Being tasked with writing a research question typically triggers a stress response. It all begins in school when students had to write a thesis for an essay or figure out what to focus a paper on. We learnt the hard way that research was only as good as its research question, but achieving this good question feels elusive. After some time one loses sight of what a research question is, why it's so important in the first place, what it’s supposed to do for your investigation or experiment, and how to write an effective one.

A research question tells you what you are looking for. For instance, when you are trying to find out what the weather will be like this week, you can only find the outcome when you ask your search engine the right question. Googling ‘supermarkets near me’ will not tell you if you’re in for a chilly day. Similarly, your research question is the question around which you center your investigation. It is not enough for the research question to be clear (like our quest for the weather report), it must also be focused, concise, complex, and arguable. We promise we’re not just throwing a few smart-sounding words at you, there is a reason why a research question must have all these qualities. Clarity ensures your question provides enough details to your audience in a straightforward manner. Your audience should know exactly what you're studying. The question must be focused, meaning it is narrow enough that it can be answered by the end of your research. If your question is too vague or open-ended, not only will this lead to a confusing investigation, you won't be able to answer the question you started your investigation with. Your question must be expressed in as few words as possible, making it concise. It must also be complex enough that it can't be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." It should require an analysis of ideas and sources, etc. before an answer is found. Finally, it should be arguable. Your investigation must aim to engage different viewpoints and should allow you to make an argument that is supported by your evidence. For example, if you were discussing with a friend why one movie was better than another, you would support your viewpoint with evidence. While it is important that your research question is equipped with these qualities, don’t forget to ask a question about an issue you are genuinely interested in finding the answer for. Being passionate about what you’re researching is key to having a great investigation. Also, keep in mind that your question is developed for the discipline you are studying or the topic you are investigating.

Your research question, with all its chief qualities, will guide your investigation. It is the first and most paramount step in any study. Since so much care and attention goes into crafting this question, it ensures your investigation will be focussed and clear throughout. To better understand why your research question is important and how it will guide your paper, let’s consider an example.
Let’s say you want to investigate medication for the National Institute of Health. If your research question was “How does medicine affect people”, you would be investigating the effects of an nth number of medications on a large population. Because of how open-ended and vague your question is, you would need many variables. The study would be conducted for a long time and it would be impossible to effectively answer this question. Now, let’s say you wanted to study “How does aspirin affect a middle-aged male population suffering from low blood pressure.” Your study would immediately be more focused, variables would be easy to decide, and you will be able to answer your question at the end of the study.

Now that you understand what qualities your research question ought to possess, why it is important that your question possesses these qualities and how your question will guide your study, it is time to craft what you’ve been anticipating creating.
Choose a general topic you’re interested in finding the answer to. This topic can be broad, to begin with, but should spark some curiosity in you, the investigator. The topic can be aimed at quantitative or qualitative research if you so choose. Examples of a broad topic are: How popular is Coca-Cola, the impact of social media on marketing, or even something as broad as tourism in Asia?
Do some initial research on your broad topic. You can browse through your preferred search engine, journals or newspapers on what other people have found on the topic. Keep your highlighters and notebooks handy and jot down the points of research that stand out to you. Also, note down any ideas that come to mind as you do your initial research. You may get inspired to narrow your question. Keep your audience in mind. Is your audience academic, or is this investigation for a business? Will your target audience be interested in this research and will they benefit from your findings?
Start questioning your broad topic. For example, if you’re researching tourism in Asia, and based on previous research you’ve noticed a rise in Asiatic tourism during Summer, ask yourself why? Maybe you’ll want to focus on the Summer activities offered in Asiatic countries, and how it links to tourism. The reason for questioning your topic is to get one step closer to your narrow and concise research question. What about your topic is peaking your interest?
Evaluate your question. Assess whether it has the qualities a good research question needs, and if not, what can be changed. It is useful to be ruthless with your question during the final evaluation stage. It is far easier to change your question before your research starts, so be honest with yourself about whether your research question is efficient and of good quality. With these tools in hand, you are well on your way toward an effective research question. It is an exciting journey that leads to findings you should be proud to be a part of!

Change feels inherently indigestible because of the fear that we must leave behind everything we know and the things we’ve acquired. To make this concept more tangible, consider a time you were moving to a different place. You had to find a new grocery store, meet new neighbours, and learn how to navigate through a new area. While the experience must have been saturated with unfamiliarity, it would have been nearly impossible to move without the carefully packed boxes you intended to transfer into your new home from your old. Similar to moving, when switching career lanes and pursuing a new job, we forget how much of our past experiences, skills and knowledge can be transferred.

UX professionals are currently in global demand across all industries. An Adobe study found that 87% of managers prioritized hiring UX workers. LinkedIn ranked UX design as one of the top 5 in-demand skills. Glassdoor added it to their list of 50 best jobs to have in 2022. With the call for UX talent, many people have been considering joining this industry. If you’re thinking of transitioning to the UX realm from an academic role or otherwise, and want to learn more about how to make this passage smoother, we’ve got you covered.

But, before delving into the how-tos of transferring skills, let’s break down what UX is, and what type of jobs are offered.

UX, or user experience, is how a user interacts with or experiences a product, system, or service. User experience includes interactions between the end-users (people who actually use a product or service) and the company. When creating a product or service, companies have user experience as their top priority. If what a company is offering doesn’t result in a positive experience for end-users, then what’s the point? A negative user experience can diminish the use of the product and any desired positive impacts.
There are many UX jobs, some of the most popular include UX design, architecture, development, and research. A UX designer makes a product or service usable, enjoyable and accessible. UX architects are concerned with the structure and flow of what a company offers, based on in-depth user and market research. UX development is about improving the experience of users when they interact with a certain application or website, in order to achieve the company’s objective to provide maximum customer satisfaction. Finally, UX research is about learning how the customer interacts with your brand on a functional level. You can even find out their motivations, behaviours and needs through observation, task analysis and other types of user feedback.

All experience is good experience- this is something you might have heard when you created your resume or CV. Every bit of experience, yes, even that short internship, or even that time you lead a group presentation, is worthy because all of it is transferable. Transferable skills are abilities that apply to all professional facets of life. For example, the time you presented your ideas in class is a skill you can transfer into any job since presentation skills are required in most professional roles. Likewise, there are many skills you have already acquired that can be transferred into the UX world.
Research skills you acquired in formal education, such as conducting interviews, can be transferred into UX research. That time you taught yourself how to use the Adobe Suite can be transferred into UX design.Apart from these examples, in order to help you with your transition, we have created a list detailing which specific skills are transferable to different UX careers.

Adobe Suite, project management, adept communication in a team setting, rapport-building, connecting with users and understanding their needs (empathy), sharing knowledge and experience via social media,running a marketing or advertising campaign, quantitative or qualitative research, visual hierarchy, colour theory, creativity, Photoshop, Illustrator, AutoCAD, Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch.

Graphic Designer, Marketing or Advertisement, Artist, Sales, Photography, Education.

Visual Hierarchy, designing for the User, cross-team collaboration, research, wireframing, prototyping, visual communication, project management, communication in a team setting, rapport-building, Adobe Suite,Figma, Sketch, Axure, Adobe XD.

Architecture, Urban Planning/Design, Graphic Design, Entrepreneur, Education, Industrial Design.

Research, information architecture, wireframing, prototyping, text editor, Atom, Sublime, Visual Studio Code, Git, colour theory, Photoshop, social media, and critical thinking.

App Developer, Website Designer, IT Tech, Industrial Design.

Conducting interviews, analyzing interview transcripts, creating and giving presentations wherein you share findings or ideas, creating actionable plans based on research, public speaking, competitors research,SWOT analysis, quantitative and qualitative research, writing for case studies, and creating presentations or infographics using Adobe Suite or Canva.

Academic Researcher, Teacher, Marketing, Psychology or Humanities Scholar/Academic.

When going through this list, you will find many overlapping skills and transferable careers. This is because the careers in UX are not rigid, so one skill may be applicable to many paths! Don't limit yourself when entertaining the thought of making the switch to this field. The UX world is diverse and is always welcoming new talent.

Efficiency and problem-solving skills are one of the most desired professional traits. Efficiency grants you the ability to do things well without wasting time, energy or resources. Problem-solving is the act of defining a problem, determining the cause of the aforementioned, and ultimately overcoming obstacles to get to a solution. These two skills are circulated in resumes, professional fields, and company motifs. Companies are generally proficient in solving issues and being systematic, and it's time you were in on the secret as to how they claim these traits. The answer lies in two methods: "Day in the Life of" (known as DILO), and Deep Dive Analysis. This article will break down the two methods for what they are, and what they offer.

The "Day in the Life of" method was created in 1994 by Francis Gouillart and Frederick D. Sturdivant when they focussed on third-party research scenarios in the marketing sector.Nowadays, DILO is centred on work effectiveness by analyzing daily activity. Every industry professional is concerned with how time-efficient and effective their organization is. The main concerns are, where is time being wasted, is time being used well, and how much is really being achieved each day? These questions lead to curiosity about who is doing certain tasks, and how long it takes them to tick things off their to-do list.
DILO analysis not only answers these questions but also tackles
1. Whether people spend their workday purposefully
2. Whether their time and energy are reserved for goal-oriented tasks or for easier/more enjoyable tasks
3. Whether people are delegating work well
4. Are their workloads in line with expectations
5. Whether the majority of activities are planned or spontaneous.
Ultimately, DILO analysis helps employers and employees improve efficiency and productivity in a way that is sustainable and enjoyable. If you are looking to implement it into your company or own professional life,here are a few steps to follow.

The scope of your analysis is based on your objectives and the people involved in these objectives. Forexample, if your objective is improving the time taken to complete data entry tasks, you would then focuson the data entry team over a specific timeframe.

It's vital to communicate why you need to collect this information and how you'll use it. Employees may be nervous that their individual performance is being assessed. Ease their tension by explaining how the data will be used to improve general performance and efficiency. This way, people won’t misreport the way they work out of fear that they will be judged or penalized.

To produce useful figures for analysis, you will need a set of categories detailing how people spend their time on different activities. Examples of activity categories include administration, routine tasks, interruptions, waiting time, travelling, coaching, meetings and project-related activity.

With your activity categories in hand, prepare a DILO worksheet for participants to fill out. Provide space for participants to share their rating of how effectively they felt they were able to use their time.

Separate the tasks in your worksheet into two categories: those that add value (tasks that customers would pay for, or those that benefit your service and ought to be continued) and those that don't. From this aggregate data, you can note down areas that need improvement and what issues need to be tended to.

Now that your data has been organized, it's time to share it with the class! Talk about areas that need to be worked on, and areas that are working well, and make sure you hear what people have to say about their experience of the analysis. Then you can start making a tangible plan for improvement, with dates for when you're expecting to implement changes.

Deep Dive is an analysis method where a team or individual conducts an intense and in-depth analysis of a specific issue or topic. This method can also be used for brainstorming and idea creation, but it is most commonly used for problem-solving.
When a problem is analyzed in depth, a thorough investigation is conducted. This investigation begins with a short analysis that informs the team whether further investigation is needed. Once confirmed, the official Deep Dive begins. The analysis involves understanding the market/client/technology constraints. This is done via internal and external SWOT, PESTLE, and PRIMO-F analysis. Then, new concepts are visualized and multiple ideas are prototyped on a small scale to demonstrate. Finally, solutions are slowly implemented. This is the longest phase since it is the most technically challenging. When it comes to analyzing problems, the Deep Dive yields solutions that will mitigate negative effects in an efficient and cost-effective manner. It allows the business to be sure of its solution so it can implement its findings in a manner that is risk-averse.
When a Deep Dive is used to explore a situation or idea, such as a new market, they will learn how the situation currently operates and what role their business can play in it. When it comes to analyzing an idea, the analysis team will need to map out how this idea can come to life, including the costs and setbacks associated with it.
The Deep Dive analysis of business processes can be incredibly beneficial and is worth being part of your professional roster.
Ultimately, Every solution is preceded by obstacles, but it can feel tedious to reach a solution when our collective professional lives and settings seem saturated in issues. Keeping this in mind, businesses started adopting the aforementioned techniques to become better. As Nobel Prize winner Betty Williams once said, “There’s no use talking about the problems unless you talk about the solution,” and businesses took this seriously. A problem can only be solved when obstacles are identified and overcome, after all

Have you ever been given a feedback form at a restaurant and wondered why? The form might have included questions such as "how satisfied were you with your experience" or "how likely are you to recommend this establishment to your peers?" and it lets the establishment know what the customer needs. What takes you maybe ten minutes to fill while your meal digests, gives the restaurant you dined at valuable information.
Customer journey maps share the same motive- it helps companies know how to improve customer experience. Customer journey maps are a visual storyline of all engagements a customer has with a service, brand or product. In this article, we will further break down what a customer journey map is, how it can improve customer experiences, and why they are crucial. Finally, we will explore how you can design a customer journey map for your business.

A customer journey map helps companies view things from the customer's perspective: they can understand the consumer's processes, needs, interactions and problems. The journey map represents customers’ experiences with the brand across all touchpoints. The journey map details every point in which a customer interacts with a company, be it via social media, email, LiveChat or any other channel. If the customer interacts with you via social media, for example, the journey map will help you identify which channels they interact with you the most. Is it Twitter or Facebook? Maybe you gained more traction through LinkedIn! This information will let you know which social media avenue the customer found out about your product through, whether they went to your company site on their mobile or desktop, and finally, whether or not they decided to make a purchase of your product or service. It will also tell you all the direct interactions customers had with your product, website, or support team. Additionally, it includes all the actions your customer takes to complete an objective (such as purchasing a product or signing up for your company newsletter) across a period of time.

When you outline your current process to help visualize what your customers experience in real-time, customer pain points are revealed. A customer pain point is a specific problem faced by current or prospective customers in the marketplace. It also refers to any problem the customer experiences along their journey interacting with what your company offers.
The effort you put into your customer journey mapping helps you connect with your buyer and will consequentially make you prioritize the customer experience. Being connected to your buyer is invaluable, but it's not as sentimental as it may sound. It simply helps you understand how they feel when processes go smoothly or otherwise. For example, how do they feel when a product comes late, but the company call centre helped them solve their issues in a kind and professional manner? Knowing their experiences helps you establish empathy for your customer, which then helps you serve them better.
The journey map fills the void between buyer and seller. Customer experience is sure to improve with this tool in hand.

1. It helps B2b business leaders gain insight into customer pain points.
2. It helps inform you as to what changes need to be made to your product or service.
3. It can help you brainstorm better business strategies.
4. It will help you identify how user-friendly your online interface is.
5. It helps you find out how often customers are reaching out to customer support and whether the team helps address the issue efficiently and in a timely manner.
6. It shows you how a customer interacts with your brand before making a purchase, and how they are feeling at that stage.
7. It helps you create a customer-centric company.
8. You can use your map to train team members on customer experience standards.
9. It helps you map out customer-focused quarterly goals.
10. It helps improve onboarding flows.
11. It helps you reduce obstacles throughout the customer lifecycle.

1) It all starts with creating a customer persona. This is a fictional character that represents your average customer based on user and market research. You can make this character detailed by adding their age, job, personal goals, and geographical location. It's like writing a character before you write your story. You will see everything through this character's eyes as you go through each "chapter." You should create at least 3 characters in total.
2) The next step is deciding what goal you want to achieve. For example, if you want to figure out how much traffic social media is supplying your brand's website and product purchases, you would customize your journey map to meet this goal. You can create multiple maps if you have a plethora of goals.
3) Finally, it's time to organize your touchpoints and stages. This begins by identifying touchpoints. A touchpoint, the moment a customer interacts with your brand, helps you get feedback and identify patterns on how they're feeling at each interaction. Once touchpoints are identified, you can break down the customer journey into stages.
Once you create a customer journey map, it becomes clear that business is more than just buying and selling. The complex thought that goes into a purchase must be met with taking time to map out a buyer's journey.
The process may seem time-consuming, but we promise it will be worth it.

Before submitting a project, it is common practice to check for errors. In others words, you are testing your project to ensure it works as intended. Testing is defined as taking measures to check the quality, performance or reliability of something, especially before putting it into widespread use or practice. Testing is not only done on products or projects yet to be released, but it is also done on websites, systems, or applications. When performed on the latter, test scenarios are used.

Test scenarios are created to check a system's performance from an end-user's point of view. After adopting this perspective, it will outline a system's behaviour as it responds to requests. The scenario describes the path a user may follow on a website or app, or a situation the user will find themselves in while using the aforementioned. Similar to checking that your project is error-free before submitting, a test scenario ensures everything your website, app or software offers is working as it should.
To further your understanding of test scenarios, let’s consider an example. The test scenario could be checking the ‘password reset’ functionality of your website. You would consider the following questions: can the user input the email they created their account with, what happens when a valid or invalid email is input, what happens when they click on the reset link they’re emailed, are all links on the page working, etc. The test scenario helps you go through every possible scenario for a specific function. At the end of a scenario, you should be able to successfully answer every question the test yields.
Moreover, test scenarios serve multiple functions and have many benefits:
1. It helps guarantee complete test coverage, which is a black-box testing technique that monitors the number of tests that have been executed.
2. Test scenarios need to be approved by business analysts, developers and a control group of potential customers. Since the process is so detailed and extensive, you can be sure that everything is checked before going public.
3. It can serve as a proposal for clients.
4. It gives you an estimate of the testing effort required.
5. It highlights the most valuable end-to-end user flows.
6. It can also be used for the documentation of a use case. A use case is a written description of how users will perform tasks on your website.

To create proper test scenarios it is best to collect information from clients, stakeholders, and developers. By doing so, all bases are covered and makes your business flow testing comprehensive in relation to the software. Additionally, the process of creating good test scenarios comprise of a few steps:
1. Carefully study the required documents - this includes a Business Requirement Specification (BRS), Software Requirement Specification (SRS), Functional Requirement Specification (FRS) pertaining to the System Under Test (SUT).
2. Separate all requirements and pinpoint the possible user actions that need to be tested for it.
3. Find any technical issues linked to the requirements.
4. Analyze and frame potential system abuse scenarios by taking on the perspective of a hacker.
5. List test scenarios that cover all features of the software. Make sure these scenarios cover all user flow and business flows that are a part of the operations of the website or app.
6. Create a Traceability Matrix (a document that contains the technical requirements for a test scenario and its current state). The Matrix should make sure that every requirement is mapped to the test scenario.
7. Have the scenarios reviewed by a supervisor and the stakeholders involved.
The best practice for creating a test scenario is making one for a single requirement; keep it simple! If one test scenario accommodates many requirements, verify that each requirement has been checked exclusively beforehand. This way you won’t miss any functions.
If there are too many test scenarios to process and it is costly to run all of them, list them down and prioritize based on customer preferences. It is also important to keep in mind that test scenarios are only 100% effective when run in real user conditions. Simulators can only do so much and since precision is the priority, real conditions should be used as well. When testing in these real conditions, make sure you consider the latest devices and also older devices that are still in the market. It’s best not to assume what device users will utilise to access your website or app, so don’t leave anything behind.

Think back at a time where you used a website or application and you came across several bugs that hindered its use. How often did you return to it?
You probably found a better product to use instead.
This is why test scenarios are so crucial. It ensures your creation isn’t sidelined because of errors.
When your product is released, you can feel confident that it will run smoothly no matter what path the end-user follows or what device they use. You can also feel proud that you put every bit of intention and hard work into your product, and you thought of the end-users every step of the way. Test scenarios identify potential bugs and issues that cannot be found in other testing. Especially if you intend to scale up your creation in the future, test scenarios should always be considered.

All jobs are customer service, because all jobs serve customers in some way, whether directly or indirectly. This is why every business emphasizes the importance of good customer service and conflict resolution. Excellent service isn’t about how you handle ideal situations; it’s about how you respond in the moments that are arduous. In this article, we will discuss the importance of good customer service and how to deal with “difficult” customers effectively in order to resolve conflicts and avoid customer dissatisfaction.

The success of your business is heavily dependent on customer satisfaction. If your customer isn’t happy and you have responded poorly to the situation, they will take their business elsewhere and may also share their experience with their peers. In a customer satisfaction survey of 700 customers, 80% said they would switch to a competitor as a result of bad customer service.
Customer retention is more important than customer acquisition; it is key to growing a business. If your customer is pleased with your business, and how you responded to a tricky situation, they are sure to advocate for you and they may also stay loyal to your business. This leads to a longer customer lifetime value (CLTV), which is the expected profit you can make from a single customer for as long as they stay with your business. If the lifetime value is low for a certain customer, your business will be missing out on potential revenue opportunities.
If a customer is unhappy with your business, but their issue is acknowledged with empathy and effort, they are more likely to be loyal to what you offer. If a customer is responded to poorly, it is very unlikely that you will see them utilize your services again

1. Reflective listening is far more effective than simply responding to a customer's frustration with "I understand, but..."
Reflective listening is a strategy where you seek to understand the speaker's words, then offer the same words back to them to confirm that you have understood them correctly. For example, your customer is frustrated with a bug they found in your app or website, and this bug has gotten in the way of a task they need to complete.
You would then respond "What I'm hearing is, there is an error in the website and this has inconvenienced you greatly. Is that correct?" Your customer will either agree that you have properly understood their issue or they will further explain. It is also very important to not promise to fix the situation since you may not be able to. Instead, the goal is to make them feel heard and prioritized.
2. Your customer may be approaching the situation with something that is known as the affect heuristic. This is a mental shortcut that helps people make quick decisions based on their past experiences. The affect heuristic is most commonly related to feeling like someone or something is untrustworthy based on an unrelated past experience. These assumptions that customers may bring to their interaction with you should be handled with care.
For example, if your customer is skeptical about subscribing to your service, ask them questions to understand the cause of their apprehensive feelings. You can ask them what you can do to relieve their fears or ask how you can make them feel comfortable enough to move forward. These questions help them trust you more.
3. Approach the situation as if you don't know what they are about to say. This mentality keeps you from prejudging a customer or their problem. Examples of prejudgements include: the customer should have already known this when they signed up, they should have known the sale ended last week or they shouldn't have assumed we were open on the weekend. These "should have" statements make you defensive and lead to an unproductive and hostile conversation.
4. Let go of the idea that you need to fix their problem right away. If you enter a conversation thinking you need to immediately resolve something, you coincidentally add pressure on yourself. The fear of not satisfying the customer will drive your conversation and result in not listening to their issue thoroughly and offering them comfort in knowing that they're being heard. So, instead of piecing together a sloppy solution, you can say "It's very unfortunate that this has happened. I'm aware of how this has affected you. I appreciate your patience as I work on resolving this matter."
5. Make sure you always speak with a low and calm tone, even if they begin to raise their voice. Your pacific tone may transfer to them, which generally leads to their anger being dissipated. While conflict will release a lot of adrenaline in your system and it may be tempting to match your customer's anger, remember that you and your business have far more to lose if you do so.
6. Use resources to support you during a call or in-person interaction. You can place a customer on hold for a few minutes to de-escalate rising emotions. If your customer has trouble understanding how to set something up and this is frustrating them, show them a demo by screen-sharing or showing them a recording of how to go about something step-by-step. Ask a colleague for additional confirmation that your solution will work in order to make your customer trust you more.

To put it simply, yes. Dealing with “difficult” customers with calmness and care provides your business with the potential for growth. Angry customers provide your team with a useful experience in conflict resolution, and you may end up gaining a satisfied and loyal customer.

User-centred design (UCD) is a continuous design process where designers focus on the users and their needs in each phase. UX maturity measures an organization's ability to deliver user-centred design and its desire to support present and future UX through its workforce and leadership. In 2006, Jakob Nielsen developed a UX-maturity model that defined the stages of maturity. Each stage detailed how present UX was in different organizational circumstances. If you want your organization to achieve UX maturity, you will need to focus on a few factors, including quality, consistent research, planned design procedure and resources.
In this article, we will explore the UX maturity model and how to grow UX maturity in your organization.

The UX maturity model assesses an organization’s strengths and weaknesses relating to its UX abilities. A complete assessment determines what stage the organization is in so it can work on improving its UX maturity. It also informs an organization of its setbacks so it can improve. The model can be split into 6 stages.

This stage is commonly associated with beginners in the world of UX. Organizations are either unaware of what UX is or they believe it's not important to be user-centred. This maturity stage has a few growth setbacks. Oftentimes, even if someone wants to make the business more user-driven, authorities ignore such "modern" plans and instead want to stay loyal to conventional methods.
Growing from this stage can be tricky since it's the starting point and people don't want to entertain any new ideas. To overcome the ignorance-fuelled obstacles present in this stage, it would be a good idea to start having conversations about what UX is, how it benefits the organization and customers, what internal UX processes are and how to begin doing the work. The key to progress in this stage is building awareness.

In the second stage, people are aware of what UX is but don't have a tangible plan or strategy to implement user-driven designs. While more attention is being paid to UX processes, work is done inconsistently, and it isn't prioritized.
The organization may be making small efforts for legal necessity or because an experimental team is attempting UX methods. In fact, the keyword for this stage is experimental since the organization feels comfortable toying with the idea and wants to see how UX design will affect sales. Typically, whatever inconsistent UX work is done, it isn't well-executed or incorporated into planning or strategy. UX is not considered a discipline and there are no UX-dedicated roles or a designated budget. Overcoming this stage comes down to a few factors: Learning methods for doing UX work and establishing a routine and resources for it. Organizations should also focus on teaching people why they should prioritize UX more.
Collecting positive case studies and highlighting UX-related wins are great ways to do this.

In the emergent stage, organizations have budgets and resources for UX strategies, but their efforts are not generative. The organization is building UX-focused teams and they are making tangible plans for growth. While their efforts have increased, the cause of not having fruitful outcomes is that there is not enough research or policies being put in. For instance, efforts are typically based on individual manager initiatives instead of organizational policies.
To make UX efforts more impactful, it is important to build support for user-driven strategies at all levels. More research should be put into what strategies attract better outcomes. Organizational policies should be made instead of relying on short-term initiatives.

In the Structured stage, the UX teams, resources and tools are developed. The organization is partly systematic and variably effective. It sees the potential of user-centred design, but there are still some obstacles. To progress from this stage the company will need to further improve its strategy. Weaknesses can be traced back to unsupportive leaders, increasing tensions as teams scale, a lack of discovery research and placing too much attention on a few big customers rather than sticking to beneficial UX strategies. If these weaknesses can be worked on, going to the next stage is possible.

If your organization has reached the integrated stage, it is a cause for celebration. The organization has extensive plans and effective strategies in place. Teams are dedicated to their users. Every level of the organization is focused on UX and there is a comprehensive routine. The only thing that is left to work on at this stage, and will help you reach the final stage, is establishing user-centred outcome metrics at the highest level

At the final stage, companies will begin and end each project with a user-centred mindset. Everyone is committed to their clients and all research is user-focussed. Routines are habitual, users are beloved and plans are reproducible in order to maintain progress. At the highest level of maturity, organizations have invested in contributing to industry standards and rely on user research to create new investments. The only obstacle in this stage is sustaining momentum.

Awareness of the different UX maturity stages is incredibly beneficial. Not only will you be able to place where your organization is, but you will also be able to create an actionable plan toward progress. There is always something that can be improved, and it can only lead to better outcomes. So, why not work on maturing your UX efforts?

Usability testing takes us back to when we would ask peers to go through our work before submitting it.
The reason we have developed this habitual reliance on peer review is that we may be partial to our own work and blind to its errors. The same can be said for user experience or web design. By “testing” your work on other people, as a creator, you will be subject to the perspective of users. This will help you create the best user experience possible and fix any errors that are present. In this article, we will explore what usability testing is and how to conduct these tests as a beginner.

Usability testing is a procedure in which a product or website’s user experience is evaluated. This method tests the functionality of the aforementioned by having a group of users or customers operate the product.
UX researchers can then determine if users can intuitively interact with the product or website.

When a usability study is conducted, the moderator will ask participants in their exclusive user session to complete a series of tasks while the rest of the team makes observations and takes notes. The observation team gets crucial information about what the user intuitively does and whether the product or website is easy to operate. They can also learn whether the product is enjoyable, what complaints there are, and what is successful about the project. Once the study is complete, they will analyze the results for important insights to share with the project lead.

The point of usability testing is for researchers to identify problems with the product’s user experience, learn how to fix these issues and determine whether the product is usable. Highlighting any issues or areas to improve saves the company a lot of money since usability testing is done prior to a product’s release: developers won’t have to repair the unsatisfactory code of a product that is already finalized and released.
Now that you know what usability testing is and why it is conducted, let’s explore how to perform it.

1. Find which part of your product or website you want to test.
As you design your product or website, there will be certain aspects of it you may be anxious about. For instance, you may be wondering if a user can sign up for the company newsletter easily, or if they will be able to find the 'contact us’ button without help. Note these aspects down. The doubts you collect will become the hypothesis for the usability study, and this hypothesis can be thoroughly investigated.
2. Decide on your study's tasks.
These tasks are basically the user's most common goals when they interact with your product or website. For example, if your website is an online store, then the common goal will be to make a purchase. The tasks will then look something like this: find a product by using the website’s filters, add the product to your cart, checkout the item, input your payment preference, etc.
3. Set criteria to determine success for each task.
This makes for a less vague investigation. If you determine what makes a task successful, you will know when it is appropriate to move on to the next stage of the study.
4. Create a study plan and script.
The beginning of your script should convey the purpose of the study, whether or not you'll be recording it, the background of the product or website, questions about the participants' current knowledge of the aforementioned, and their tasks. To ensure the consistency of your study, moderators should also follow the same script in each user session.
5. Assign roles for moderator and note-taker.
The moderator has to be able to maintain a neutral stance. They should be able to make participants feel comfortable while also pushing them to complete tasks. The note-taker should be an attentive listener and should be able to work at a fast pace.
6. Finding participants.
Usability experts suggest you should only test 5 participants during each study. These participants should resemble your actual user base. In order to find the right participants, you should know exactly who you're looking for. This is done by creating a detailed and specific persona. To help with recruitment, incentivize participants with a gift card or monetary reward. Also, keep in mind to never recruit people you personally know as this could create a bias and lead to an unethical study.
7. Conducting the study.
When the study takes place, participants should complete each task without help or guidance, even if they ask for it. If you intervene you will never know how long it takes for users to interact with your product and whether they can do so intuitively.
Participants are encouraged to speak their minds when interacting with the product, so you will know their thought processes as the study is conducted.
Ask for their feedback as and when each task is completed. Questions can include: whether they expected the interface to be like this, if they would have completed this task outside of a study setting, if they would recommend the product to someone else, and what they would change about it.
8. Analyse your data and report your findings.
Sort through the qualitative data you collected to identify patterns, usability issues and things the engineering team can improve on. Make sure you pay equal attention to the users' performance and their feelings about each task. Finally, you can report your findings and figure out the next steps for improving the product or website.
In conclusion, constructive criticism is a must before releasing a product or website. Throughout the process of creating your product, you have your user in mind. So, it only makes sense to have users test it before things are cemented.

We have all been exposed to other forms of research in the world of academia. The most common form involves coming up with a hypothesis and then trying to prove or disprove it by collecting relevant data.
Grounded theory is a bit different. This article will explore what grounded theory is, when it should be used and how it can be applied to your research.

Grounded theory was developed by sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. Dissatisfied with the limited approach to qualitative research, they pioneered a new way of discovering theory. The inductive approach to qualitative research that they created was based on generating theory from data systematically, rather than depending on its natural emergence.
In grounded theory, you will first collect data and later derive a theory based on what you’ve gathered. It is not a process where you collect and analyze data and then derive a theory in specific steps. Instead, data is collected and analyzed in an iterative manner, and a theory is derived after. When data is collected and processed iteratively it simply means it is done repeatedly.
Grounded theory should be used when there is no pre-existing theory to explain a phenomenon or process you’re studying. If there is a pre-existing theory, grounded theory should be used when the aforementioned isn’t complete because of the type of data used to arrive at a conclusion.

Before we delve into the steps for grounded theory, keep in mind that it is a repetitive process rather than linear. It makes a point of going back to the data collection stage after analyzing what was previously gathered. For instance, you will find participants, collect data, analyze it and then return to collect more data with different recruiting strategies and things to focus on. New findings will then be analyzed and a theory will be derived.

1. Determine initial research questions
Start with an idea of what phenomenon you are trying to explain. Initial research questions will steer data analysis. Questions may change or improve as you learn more.
2. Find participants and collect data
Recruit and collect data using theoretical sampling. Theoretical sampling starts by finding a small group of participants based on your initial research question. Once you have collected data (for example by recording interviews with participants), you can turn it into transcripts. These transcripts are to be analyzed (which will be explained in more detail in the following steps), and the information you gather will help in guiding who to recruit next.
3. Turn transcripts into excerpts
The data you collected are to be turned into excerpts. This is done using open coding, where you take transcripts and break them into singular sections. These sections are compared and contrasted with other sections. Any similarities or differences between excerpts should be noted. Reflect on any contradictions and thoughts by writing them down as memos. These memos may become the foundation of your theory.
4. Group excerpts together
When you are comparing excerpts of data, you will come across sections that showcase the same concept or idea. Group these together. Once grouped, you can use a "code" to capture these groups. Codes are tags/labels that are assigned to the excerpts of texts.
For example, you were comparing the following excerpts:
- "I find myself waking up in a panic if I've had too much coffee the previous day"
- "I usually feel stressed after waking"
- "I'm generally worried in the morning, but I'm unsure why"
These excerpts all come under the concept of 'morning stress/anxiety’. When using qualitative data analysis software, you can create a code with the same name as the concept.
All future excerpts that you analyze should be compared to other excerpts and codes you create.
5. Group codes into categories using axial coding
As you create a list of codes, you can start comparing different codes with others. If you find a connection between many codes, you can group them into a category - this is known as axial coding. The name comes from finding axes that connect different codes together.
6. Analyze excerpts using the constant comparative method
We have mentioned plenty of times how grounded theory is iterative. This step highlights why! Once you have created codes and categories, it is time to analyze additional interview transcripts and compare newly created excerpts with existing codes and categories. This allows you to expand on and support existing material.
7. Continue data collection and analysis
Keep building on data collection and analysis until you have reached theoretical saturation. This means you reach a stage where additional transcripts and excerpts are not expanding on your codes or categories. You aren't learning anything new and your material isn't being further improved.
8. Define the core category
Selective coding allows you to connect your codes and categories under one core category that represents the main thesis of your research. It is the foundation of your theory.
For example, if your categories are all related to anxiety during the daytime and poor mental health, the selective coding could be defined as 'stress-induced mental health damage that is found during the day' - this links all your categories together.
9. Write your grounded theory
It is finally time to form your grounded theory. State your theory in a few words or sentences. Define the limits and boundaries. Write a brief description of what you have theorized. Use your coded data to validate your points. Write what you studied, and write your theory in a way that other researchers can reference or use.

- Findings that accurately represent real-world settings
- Findings that are well connected to the data
- Offering strategies for analysis
- Streamlining data collection and analysis
- Buffering against confirmation bias.
Its benefits are bountiful and can greatly aid your research.
References:
Delve, Ho, L., & Limpaecher, A. (2021, September 17). The Practical Guide to Grounded Theory.
Practical Guide to Grounded Theory Research. https://delvetool.com/groundedtheory

Well, for one, it provides crucial information that the product design process needs in order to succeed. If done well, it also creates a product that users will find satisfying and consumers will be eager to buy.
Research in design is defined as a collection of knowledge gained through stakeholder interviews, domain research and user interviews to lead the making of a product.
Designers won’t need to stare at a blank canvas trying to figure out what products people really like.
Instead, they will have an understanding of what consumers want, need and desire. This influences designers positively and ensures their work will be focused. In this article, we will explore the importance of conducting research in design, and a few things to consider when doing so.

1. It teaches you about consumer behaviour. Consumer behaviour is the study of consumers and the processes they use to choose, consume and dispose of products and services. The study also takes into account their emotional, mental and behavioural responses (Predoiu, 2022). When a designer considers consumer behaviour, they also look into social, political, economical or technical systems behaviour.
Research in design informs relevant designers about their target audience and helps them empathize with what the consumer is seeking in a product. Understanding consumer behaviour also highlights consumer purchasing patterns.
2. The research will help you understand and analyze corporate culture. The knowledge gained through conducting stakeholder interviews reveals the company’s goals and objectives. Once these goals are acknowledged, it is easier to find an overlap between corporate goals and consumer desires.
3. It helps define the context in which a product is released. The word “context” covers physical and virtual settings and is shaped by consumer behaviour and culture. It also includes the touchpoints between the consumer and the product. Physical settings are noted when videos or pictures are captured from field research. Designers can then take on the role of participant-observer and understand the context for which they are designing a product.
To research virtual settings, the design team conducts domain research and competitive analysis. This informs them of other existing products and services that are in the same field. To efficiently explore the product domain, the designer will need to work with a subject matter expert.
Learning the product domain with an expert will educate the team about the terminology and vocabulary within the industry and consumer space.
4. It helps guide the design team. The main issues that arise in design are poorly defined deadlines and criteria. When research is conducted, the above-mentioned sources of ambiguity are confronted. Once raw data is analyzed to reveal patterns and themes, the design team will feel the comfort of clarity. While it is obvious why having clear deadlines is important for the release of a product, what about criteria? When the criteria are clarified, designers will be able to answer the question “What problem does this product solve?”
Properly executed research in design will inform the designer how to best provide a solution in a timely manner.
5. It answers important questions in product development such as finding the right product or service to design, what this product should include, what its features should be and whether it works as it intends to.

- Researchers should identify their biases when looking into consumer behaviour. Biases ought to be identified to highlight any preconceived notions, judgements or values that may interfere with the research.
- When observing virtual and physical settings, it’s good to utilize an observation rubric. The rubric guides you to stay focussed on specific concepts or phenomena.
- When analyzing data, researchers should be weary of making certain mistakes. These include: failing to identify proximal relationships (such as smartphones and young age groups, for example), overly focusing on one aspect of the data, or having the inability to generalize findings.
The importance of research in design parallels that of creating a thesis for an academic paper. Without this specified research, a product can be poorly made and will consequently collect dust on a store’s shelf. Researchers pioneer product design through their findings. They help identify who will consume the goods, what aspect of the product will appeal to them most, how they will use it, and how likely they are to buy more of the same. Once the research is conducted, a strategy can be created that will integrate all components of the study in a coherent way. Not much can be done to a product once it has reached the hands of consumers, so it is always best to put effort into executing proper research about how a product should look, feel and function in the hands of the target audience.

One cannot assume what End Users want or need. Instead, a specific process ought to be used to determine the aforementioned. A combination of End User Needs Assessment and Empathy Mapping informs companies how they can meet the expectation of consumers. Both processes include observing, asking and empathizing. In this article, we will explore the above-stated processes and how to gain clarity about what end users are looking for.

The Needs Assessment comprises several steps that involve a lot of preparation.

Stakeholders, those who will be impacted by the success or failure of your product, should be selected carefully. Examples of potential stakeholders include business managers, the development team, the project owner and manager and direct/indirect users.

Now that you have identified who your stakeholders are, it is time to collectively brainstorm on potential problems that your End Users may be facing. List out issues specific to your product and map out solutions for every issue. This process need not be limited to brainstorming with a whiteboard and marker in hand- don’t shy away from market research, sending surveys, creating customer personas and collecting customer feedback! The processes mentioned above will help determine pain points.

The decision criteria are “conditions that a company or team uses to make a decision” (Indeed, 2022). The criteria will influence final decisions about your product and its relation to End Users. Strictly following decision criteria can help answer the question of what problem your product will solve, and which aspects of your product should be worked on first.

The final step is focused on organizing. A plethora of knowledge has been gathered so far, and it will need to be sorted into different lists. For instance, listing stakeholders, pain points, customer issues, results from surveys, competitor analysis, etc.
The Needs Assessment helps you understand the problem of your End User, how to best fulfill their needs, and how they will use your product. The Needs Assessment also answers the important question: will this product help increase customer satisfaction or will it be something that pointlessly eats into funds?

Empathy Maps allow us to understand users and which of their needs ought to be prioritized. An Empathy Map is defined as “a collaborative visualization used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user” (Gibbons, 2014). An unknown concept, such as the needs of end users, is known through Empathy Mapping. It creates a united understanding of what they require and can help in decision-making.

The Empathy Map is conducted by assembling a team and having them bring data and insights, which can be sourced from research or interviews, about the target audience. An Empathy Map is then sketched onto a whiteboard or large paper, and each member adds to each section. Typically, an Empathy Map is separated into 4 sections: Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels. The map isn’t chronological and provides information about who a user is as a whole.
The Says section comprises verbatim and direct quotes from research, interviews or other usability studies. For instance, “I don’t understand how this portion of the app works,” or “I visit this website often since it works smoothly” are direct quotes that would be included in this section.
The Thinks section is all about the user’s stream of thought during their experience using your product. This section involves going through the qualitative research collected so far and coming up with key questions such as: what could the user be thinking during this stage? What is important to them? Did something about their experience excite or irritate them? Keep in mind that there is potential for content to overlap between the Says and Thinks sections. Because of this, focus on the things the user thought about but did not vocalize. There may be several reasons why they are hesitant to share some thoughts, so think about why that is. Sometimes personal insecurities may come up like “Am I too stupid to understand this?” or “Maybe this is easy for other people and I’m the only one struggling.” The information gathered from the Thinks section can ensure your product is user-friendly and doesn’t leave room for silent struggle.
The Does section involves the actions that the user takes. Based on the previously conducted research, focus on what the user physically does and how they go about it. For example, do they quit and re-open the app often? Or do they have many sites open at once, comparing prices?
Finally, the Feels section is about the user’s emotions. This is represented as an adjective, like stressed, paired with a description for context. Think about what the user was happy with and what worried the user, and how they generally felt about the experience. Examples include happy: page loaded quickly, or confused: page had too much content to go through.
In conclusion, End Users are complex characters and require effort and patience to understand. Whether you choose to comprehend them through Empathy Mapping or a Needs Assessment, the outcome is similar. You will ultimately get to know your End User and improve your product based on their desires.

Vercellino, C. (2022, June 3). Creating an end-user needs assessment: The preparation phase. Oak City Labs. Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://www.oakcity.io/creating-an-end-user-needs-assessment-the-preparation-phase/
World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience. (n.d.). Empathy mapping: The first step in design thinking. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/empathy-mapping/
How to write decision criteria (with tips and examples). (n.d.). Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/decision-criteria