . Rockport Publishers.    

This book presents a collection of key psychological principles that UX designers can leverage to create more intuitive, user-centered products and services. It covers foundational concepts like Fitts' Law, Hick's Law, and the Pareto Principle, providing both the theory and practical applications of these principles. By understanding the underlying human psychology, designers can make more informed decisions and build experiences that better meet the needs and expectations of their users. 

4. Allen, J., & Chudley, J. (2012). Smashing UX Design: Foundations for Designing Online User Experiences . John Wiley & Sons.    

This book serves as an excellent introduction to user experience design, providing a solid outline of popular UX processes, tools and techniques. It guides readers through the entire design life cycle, from research and ideation to prototyping and testing. The book features real-life project examples, helping novice designers understand how to apply UX principles in practical, meaningful ways. It is a valuable resource for anyone new to the field of UX design. 

5. Ratcliffe, L., & McNeill, M. (2011). Agile Experience Design: A Digital Designer's Guide to Agile, Lean, and Continuous . John Wiley & Sons.  

This book helps designers transition from a traditional waterfall approach to an agile project workflow. It outlines strategies for integrating UX design into an agile process, ensuring that user needs and experiences remain a top priority. The book equips designers with the tools and techniques to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, iterate quickly, and deliver user-centric digital products in an Agile environment. 

6. Norman, D. A. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things . Basic books.    

This influential book explores how design shapes our interactions with the world around us, providing insights that are applicable to digital product design as well. It examines the psychology of everyday objects and experiences, and highlights the importance of user-centered design. When UX professionals understand how people perceive and engage with the designed world, they can create more intuitive, meaningful, and satisfying digital experiences. 

Literature on UX Design Processes

Here’s the entire UX literature on UX Design Processes by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about UX Design Processes

Take a deep dive into UX Design Processes with our course User Experience: The Beginner’s Guide .

If you’ve heard the term user experience design and been overwhelmed by all the jargon, then you’re not alone. In fact, most practicing UX designers struggle to explain what they do!

“[User experience] is used by people to say, ‘I’m a user experience designer, I design websites,’ or ‘I design apps.’ […] and they think the experience is that simple device, the website, or the app, or who knows what. No! It’s everything — it’s the way you experience the world, it’s the way you experience your life, it’s the way you experience the service. Or, yeah, an app or a computer system. But it’s a system that’s everything.” — Don Norman, pioneer and inventor of the term “user experience,” in an interview with NNGroup

As indicated by Don Norman, User Experience is an umbrella term that covers several areas . When you work with user experience, it’s crucial to understand what those areas are so that you know how best to apply the tools available to you.

In this course, you will gain an introduction to the breadth of UX design and understand why it matters. You’ll also learn the roles and responsibilities of a UX designer, how to confidently talk about UX and practical methods that you can apply to your work immediately.

You will learn to identify the overlaps and differences between different fields and adapt your existing skills to UX design. Once you understand the lay of the land, you’ll be able to chart your journey into a career in UX design. You’ll hear from practicing UX designers from within the IxDF community — people who come from diverse backgrounds, have taught themselves design, learned on the job, and are enjoying successful careers.

If you are new to the Interaction Design Foundation, this course is a great place to start because it brings together materials from many of our other courses. This provides you with both an excellent introduction to user experience and a preview of the courses we have to offer to help you develop your future career. After each lesson, we will introduce you to the courses you can take if a specific topic has caught your attention. That way, you’ll find it easy to continue your learning journey.

In the first lesson, you’ll learn what user experience design is and what a UX designer does. You’ll also learn about the importance of portfolios and what hiring managers look for in them.

In the second lesson, you’ll learn how to think like a UX designer. This lesson also introduces you to the very first exercise for you to dip your toes into the cool waters of user experience.  

In the third and the fourth lessons, you’ll learn about the most common UX design tools and methods . You’ll also practice each of the methods through tailor-made exercises that walk you through the different stages of the design process.

In the final lesson, you’ll step outside the classroom and into the real world. You’ll understand the role of a UX designer within an organization and what it takes to overcome common challenges at the workplace. You’ll also learn how to leverage your existing skills to successfully transition to and thrive in a new career in UX.   

You’ll be taught by some of the world’s leading experts . The experts we’ve handpicked for you are:

Alan Dix , Director of the Computational Foundry at Swansea University, author of Statistics for HCI : Making Sense of Quantitative Data

Ann Blandford , Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at University College London

Frank Spillers , Service Designer, Founder and CEO of Experience Dynamics

Laura Klein , Product Management Expert, Principal at Users Know, Author of Build Better Products and UX for Lean Startups

Michal Malewicz , Designer and Creative Director / CEO of Hype4 Mobile

Mike Rohde , Experience and Interface Designer, Author of The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking

Szymon Adamiak , Software Engineer and Co-founder of Hype4 Mobile

William Hudson , User Experience Strategist and Founder of Syntagm

Throughout the course, we’ll supply you with lots of templates and step-by-step guides so you can start applying what you learn in your everyday practice.

You’ll find a series of exercises that will help you get hands-on experience with the methods you learn. Whether you’re a newcomer to design considering a career switch, an experienced practitioner looking to brush up on the basics, or work closely with designers and are curious to know what your colleagues are up to, you will benefit from the learning materials and practical exercises in this course.

You can also learn with your fellow course-takers and use the discussion forums to get feedback and inspire other people who are learning alongside you. You and your fellow course-takers have a huge knowledge and experience base between you, so we think you should take advantage of it whenever possible.

You earn a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you’ve completed the course. You can highlight it on your resume , LinkedIn profile or website .

All open-source articles on UX Design Processes

The ultimate guide to understanding ux roles and which one you should go for.

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New to UX Design? We’re Giving You a Free ebook!

Download our free ebook The Basics of User Experience Design to learn about core concepts of UX design.

In 9 chapters, we’ll cover: conducting user interviews, design thinking, interaction design, mobile UX design, usability, UX research, and many more!