QRCA Views Magazine, Spring 2016

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH CONSULTANTS ASSOCIATION 55
maturity. In addition, university pro-
grams and professional associations that
support the education of market
researchers address topics like participant
recruiting on a regular basis. This is not
a topic that gets airtime at most confer-
ences designed for user researchers.
And, finally, from a method perspective,
the “go-to” method for user researchers is
ethnography. In some cases, this method is
appropriate. In other cases, it forces an
orchestration of the experience trying to be
studied that makes it inappropriate. Market
researchers bring to the table a broader tool
set than a typical user researcher and gener-
ally are more knowledgeable of when a
qualitative, quantitative, or hybrid approach
might be best leveraged to address the key
research questions with rigor.
The reality is that the leap into Stage 4:
Committed changes the playing field for
research dramatically and instantly within
UX teams. Once executives determine—
with certainty—that a UX mindset can
support them in setting company strategy,
the need for rigor in the research intended
to support that activity becomes non-negotiable. This is the moment the doors
of UX fly open to accept market research-
ers as having this knowledge of what
makes a sound and rigorous study. To
date, universities and professional associa-
tions supporting the education of user
researchers have not kept pace with what
the new strategic research requirements of
these departments will soon become.
So, now you might be thinking, “Well,
move on out user researchers. We market
researchers are coming in to save the
day.” Not so fast!
To be successful in UX, you need a
reframe—of how you do your work as a
market researcher and the roles that you
play in the development process. The dia-
Figure 1
User Experience RESOURCE LIST
Prepared by Brianna Sylver in connection with her
QRCA 2015 Conference talk entitled —
“How to Expand Your Business into User Experience.”
IDEAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Adaptive Path’s UX Intensives —
A four-day workshop series designed to build skills in Strategy,
Research, Service Design and Interaction Design.
Adaptive Path’s UX Week —
A premiere user experience design conference. Four days of
inspiration and skills building, delivering new tools you can put
to use immediately.
IIT, Institute of Design, Design Camp —
A five-day immersive experience into the problem-solving
mindset of the user-centered design process.
tive-short-courses/design-summer-camp
General Assembly —
Offers education at varying lengths and scopes (from
90-minutes to full-time courses) to help transform thinkers into
creators through education and opportunities in technology,
business and design.
EXCELLENT GRADUATE PROGRAMS RELATED
TO THE INTERSECTION OF RESEARCH AND DESIGN:
MDes or Masters of Design Methods —
at IIT, Institute of Design in Chicago, IL.
Master of Design (MDes) in Design for Interactions —
at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.
BOOKS TO GET STARTED WITH
101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving
Innovation in Your Organization
by Vijay Kumar (2012)
Communicating The New:
Methods to Shape and Accelerate Innovation
by Kim Erwin (2013)
Ten Types of Innovation:
The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs
by Larry Keeley, Helen Walter, Ryan Pikkel, and Brian Quinn (2013)
Well-Designed:
How to Use Empathy to Create Products People Love
by John Kolko (2014)
RECOMMENDED WEBSITE
Adaptive Path’s blog —
provides great thought leadership on everything UX.
SUPPORTIVE PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Anthrodesign —
A yahoo list-serve group dedicated to a conversation about
ethnographic methods applied to business challenges.
Members of the group are mainly anthropologists, user/design
researchers and designers. Topics of discussion vary in scope
from best methods to address specific problems to how best
to deliver results and encourage digestion of content within
different corporate cultures.
Interaction Design Association (IXDA) —
IxDA has a great local presence in major metro markets and
is again a great resource for understanding UX process and
context and the role of User/Design Research within that.
User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) —
UXPA is an organization that serves all careers within the UX field.
Participation would support gaining a foundational understanding
of the UX industry and a broader understanding of the roles and
responsibilities of a user/design researcher within UX departments.
gram in figure 1 shares the key differences
between how a user researcher approaches
his/her work from a philosophical per-
spective versus a market researcher. These
mindsets and roles, embodied by the user
researcher, are core tenets of UX philoso-
phy, equally as non-negotiable as the
research rigor being demanded as organi-
zations leap from Stage 3: Invested to Stage
4: Committed in the UX Maturity Model.
If you as a market researcher wish to
position yourself to support UX practices
within organizations, then it’s highly
important that you come to personally
embody these philosophies of how user
researchers work. More than likely, con-
tinuing education will be required. To
support you on that journey of self-ex-
ploration, an extensive side bar of
resources has been included.
Having operated my career with one foot
in market research and one foot in UX, it
was my intention with this article to inspire
collaboration and action. Consolidation of
user research and market research func-
tions within organizations is inevitable (I’ve
actually begun to see this consolidation
occurring amongst my own client-base this
past year). It’s now up to you, as a market
researcher, to check in personally to assess
if you want to be positioned as a market
researcher who can successfully integrate
into UX teams, as more and more organi-
zations cross the UX chasm of Stage 3:
Invested to Stage 4: Committed.
USER
Researchers
A means to an end –
meant to instigate action The role of the insight The end –
meant to yield understanding
Problem-solving mindset Project mindset Method-focused mindset
Facilitator, interpretar, advisor Additional roles the
researcher assumes Consultant
It’s collaborative and
iterative, includes a lot of
group work at workshops
How the work is done More solitary in its execution
The philosophy of how the work gets done ...
MARKET
Researchers