How to do scientific research correctly in UX? A Simple 7 Step Guide

The scope and delimitation are crucial elements of research work. Without properly defining these elements, results may be unreliable, or the investigation may become overly extensive and complex.

The scope clarifies the extent of the research area and defines the parameters within which the study will operate.

Suppose a UX researcher wants to study the variations between two versions of a web page design (A/B testing, one of the simplest and most popular forms of UX research). For this example, the website sells life insurance for people over 50 in the New York area.

Studying these variables with a heterogeneous audience would produce a lot of irrelevant data since it would include people of all ages, geographic locations, and varied interests. The target audience, in this case, would be a small fraction of the total sample.

Thus, the variables limiting the study’s scope and its limitations are critical factors in the investigation. For the given example, we could narrow the research to focus on relevant factors such as sample size, geographical location, interests, and demographic characteristics.

At this stage, the methodology (not to be confused with the method) and the tools for the investigation are defined. There are many ways to conduct research, but not all may be feasible.
For example, if you are a UX researcher in New York, you might have the facilities to conduct certain types of face-to-face studies. Conversely, if you are in a remote location or if the study requires it, you might conduct remote studies.

It’s important to explain why a particular research methodology and data collection methods were chosen over others. Clarify how the choice of methodology can affect the research, its advantages and disadvantages, and how it might influence the final results.

Literature refers to the existing body of knowledge and published work relevant to your scientific research project.

A literature review involves identifying and documenting published work on a topic of interest, and evaluating that work in relation to the problem you are investigating, whether it is in UX research or another field.

After selecting your research topic and formulating your hypothesis, the first step in conducting scientific research is to perform a literature review using all available sources of information. These sources could include references, textbooks, and both written and online articles.

In essence, you are building on the work of previous researchers. This process helps identify gaps in your research, saves time, and addresses an important question: is your research contributing something new to the body of knowledge in your area of interest?

In UX research, the answer to this question is always yes, as it continually adds value and insights to the field.

The research process involves a series of steps that begin with defining a subject area where problems of interest arise, prompting the researcher to ask pertinent social, scientific, or practical questions.

This problem must be identified, described, and explained as thoroughly as possible, based on existing scientific knowledge.

From this knowledge, the concepts and variables involved in scientific hypotheses are reviewed. This leads to the establishment of the hypothesis, which is a proposed solution to the research questions.

The hypothesis is a tentative answer and does not hold inherent truth; it must always be tested.
It is important to note that deducing hypotheses from previous theories is not always possible, especially in research areas where the knowledge phase is recent and exploratory. In such cases, there may be no prior theories, making the hypothesis a point of arrival rather than a starting point.

Once the hypothesis is formulated, derived from a theory, observational consequences must be deduced from it: if the hypothesis were true, what outcomes would be expected in reality? These outcomes are what we test.

For example, in our A/B Testing article, you’ll see that previous observations and theories were proven wrong when tested in a real situation. This is because, in UX research, environments and variables can change rapidly. For more information, see our introduction to Quantum UX (QUX).

The empirical testing of a hypothesis (or an observational consequence of a hypothesis) must follow clear methodological criteria.

First, all terms of the hypothesis must be clearly operationalized. This means specifying the empirical indicators needed to obtain data that can support or falsify the hypothesis.
Next, the study sample must be established, considering the characteristics of the population of interest.

The instruments and techniques for measuring the proposed indicators must be carefully selected to ensure accuracy and reliability.

A study design should be developed that aligns with the research objectives, and data should be collected in as controlled a situation as possible to maintain the validity of the results.

Once the raw data has been obtained, it must be analyzed with the appropriate tools (statistics, etc.), in order to later interpret the results found.

In this way, we can evaluate whether the data supports the hypothesis we raised at first, or if it doesn’t.

Finally, an essential step is the communication of results. This involves writing reports for publication in scientific journals, conferences, lectures, and other venues. In these publications, every step of the research process must be detailed to allow for scrutiny, replication, modification, and ultimately, to achieve the necessary consensus for the knowledge to be considered scientific through inter-observer agreement.

In UX research, the publication is the work itself. Whether it’s for a website, mobile app, CX, Urban UX, Accessibility, or other areas, UX methodology modifies the steps of classic scientific research.

However, this does not mean we can skip any steps. A detailed plan must be followed, and every part of the research—including user studies, competition analysis, and market research—must be thoroughly documented. This documentation is part of the UX deliverables that we provide to our clients.