Should you aim to cover every corner of UX research in a short time span?
No. With limited time and resources, being intentional about what you are testing is critical. Rather than aiming to cover all the grounds, Jia En tells us that she has a couple of things that must be prioritised:
1. Aims, areas to cover, and important questions
Firstly, formulate a research brief containing the research aims, the initial findings that support those aims, open questions and findings that support it, and lastly, a discussion guide with key topics that must be discussed.
Knowing the aims of the research, areas that demand coverage, and important questions help ensure that the information needed by the project is covered.
2. Being intentional about what you are trying to cover
It is vital to know the distinction between testing desirability and usability:
- Desirability – are you testing whether your users want a product or feature?
- Usability – are you testing whether a product or feature can be used smoothly?
Keeping this distinction in mind and being aware of what you are gunning for helps you streamline the research. Remembering this order of information collection is also necessary because desirability comes before usability.
To achieve this, you must bear in mind exactly which stage your product is at and what your product team needs.
But if you are at your wit’s end trying to determine this, the last resort would be to ask yourself: What is something that I cannot walk away from this study without?