Do Good Research — can you help?

I’m sad seeing bad user research practice out there and it’s time to do something about it.

TL;DR User Research is in high demand. With this has grown a large skill gap, unfamiliarity in teams and at times, bad research practice. The implications of this are huge — to participants, people doing the research and the products and services we design. I’m creating ‘Do Good Research.Org’ in the open, to help us all do good research. We’re co-creating what ‘good research’ means and how we can embed this in the tech industry in a long-term, sustainable way. To get involved, please share your thoughts here or get in touch.

Good practice user research is important, to make sure we are:

1. Protecting participants and researchers from harm
2. Appropriately and safely handling personal and sensitive data
3. Doing research that is ethical
4. Designing services that are inclusive and accessible
5. Making design decisions based on evidence that is valid

And more — ultimately so that more products and services work for people. This is all at risk, with no clear standard in a booming market!

The State of User Research

UX Research is in high demand — with a quick LinkedIn search for “user research” returning almost 84,000 results worldwide. Yet according to the recent State of User Research Report (2022), nearly 35% of respondents doing research learned it on the job, and 42% picked up user research to fill an immediate business need.

This surge in demand for skilled user researchers has resulted in a large skill gap and unfamiliarity in teams we work with. This can impact the quality of research, the people taking part, those doing the research and ultimately the products and services we design.

Where has this come from?

Working in teams across government, agencies, private and third sector, I’ve experienced this problem first-hand too. I’ve seen bad research practice be anything from exposing participant’s data incorrectly, to nothing happening with research findings, or user researchers working on their own unsupported (sometimes on sensitive topics), without a clear path for development.

Over the past few years, I’ve also seen a huge rise in bootcamps and people reaching out to me for help with training in user research, learning methods or preparing for a research role without experience. A post I made called “Bad research is worse than no research at all” was one of the most highly engaged on my Instagram account.

It’s a good thing that people are and want to be doing more research! And at the same time, user research is hard work. It’s a skill that takes a long time to develop, master and build expertise in — and often we don’t know what we don’t know.

What can we do about it?

So far, as a researcher, I haven’t come across any clear standard of what ‘good’ user research looks like and I don’t think that’s because nobody cares.

There’s lots of great work out there including the Re+Ops community, User research academy, and of course the GDS Service Manual. It’s not all down to the people doing research either, it’s also the environment we’re in, how projects are set up and the ongoing challenge of fitting in development and community of practice on top of delivery. There’s always more to learn in user research, yet not enough out there talking about what good looks like and how best to support that.

I’ve decided to stop complaining about this and do something about it. Do Good Research.org exists to help us all do good research. This is an early concept I’m creating in the open, based on building user research capability.

We’re co-creating what good research means, finding out whether this is a real need experienced by teams across the industry and what we can do to help in a long term, sustainable way.

Can you help?

If you care about this topic and want to get involved (or if you don’t care about it, can I persuade you to?) — come and join us on this mission.

I’d love to know:

1. Have you come across a skill gap, unfamiliarity with user research, or bad research practice in the industry?
2. What does ‘good user research’ mean to you?
3. What helps you most to deliver user research well?
4. What gets in the way?
5. Are you currently doing anything to make sure the user research you deliver is good? What kinds of things are you doing and how‘s it going?

To give more detailed answers, please share your thoughts in our survey. This is for you if you’re breaking into the UX industry, doing user research in any capacity, or leading a team with at least one user researcher in it.

After you’ve completed it, there’s an option to enter yourself into a draw to win a £50 voucher, where one person will be selected at random.

I don’t have all the answers, so I’m investing in a research project to help find them. If you’re curious, have any feedback or want to get involved in paid interviews and workshops — please get in touch

Thank you for reading ❤️