Methods
You want to hear people describe their experiences in their own words when using this method.
What are user interviews?
The main problem or difficulty a user experiences during a task.
What is a pain point?
This mistake happens when you ask a participant a question like, “You like this flow, right?”
What is a leading question?
This type of data answers questions like “how many,” “how often,” or “how long.”
What is quantitative data?
You want to watch users try tasks and see where they struggle while using this method.
What is usability testing?
A simple, step-by-step action you ask a participant to do during a usability test.
What is a task?
This common red flag occurs when the moderator explains how to use the interface before the participant starts the task.
What is influencing the user / coaching the participant?
This type of research focuses on understanding motivations, emotions, and reasons behind behavior, often using small sample sizes.
What is qualitative research?
You need quick feedback today at your event: you ask random people nearby to try your prototype using this method.
What is guerrilla testing?
The technique where you encourage the user to say what they’re thinking while interacting with a product.
What is the think-aloud method?
Running a study with only your roommates or friends introduces this problem, since they don’t reflect real users.
What is sampling bias (or testing with a non-representative sample)?
This type of method produces numbers that can be charted, averaged, or statistically analyzed, but doesn’t tell you why users behave a certain way.
What is quantitative research?
You want to understand how users think information should be grouped and labeled before designing navigation.
What is card sorting?
The specific type of person you want to test with—usually defined by criteria like age, experience, or behaviors.
What is a target user / participant profile?
When a researcher changes tasks, questions, or wording between participants, the results become inconsistent due to this major methodological mistake.
What is lack of standardization (or inconsistent study protocol)?
This type of research combines behavioral metrics (like time-on-task) with follow-up interviews to understand both what happened and why it happened.
What is mixed-methods research?