Is being a UX researcher hard, UX researchers play an essential role in the development of any digital product or service, but as with any profession, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It requires thought, creativity, observation skills, patience, and persistence. It’s more than just watching users think out loud while they use your app; it’s understanding their needs and building those needs into the actual product you build. UX research helps businesses create more meaningful products that their users will enjoy using and keep coming back to time and time again! So what do you need to know before taking on this role?
Is being a UX researcher hard?
- How do I become a UX Researcher?
- What kind of questions should I ask during user testing
- How do I get started with User Research?
- Can you make money with user research?
How do I become a UX Researcher?
The most common route to becoming a user experience (UX) researcher is to get a bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Information Architecture, or HCI (generally having one of these can help you find jobs at larger firms). However, there are some entry-level positions open that don’t require much formal education at all—just life experience. If you’re thinking about going into research, I suggest you take courses on web design and programming in high school. Also, read as many books on human-computer interaction as possible. The best way to get over your fear of speaking with strangers is to talk with strangers! It sounds silly but it really does help you relax and think more about what questions will actually elicit information rather than simple observations.
Once you’ve got some experience and are looking for job opportunities, try going to conferences in your field. There is always free food and drink at these! In general, I suggest talking to your friends and family about what you want to do with your life. If they have any questions about research or UX design, answer them honestly—and listen. People usually ask these questions because they don’t know enough about something and often never think to look it up on their own.
What kind of questions should I ask during user testing
There are lots of ways to ask questions when you’re getting to know someone. The most important thing is listening and taking notes, even if you think that question doesn’t matter. Some people are naturally shy about asking questions or want to be polite and not dominate a conversation, so it can feel awkward or nerve-wracking, but remember that your role is all about creating value for people who use your product. By making them feel comfortable enough with you to open up and really share their thoughts, ideas, fears, and likes/dislikes with you, you’ll have much more insight into what they need than if they aren’t as honest.
It’s impossible to plan every question in advance. You have to be comfortable with not knowing all of your interview questions until you start chatting with people. So instead of trying to plan ahead, get ready by practicing different ways of asking questions and making notes that remind you what you learned when your interviews are over. It’s easy to feel unprepared, but as long as you take time before each interview to think about what you need, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from getting actionable insights into how people use your product and why they do so or don’t do so well. It will take practice at first, but soon enough, asking great questions during user research sessions will become natural for you!
How do I get started with User Research?
User research is vital for creating useful products, but it’s easy to think that it’s too difficult or too much of an expert-only role. But research doesn’t have to be all that complicated—in fact, you can do quite a bit with nothing more than user testing and surveys. In addition to looking at your own project through interviews and surveys, look at products in your niche or industry as well as competitors. Consider what works, what doesn’t, and why—even if they aren’t 100% related to your product idea. You should also try reaching out to potential users via email or social media, especially if you haven’t begun building anything yet!
When you’re at an early stage of your project, think about what information you need to make decisions about things like pricing and branding. To get started with user research, you can try contacting your target audience via email or social media. If it’s a new product that doesn’t exist yet, explain what you want to build in the future—even if it’s a rough idea or prototype—and ask if they would be interested in using it. If you already have some sort of website or landing page up, create surveys and quizzes to learn more about your users.
These tools are relatively simple to use and generate lots of data for you! To get started, just go to one of the many survey creation tools such as SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Google Forms. A little creativity goes a long way when it comes to the questions you ask on these forums. Just remember not to overwhelm your participants with questions: keep them short and concise so they don’t become discouraged by your survey’s length.
Can you make money with user research?
Many people think that becoming a user researcher would be an easy way to make money because you can do it from home. Yes, there are some positions for which you don’t need to work in an office; however, you can still work at home. It might also be hard to get hired as a full-time user researcher without experience. User researchers often have backgrounds in psychology or human factors and almost always have postgraduate degrees. To start working as a user researcher, you must first get your foot in the door by working with other departments such as marketing or product development. You might even start out by doing some free work for companies looking for help with their projects before moving on to paid gigs.
If you do get hired as a user researcher, your typical salary is around $65,000 per year but can range up to $90,000 or more. You’ll also be able to work remotely and take some control over your schedule. If you want to move into senior roles at companies with multiple teams of researchers or even run your own team one day then it will require gaining more experience over time. Your base salary as an experienced user researcher will start at around $80,000 but can go up to $125,000 depending on where you live and how big your company is.
