UX Researcher’s mindset: How you can master it
A tour of what Ux Researcher’s mindset really is and how you can master it!
“You’re a whiz at writing, conducting interviews, crafting solid survey design, pro at analyzing research data. But the mindset you bring to the table is what makes you a true change agent.” — Janelle Ward
As a solo UX Researcher in such a fast-growing fintech startup Cashbook (YC W21), I have to figure out several nuances of UX Researcher all by myself, and as I am still at my practitioner and learner stage, I tried contacting and having conversations with several Ux Research leaders and Senior Ux Research practitioners, Thanks to Linkedin and Twitter!🙏
Almost every one of them recommended developing a Researcher's mindset and parallelly practicing different methods. After discussing hours with them on how important is it to build a mindset and what is a practical way to do it, and going through different medium articles, I had compiled this Tour of what User Researcher’s Mindset Really is and How you can master it!
Just play some Lofi Songs and start reading!🧾
There is no easy, fast-route way to learn UX Research. It’s brutal, I know!
You can master some skills, be confident in applying some research strategies, follow a “cheat-sheet” to select some methods. But unless you understand the mindset, whys, and hows of research, you will have difficulties in creating your own “recipes” for obtaining relevant user insights for each project you work on. Research can be extremely creative once you have a strong understanding of its potential. Its flexibility allows you to shape and mold each method to respond to your biggest, most pressing questions. And it’s worth the effort to master it, as it will have a spill-over effect on your design practice as well.
What is the Researcher’s Mindset? 🧠
1. Researchers mindset question everything ❓
When a stakeholder approaches you with a topic, turning that topic into a question is the first step to scoping a quality project.
Start with its relevance: Is the question one that yearns to be answered, either by you or your stakeholders? Is the question one that can be answered using data? Then, given the scope of data on which you can draw, is the question too big, too small, or just right?
2. Researchers mindset lives comfortably in the Grey Area 🤠
“Yes or no, can you let us know in a week?” This kind of stakeholder question makes UX researchers take a deep breath and do some relaxation techniques. Researchers have trained to shy away from definitive answers to research questions: how can it possibly be as simple as “yes” or “no”?
A researcher’s mindset thrives in crafting insights until they become inspirational. This is not because we want to be difficult or incomprehensible, but because we are trained to see nuances. We recognize the plethora of elements that can affect the outcome of our research: the fit of research participants, the analysis we use, the audience for insights. So to come up with a Yes or No is way more difficult than it seems.
Handling situations like these efficiently is the true identity of UX Researchers.
3. Researchers Mindset champions empathy 👥
As a UX Researcher, you should be always ready to conduct extensive research, perform careful analysis, Craft your insights share in an actionable way while remembering that your sworn duty is to be an outspoken advocate for the user and to be empathetic to the perspective of the users, not your own.
You also need to have empathy towards your stakeholders and understand their motivations, pain points, and perspective. You need this empathy to communicate our user’s insights in an appropriate and in the most actionable way.
How can you build a UX Researcher’s Mindset? 🤔
Although there are several ways and it totally depends on person to person, I had compiled some methods/Techniques which had worked for me and for the different Ux Research practitioners to gain and improve my research mindset.
Be like a Toddler👶
Try to observe like a toddler, and you don’t just have to observe but have to observe critically. You have to see and experience the things as if they are happening to you for the first time, and have to connect with people as if you are meeting them for the first time, free from all the biases. Also, try to document them by answering these questions, What did you understand about them?, What are their pain points, motivations, and frustrations?. This will help you to have improved empathy towards different people.
Try to explore new things🏂
Oftentimes, we are the superheroes of our own worlds. We know the ins and outs of our work and have formed strong opinions about how it should be used. Going into research with this mindset is dangerous; it makes us either dismissive of people having different ideas, or close to the opportunities that they are subtly expressing.
So for this, you can try traveling if time permits, can try some new cuisine, try to explore some new skills, or even It can be as simple as watching some type of archeology shows that you have not watched before or any other activity which you had not done before.
The goal is to get your mind and body back into a humble, growth mindset, and learning something new is a great way to do that.
Talk to people more often🗣
This is one of my favorite methods. As a Researcher, you have to be good at communication, and you have to be comfortable in talking to people, especially strangers.
I usually prefer talking to Uber/Ola drivers on my ride, asking them how a normal day looks in their life or asking about their favorite car or any other open-ended question which helps me understand more about him. Most of the time, I find new faces, new stories, new motivations, and new frustrations.
This method will make you a better communicator, will help you in increasing your ability to ask better questions(Because it’s a totally unstructured conversation and you want to listen to some interesting stories), and will also improve your empathy towards people.
See a starry sky✨
This might sound cliche, but looking at the sky helps put me in my place. It makes me realize that I am just a tiny speck in the universe and that there are other galaxies, solar systems, planets, and stars around us that we know nothing about. The same is true of the people around me. They all have their own stories and I need to find those out.
Befriend with your Stakeholders👨🏼🤝👨🏻
I know that every stakeholder is not collaborative or open to a conversation but it’s your job to figure out.
For this try to have at least one informal conversation with all of your stakeholders asking them questions like — what is one thing they would like to change in this organization, what is their story, why do they think that this research would be necessary, what are their dreams, or any other open-ended questions so that you can know what are their perspective, frustrations, and motivations this will help to present your insights in a most actionable way.
Connect with other Researchers🧐
Handling grey areas can only be learned with experience, but you can always leverage the experience of other researchers also. You should connect with some researchers, especially senior researchers inside/outside of the organizations to know how they are handling different types of situations.
They can even guide you with some of the methods or techniques which are best suited to the situations you are dealing with. This is a must-to-do thing!
Read Fiction Books📖
This is a method that has worked for me, I don’t know if it will work for everybody.
You can try reading good fiction books and try to empathize with the characters/protagonist and then ask yourself some questions in the middle of the story like why is this character doing this particular activity, What is the end goal of this character, and in the end, try to validate your assumptions.
This is just a fun trick to improve your empathy towards people, and it is always fun to play with assumptions and validation.
I had tried to cover several methods and techniques used by me and several other researchers, but every person and every organization has their own methods and approach to doing UX research. You can try these methods and try to find out which techniques or methods work best for you. In the end, it’s all about Self Awareness!
These are some tips that help me but I am sure you will also come up with your own. The most important thing is to recognize the mindset you are in, and then continuously evaluate what will help you to switch that mindset.
“ Researchers are more than a knowledge repository of research Methods, Researchers are more than just a representation of the user’s voice, Researchers are champions in the way of viewing the world! ”
Thank you for being such a patient reader, Would love to hear your methods and techniques.
Constructive criticism is always appreciated!🙂
Connect with me✅
- Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanguptarke/
- Twitter- https://twitter.com/GuptaAman_01
References
https://janelleward.com/2020/09/29/a-researchers-mindset/
https://medium.com/letters-to-a-young-designer/a-user-researchs-mindset-2712db3756df
https://uxdesign.cc/building-a-research-mindset-in-ux-when-cheat-sheets-are-not-enough-e0f156f44384
