“As a UX Design [Researcher], I strive to be challenging and direct, but not judgmental; warm, open-minded, and willing to let people explore a variety of ideas; careful to not rush to a solution; and deeply mindful of the intricacies of the problems we are tasked with solving.”
Borrowed from alora Tishok Who was inspired by esther perel
Guiding Principles
Research is a team sport. Going on the research journey is more meaningful and actionable than simply consuming an output. Engaging folks throughout the process is imperative for work to have impact.
Research is living and iterative. The benefit of having an in-house research team is the ability to build a deeper understanding of your users over time. A given project should not aim to answer all questions - just enough research is enough research - but each project should build on the ones before it to work towards a cohesive (and ever-changing) understanding of your users.
Research is driven by goals, not interest alone. Research for the sake of research can be interesting, but is rarely impactful. All research projects should be properly scoped and grounded in the context in which the research is being conducted.
For more on this topic, check out Monty Hammontree’s The Future of UX Research in which he beautifully describes where the practice of UX Research needs to be headed (in my humble opinion).