User research

Why do user research?

• It’s the right thing to do
• It will ensure you make a success of the project
• It avoids wasted effort and money
• It results in great ideas and input.

What is user research?

User research involves asking users for their perspective on a project before you get started. The research exercise may also include user testing if the project is to rework an existing website, publication or software application.

When time or budget are tight, as they so often are, our view is that some user research is far better than none. We are continually reviewing our user research processes and looking for cheap and effective ways of gathering the necessary data.

How we do user research

Small and medium sized businesses and charities do not have bags of cash to spend on their website and application development projects, so we have developed cost-effective ways of getting sufficient qualitative and quantitative data to give shape to a project.

Usually, this process involves:

• Carrying out a survey with users to understand them and test assumptions and plans
• Analysing the results of this survey
• Carrying out a number of telephone interviews, to dig deeper
• Producing and circulate a summary report
• Facilitating a workshop with key stakeholders to review the results and reconsider the project plan.