The UX Research Resource Guide

My list of articles, videos and podcasts on getting into UX Research, from understanding methods and the research processs, to preparing for your UX Research job applications. Any resoures missing? Let me know.

UX Research Book Recommendations

Free articles are great to get a first understanding of a topic but I can't recommend enough to buy 1-3 books on UX Research to go really deep. This is how I learned the most initially during my studies. Here are books I have read or other recommended to me.

• Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Research Methods (Amazon)
• Just Enough Research by Erika Hall (Amazon)
• Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights by Steve Portigal (Amazon)
• Observing The User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research by Elizabeth Goodman, Mike Kuniavsky, and Andrea Moed (Amazon)
• Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior by Indi Young (Amazon)
• User Experience Research: Discover What Customers Really Want (Amazon)
• Think Like a UX Researcher: How to Observe Users, Influence Design, and Shape Business Strategy by David Travis and Philip Hodgson (Amazon)
• Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests by Jeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell (Amazon)
• Surveys That Work: A Practical Guide for Designing and Running Better Surveys (Amazon)
• Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting UX Metrics (Amazon)
• It's Our Research: Getting Stakeholder Buy-in for User Experience Research Projects (Amazon)

Books more broadly about UX

• The User Experience Team of One (Amazon)
• Sketching User Experiences (Amazon)
• The Essentials of Interaction Design (Amazon)
• The Elements of User Experience (Amazon)
• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman (Amazon)
• Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug (Amazon)
• UX for Lean Startups (Amazon)

Psychology and Behavioral Sciences for UX

• Design for How People Think: Using Brain Science to Build Better Products by John Whalen, Ph.D. (Amazon)
• Practical Empathy: For Collaboration and Creativity in Your Work (Amazon)
• Make Your Customers Dance: The Key To User Experience Is Knowing Your Audience (Amazon)
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products (Amazon)

What is UX Research?

Introduction articles

• What Is UX Research and Why Is It Important? (Article)
• The ultimate beginners guide to UX research in 2022 (Article)

What's work life like as a UX Researcher

• 30 Days in the Shoes of a User Researcher (Article)
• Things I wish I knew before becoming a UX Researcher (Video, 7 min)
• A realistic day in the life of a UXR (Video, 13 min)
• Reflections of First Year UX Researchers (Video, 100 min)

Miscellaneous

• The Evolution of Evidence-Based Design (Article)
• Psychology for UX: Study Guide (Guide)

UX Research Training

Free Training Material

• Aona's "New to UX Research" YouTube playlist (14 videos)
• What bootcamps don't teach you about UX Research (Video, 59 min)
• UX Research Introduction Course for Beginners of User Experience Researcher Career (Video, 21 min)

UX Research courses, free and paid.

You can sign up for Coursera courses for free. Read here how.

• User Experience Research and Design Specialization (Link)
• UX Research by HEC Montreal (Link)
• Interaction Design Specialization by the University of California, San Diego (Link)
• Understanding Research Methods by the University of London (Link)
• Conduct UX Research by Google (Link)
• UX Research for Beginners by CareerFoundry (Link)
• User Experience — Applied Research and Design (Link)

Courses specific to Usability Testing

• Usability Testing Boot Camp by Dr. David Travis. 48 Lectures with quizzes and bonus materials, 8 hours and 21 minutes of video content (Link)
• Design Thinking – Introduction to Usability Testing. 2-3 hours and free (Link)
• Conducting Usability Testing by Frank Spillers. 4:30hrs (Link)
• Usability Testing Course Outline. 7 weeks at 4 hours a week (Link)
• UX Foundations: Usability Testing by Chris Nodder. 1 :30hrs (Link)
• Fast-start Usability Testing and UX Research UX Research Methods. 2:30hrs (Link)
• How to Carry Out a Usability Expert Review. 5:30hrs (Link)

Overview of UX Research Methods

• When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods (Article)
• UX Research Cheat Sheet (Article)
• User Research Method Cards (Article, PDF)
• Conducting User Interviews, Usability Testing, and Surveys (Articles)

UX Research guides covering a variety of topics

• The User Experience Research Field Guide (Guide)
• Running a remote user research study (Guide)
• Start UX Research gracefully: Goal-Directed UX Research (Guide)
• User Research: Seven Steps to Master User Research (Article)
• Research for Strategy Design (Guide)
• User Testing: The Ultimate How-To Guide (Guide)

Writing UX Research plans

• User Research 101 — How to write a solid research plan (Article)
• How to create a practical user research plan (Article)
• Create a user research plan with these steps (Article)
• „5 Users Are Enough“…for what, exactly? (Article)
• Five UX questions to keep in mind when you start your research (Article)
• What is a user research discussion guide and why do you need one? (Article)

Quantitative UX Research

• How A / B Testing Improves Your Product and Service Launch (Article)

Usability Testing

• Usability testing discussion guide (Article)
• Usability Testing for Enterprise Products: Everything You Need to Know (Article)

User Interviews

• A survival guide to user interviews (Article)
• Mistakes When Crafting Interview Questions (Article)
• Guide to User Interviews (Article)

Field Research

• UX Research: What Customers Can Expect During a Site Visit (Article)

Diary Studies

• User Diary Studies - An effective research method for evaluating user behavior long-term (Article)

Participant Recruiting

• Defining Target or Test Groups (Article)
• How to recruit B2B UX research participants (Article)
• Things to Consider When Choosing Participants for the UX Research Interviews (Article)

Mixed Methods

• Better together: a mixed methods approach to user research (Article)
• The only introduction to Mixed Method Research you’ll need (Article)
• A Primer on Mixed Methods UX Research (Article)

Secondary Research

• Secondary Research in UX (Article)

UX Research Process

Overview of the UX Research Processs

• How to Create a Repeatable Process for UX Research (Article, template)
• User Research — more than you expect (Article)

Analyzing Data

• All the research data has been gathered… Now what? (Article)
• Thematic analysis: data wrangling in design (Article)
• Synthesizing UX Research: Making What's "Mysterious" Clear (Article)
• A Complete Guide to Writing a Research Summary (Article)
• Affinity Mapping: How to Synthesize User Research Data in 5 Steps (Article)

Socializing UX Research & working with stakeholders

• Stakeholder Analysis for UX Projects (Article)
• Involving Stakeholders in User Testing (Article)
• How to Collaborate with Stakeholders in UX Research (Article)
• Collaborating With Stakeholders (Video)
• 31 Creative UX Research Presentations and Reports – Templates and Examples (Article)
• Supergluing insights: How to make your research stick with stakeholders (Video)
• How to write a UX research report and present your findings (Link)

Applying & Interviewing for UX Research positions

Guides on how to land a UX Research job or internship

• I Want a UX Job! How to Make a Career Change into UX Research (Amazon)
• How to Land a UX Research Internship (with Open Listings) (Article)
• A guide to getting UX Research internships (Article)
• How to get a UX research job – Tips from industry experts (Article)
• In-demand UX research characteristics: An analysis of 100 open jobs (Article)
• Common questions asked by students pursuing UXR (Article)
• How to Find a New Job: An HBR Guide (Article)
• Path to be a UX researcher and how to stand out (Video, 32 min)

Transitioning into UX Research from Academia and elsewhere

• What I wish I knew, when transitioning from academic research to UX research (Article)
• Transitioning from Cognitive science academic research to UX Research (Article)
• The 6 biggest changes going from grad school to UX research, and how to prepare (Article)
• Transfer Your Academic Skills to the World of UX (Article)
• 10 Things You Should Know about Moving from Academia to Industry (Article)
• From PhD to UX Researcher: Perspectives from Google and Twitter (Video)
• Crossing Over to a career in UX Research (Video)
• From PhD to UX Researcher (Slides)
• From Academia to UX: Understanding User Research Lingo (Article)
• Differences between Academic and Industry Research (from a recovering academic) (Article)
• How to transition from academia to UX research (Article)

The UX Research Portfolio & Resume

• The Ultimate Guide to Building a UX Research Portfolio – with Great Examples (Article)
• What not to do in a UX Research portfolio (Article)
• User research portfolios — belly up to the BAR (Article)
• Effective Resumes for UX Career Changers (Article)
• Tell a compelling story with your UX portfolio (Article)

The UX Research Take Home Challenge

• Create a realistic UXR case study by avoiding this approach (Article)

The UX Research Interview

• A Cheatsheet for User Interview and Follow Ups Questions (Article)
• UX research interviews: what to expect (Part 1, Part 2)
• What to expect from technical UX research interview questions (Article)
• 10 tips for acing your UX research job interview (Article)
• Cracking The UX Researcher Interview (Article)
• UX Researcher Job Interview TIPS | How to Prepare for UX Recruiter Call & Hiring Manager part 1 (Video, 16 min)
• How I Prepared: UX Research Interview at Google (Video, 19 min)
• Typical UX Researcher Interview Process and my Google interview experience (Video, 12 min)
• A Recruiter Tells You How To Get A UX Researcher Job (ft. Melissa Albright) (Podcast, 40 min)
• What goes behind a UX Research Intern Interview @Meta (Video, 7 min)
• Why are you rejected in UX research interviews? (What I learned) (Video, 16 min)
• How to get ready for UX UI interviews (Video, 1hr)

UX Research Interview Questions

• 33 UX Researcher Interview Questions Worth Preparing For (Article)
• 46 Interview Questions for User Experience Researchers at Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook (Article)
• Common UX Research Job Interview Questions & How to Answer Them (Article)
• User Experience Interview Questions & Answers (Article)
• The 4 Types of UX Interview Questions to Master (Article)
• UX research interview discussion: the big questions (Article)
• 5 Questions You’ll Be Asked In Your UX Research Job Interview (Video, 5 min)

Understanding UX Research Hiring: and those who hire

• How to prepare for a UXR interview as a hiring manager (Article)
• Hire the Right User Researcher: How to Write a Compelling Take-Home Challenge (Article)
• How to grow a successful UX research team (Article)
• Hiring Interviews Are Terrible: Smart UX Teams Structure Them (Article)

Case Studies

• Testing the Design of the German Corona-Warn-App: Online Studies (Article)
• Remote Usability Testing at SAPPHIRE: Shaping the Future of SAP Products (Article)
• Rewards and Pains: User Research in Brazil (Article)

Mindset, on the job and wellbeing

• What to expect in the first 90 days on the job as a UX Researcher (Article)
• Think like a user researcher to level up job hunting, problem solving, collaboration and more (Article)
• The Value of Asking Deep Questions and Fostering the Research Mindset (Article)

Advanced UX Research topics

• The challenges of inheriting a research team (Article)
• Fighting insight waste with research repositories (Article)
• Building User Research Teams: How to create UX research teams that deliver impactful insights (Amazon)

Not enough? Here are sites linking to more UXR resources

• UX Research Resources, by the Learners Community (Collection)
• UX.Collection: Everything you need to kickstart your UX journey (Collection)
• The UX Cookbook (Collection)
• Basic bibliography to learn about UX Research (Collection)

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