Career Path: UX Researcher

As more and more companies realise how vital good UX is for modern success, there are increasing opportunities for interesting and well-paid work.

You've heard of the opportunities and benefits of working in UX, and you are drawn to working in the industry, but what are your options in terms of the type of work available?

Yes, you can obviously work as a more generalist UX Designer (with elements of User Research), but maybe you're not so hot with the visual side of things? Fear not, why not consider the role of UX Researcher instead?

WHO IS THE RESEARCHER ROLE SUITED TO?

To really get the most out of the role, it is best suited to those with an interest in people from a psychological and sociological perspective. People who are genuinely interested as to why we do the things we do, buy what we buy, prefer what we prefer. People who are interested in people generally.

Day to day you would be involved in participant recruitment, writing screener questions, booking out rooms and making general arrangements. You will be communicating regularly with your team and stakeholders in the project, presenting your plans and your findings, analysing data etc - as well as conducting the actual usability tests and interviews etc.

So, as well as having excellent people skills, you need to be organised with an eye for detail and the ability to communicate and present well via a range of mediums. You need to be able to prioritise effectively and follow logical processes to ensure you progress effectively along with the rest of the team.

SPEAKING TO THE BOSS

The user/customer is the boss - and as a Researcher you get to hear and then pass on what the boss wants the team to do. Research influences and underpins all aspects of a product development project abd the findings are ignored at it's peril. Therefore, it may be exciting to have such an important role within a project and to be the one who discovers and then communicates whether something is going to fly or crash and burn. It can be very interesting to see and hear first hand whether the intuition and skills of the team were proved right where it counts.

NOT SO CREATIVE

While there is scope for creativity in terms of facilitating test sessions etc, and there is plenty of variety in the role, you won't be able to be very creative. The validity of the data you collect and collate relies upon your ability to very closely follow a script to ensure that the findings are authentic and not tainted by your influence or framing in any way. You must be as least of a compounding variable as possible and the best way to ensure this is to follow established best practise procedures where you don't go off-script.

CONCLUSION

It is always good to have options. Maybe you are attracted to UX but were not quite comfortable with the visual creative ideas side of things. Maybe then becoming a UX Researcher IS for you? It is always good to niche-down as they say these days, or to have a focus of specialty rather than being a generalist. There are less UX Researcher roles out there but there are plenty enough - and the barrier to entry is lower than as a UX Designer AND it typically starts at a higher rate (UK) of pay.

Give it some thought. Really get into the day-to-day reality and see how you feel.

I hope someone somewhere found this post useful!

'Til next time.

Steven Cook

www.contentdesignsolutions.co.uk