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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH CONSULTANTS ASSOCIATION
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BUSINESS MATTERS
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I’ll refer to these individuals as user
researchers throughout this article. And,
most important to note, user researchers
have very harsh biases against market
researchers, most of which are ill
informed. Yet, perception is reality…
You see, UX as a discipline is in its
infancy. While not a UX historian, I am
confident in sharing that UX’s existence
as a discipline was largely influenced by
Don Norman’s 1988 work and book,
The
Design of Everyday Things.
This work
argues that designers must honor the
needs of users and consider the princi-
ples of cognitive psychology in order to
design things (mainly products) that are
understandable, useable, and enjoyable.
Norman’s work represents a pivot point
in the world of design. Rapid advances
in technology and the growth of the web
that soon followed in the 1990s set the
stage for the principles of Norman’s
book to become the foundational frame-
work on which UX practice began and
still continues today.
You are now seeing derivatives of UX,
such as Customer Experience (CX) or
User-Centered Design (UCD) depart-
ments, as these teams want to break
away from associations of software
development, interface-related design
and, in many cases, usability. These
slightly broader titles empower teams to
reconsider what the design of everyday
“things” can be, which often includes
services, business models or processes,
in addition to physical products.
Regardless of title, the focus of these
groups is the same—to design “things”
that are usable, useful, desirable, and
delightful for the end-users.
Market researchers have long been
excluded from these experience and
design-related teams. You—as a market
researcher—are perceived to be one of
those people who do “focus groups”
(which are thought of as downright
awful, because how could you ever learn
anything of value without being in con-
text?). If you’re a quantitative market
researcher, you are considered to only
produce numbers with no meaning.
After all, numbers don’t provide inspira-
tion, stories do, right? Among other
biases: market researchers are inflexible
with methodology (meaning you always
start broad and narrow in understanding
and wouldn’t consider the alternative)
and you are uncomfortable with creative
B
efore we begin, it’s important to do some level setting… First,
as I refer to User Experience (UX) throughout this article, I
am not referring to usability. The opportunity for market
researchers in UX lies in the strategic side of the practice, not
the tactical side that houses usability. Second, UX is being used as a
reference point in the article, but really could be interchanged with
Customer Experience, User-Centered Design, or derivatives of these
department titles. Third, primary qualitative research is happening in
UX today, but the people doing that research identify themselves as
user researchers, design researchers, or human-centered designers.
Why Now—More than Ever—Market Researchers
Should Consider a Transition into UX
By Brianna Sylver
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Founder and President
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Sylver Consulting
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Chicago, IL
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brianna@sylverconsulting.com