How to choose the right research methodology(-ies) for your project

I mentor on Adplist and teach UX design at Ovalay, and one of the most common questions my mentees and students have asked me is, “How do I know which research methodology to use”?

My answer is always “It depends”. I guess I never really thought about it and always seemed to know what to use; sometimes, I even mixed and matched methods to fit my needs. So over the past few weeks, I mulled over my process and tried to come up with a more concrete answer— I asked myself, what are the things I consider when choosing a methodology(ies)?

Since this article exists, it means that I have found a way to outline my process. Here it is in four simple steps:

Step 1: Understand your goals.

What are you trying to accomplish or learn from this research?

If you’re launching a new feature, it could be to understand the state of the current market. Or your NPS scores are lower than you think, or you’re investigating the reason for a drop-off rate; or wouldn’t it be nice to understand why your product is doing so well? Do you want to understand user behavior or attitude?

Whatever it is, understanding the goal of your research is the first step in this process.

Step 2: Know research methodologies that exist.

In this case, I don’t mean knowing them all in your head; I mean having a general awareness that there are more methodologies than user interviews, focus groups, or surveys. So before you go and choose your default research method, which, I admit, I’m guilty of, maybe stop to consider the other methods out there. Sometimes there are different, easier ways to get the data you need.

A quick search on google or ChatGpt should do the trick. I often reference NNG, and this article on UX collective has an exhaustive list of methodologies.

Step 3: Understand the purpose of each methodology

Let’s say you’re widening your scope beyond the methods you’re already used to. In which case, another thing to consider in choosing the proper methodology is understanding each methodology’s purpose.

What kind of data or insights do they give you?

Why was this method created? What kind of situations do they work best?

Side note: this goes for choosing a workshop activity or pretty much anything; the adage “If the purpose of a thing is not understood, abuse is inevitable comes to mind here.” But I believe the benefit of understanding the purpose of existence is that we can tweak things as we like and make updates or adapt them to fit our needs. Or mix and match different methodologies to get various outcomes.

Step 4: Consider your constraints

This point ties in knowledge from steps 1–3, and that’s why it’s coming last.

What are your goals, or what do you want to learn?

How many people will be handling the research?

What is your budget?

Who are your users?

Where are they?

How much time do you have? Etc.

By answering these questions, you are filtering the methods to decide what might work or what part of other methods you can mix and match to meet your needs.

That’s it! Whenever I have to do research, I start by thinking about my goals and going through processes 1–3 to determine what methods will help me reach them. Depending on the project, however, I do not follow the steps in the outlined order.

Bonus points:

Once you’ve done this and chosen a research methodology, you’d also notice the freedom to carry out research however you like. Because there isn’t one way to do it.

An example I always use to buttress this point is a research I participated in as a user done by icons8. They wanted to understand how users search for illustrations. Think of it as a card-sorting exercise where users tell you what the words mean. However, instead of having a whiteboard session where participants matches the illustration to stickies with words that describe it best P.S, this is how most articles say card sorting should be done. They sent out a type form link. It had pictures of the illustrations and three options, and users chose the word they thought best described the illustration category from the options.

I loved it.

To re-enforce my point, I take advantage of my WhatsApp status or Twitter to seek responses from people and follow up with more questions depending on their answers. What I have found most effective is to answer the question “How.”How are users currently solving a problem or opportunity?

I do this by asking for advice.

Instead of saying: what budgeting apps do you use and why?

I say: “Hello, folks; I’m trying to be more prudent with my spending. Can you recommend an app and maybe share information on how you got better at managing your expenses.?”

With the latter, I always get more engaging conversations and valuable insights.

One last tip:

If you’re not already doing so, always, always write down assumptions before starting research. It’s the easiest way to track learnings and grow your product sense.

Here’s the summary again:

Understand your goals > Know the methods that exist > understand the purpose for the methods > consider your constraints.

What about you? How do you know or decide what research method to use for your project?