Blog - June UX

Strategies for Avoiding Uncomfortable Situations During UX Research Sessions

Picture yourself in the following scenarios…

How might you react if a research participant said something racist, was almost naked from the waist down on Zoom, suddenly burst into tears, or was morally offended by the choice of snacks provided by the research facility?

Or… what if one of your observers started flirting with one of your research participants, complained in front of everyone (including your boss!) that the research wasn’t uncovering anything new, or made a bigoted comment about a participant?

My Experience Taking the CCXP Exam

I was mentally prepared to fail the CCXP exam this past weekend, but as it turned out—it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I expected or feared. I was nervous there would be a lot of trick questions, questions about obscure facts, and/or highly subjective questions.

To my relief, those fears were unfounded.

There isn’t a lot of specific information online about the testing process by other CCXPs, so wanted to share my experience and observations for future exam-takers.

How to Conduct an Open Card Sort Analysis Using Miro

Open card sort analysis is part science, part art. The raw data will tell you generally how people group and organize items, but luckily, UXers have a little creative license when writing the exact right label for each category.

If you’re a visual learner or want to experiment with a different way (other than Excel) to analyze an open card sort… onward!

Cluster analysis showing relationships between items

16 Tips for Conducting 100-Person Focus Groups and Brainstorm Sessions in Zoom

Recently, I co-facilitated four 100-person focus groups and two 100-person brainstorm sessions using Zoom web conferencing software—and learned some important lessons.

Evaluating UX Research Plans & Reports

Need to provide critical feedback on a UX research plan or UX findings report for a colleague? Or maybe you’d like to self-assess your own work and improve your process?

Can Empathy Be Taught?

Scientists think so.

There’s evidence that empathy is both a trait and a state. People can be naturally empathic, just like some people are naturally creative, humble, or diplomatic. And good news… less empathic people can learn to get better at it.

Can Empathy Be Measured?

Yes! There is actually more than one way to effectively measure empathy—and one way that is a waste of time.

What Is Empathy… Really?

Empathy pays. Caring deeply about your customers isn’t just the right thing to do—empathy is good business.

Empirical research shows there is a direct correlation between employee empathy and business outcomes (e.g., profitability, customer satisfaction). Employees with high empathy are less likely to burnout (e.g., call out sick, quit, disengage).

So what exactly is empathy? It’s a term that often gets thrown around, but what does it actually mean to be empathic? What does it look like?

Experience Is Experience Is Experience

What is UX? Is UX the same thing as website design? In just a moment, I’ll set up my very bright spotlight to bring different aspects of the broad field of UX out of the shadows.

First, UX is shorthand for user experience.

Second, there are LOTS of kinds of user experiences—not all of them happen on a website. Or even the majority of them! Most people are awake 16-18 hours every day, and most of those experiences don’t include a website (e.g., showering, dressing, walking the dog).

UX designers, researchers, and strategists work across multiple experience disciplines, or may specialize in just one.

When to Use Which UX Research Deliverable

UX research encompasses all types of research activities: user research, competitive research, stakeholder or subject matter expert interviews, audits, analytics, and other information sources—with the goal of helping organizations understand how to better serve their users.

Think beyond the traditional research report! Below is a list of UX research deliverables you can use to help you communicate strategy or research insights with greater impact and engagement.