How To Choose The Right UX Research Methods (+ PDF Cheatsheet) (Link), after all these years still a fantastic reference sheet on how to choose the right combination of qualitative methods for your research. Plus, a PDF cheat sheet as a reference. Kindly shared by Allison Grayce Marshall, created by Jeanette Fuccella.
PDF Link
In design work, we often use an Eisenhower-alike prioritization matrix, ranging between low to high clarity and low to high risk. The less clarity and the more risk we are dealing with, the more research will be needed to avoid costly mistakes. If the clarity is high, and so is the risk, we need to spend time on design and execution to mitigate that risk.
I always find myself coming back to Erika Hall’s UX Research Framework (PDF, https://lnkd.in/eRRwd4nW), a visual guide on how to apply UX research for intentional design decisions, even when under pressure to deliver. There, we start at the top left, and move through the diagram to organize our research.
PDF: https://lnkd.in/eqYx5bwn
As Erika explains, research questions are not interview questions; we can’t just ask people what we want to know. They key, then, is finding good questions — so before brainstorming ideas, we must brainstorm useful questions to ask. And then we follow a straightforward flow:
✅ Establish clarity first: what you need to know, and by when.
✅ Turn highest priority questions into actual research projects.
✅ Set your goals: real-world check, finding bottlenecks, exploring ideas.
✅ Decide what data you need to be confident in your decisions.
✅ Decide how you will gather data, timelines, roles and costs.
✅ Research methods are simply ways to answer your questions.
✅ Choose methods that will give you the data that you need.
✅ Good research is rooted in the past, not the future.
✅ Keep a running list of relevant questions for entire company.
As Erika notes, too often companies invest an incredible amount of effort in research, just to leave it in a research repository on SharePoint, never to be touched or used. Look ahead how you will document, present and integrate your insights. You will need timelines, roles, metrics, reporting schedule.
And: companies typically block research not because there isn’t enough time or money, but because they think it’s expensive, time-consuming and will cause disruptions. Asking questions is inherently threatening to authority, and management often fears being undermined or questioned.
There is always time and money for research. We just need to know what high-priority questions must be addressed to reduce risk, costs, failures by increasing clarity. Hopefully the little helpers above will help you do just that.
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