UX Research Methods That Actually Work

Not all research is created equal. After years of trial and error, these are the methods I return to again and again.

The Three I Use Most

Contextual inquiry. Watch people use your product in their actual environment. Not a usability lab, but their desk, their phone, their commute. You’ll learn more in 30 minutes of observation than 10 hours of interviews.

Task analysis. Break down a user goal into its component steps. Then ask: which steps can be eliminated? Which can be automated? Which are creating unnecessary cognitive load?

Diary studies. Have users log their experiences over a week or two. Patterns emerge that single-session research misses entirely.

What I’ve Stopped Doing

A/B testing for big decisions. A/B tests optimize local maxima. They tell you whether a green button beats a blue one. They don’t tell you whether you’re solving the right problem.

Research isn’t about validating your ideas. It’s about discovering what you didn’t know you didn’t know.