What's Next for Research?

Key Insights

• •

  Killing a product can be one of the most impactful outcomes of user research, as noted by Tony from group one.

• •

  Inclusion in research must account for multiple dimensions including sexuality, neurodiversity, and ethnicity, as discussed by Monday in group four.

• •

  Democratization of research is expanding the number of people involved, increasing diversity but also creating challenges in specialization, highlighted by John in group eight.

• •

  There is a growing need for governance and rigor in research methodologies to maintain quality amid democratization, emphasized by group six.

• •

  Cross-organizational communication remains a challenge; leveraging existing tools like newsletters and wikis can improve insight sharing beyond research silos, as observed by group nine.

• •

  Ethical considerations like privacy and security need to become mainstream topics championed by UX researchers within their organizations, per Sheila in group three.

• •

  Impact measurement often focuses on business outcomes, but some fear this narrows research’s broader value and language of influence, according to group ten.

• •

  There is potential in laddering stakeholder involvement from passive viewers of research artifacts to active co-researchers, a concept discussed by group ten.

• •

  Democratization involves teaching others which could reduce time dedicated to doing actual research work, creating tension, noted by group six.

• •

  Specialized roles such as DesignOps and UX recruiters are emerging with research’s expansion, offering new career pathways, as brought up by group eight.

Notable Quotes