--- title: User Research description: User research focuses on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation, interviews, and feedback. You will understand how to conduct qualitative and quantitative studies, create user personas, and translate research insights into actionable product design decisions. category: arts-design subcategory: ui/ux-design difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/user-research --- # User Research User research focuses on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation, interviews, and feedback. You will understand how to conduct qualitative and quantitative studies, create user personas, and translate research insights into actionable product design decisions. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 2 Courses • 3 Websites ## Websites ### 1. UserInterviews User Interviews' free UX Research Field Guide, a multi-module handbook covering research planning, participant recruiting, interviews, usability testing, surveys, synthesis and research operations, with templates. Readers learn to plan, run and analyze a research study end to end. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.userinterviews.com/ux-research-field-guide **Tags:** user-research, ux-research, participant-recruiting, usability-testing, research-operations ### 2. nngroup.com NN/g (Nielsen Norman Group) is a leading UX research and consulting firm that publishes evidence-based articles on usability, interaction design, and user experience best practices. It also offers training, reports, and resources to help teams apply proven UX methods to digital products. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://nngroup.com **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, cognitive-science ### 3. UX Collective Independent online publication, founded by Fabricio Teixeira and Caio Braga, publishing practitioner essays on UX research, interaction and interface design, design systems, accessibility and design careers. Its weekly newsletter curates industry writing, helping designers keep current with practice and critique. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://uxdesign.cc **Tags:** ux-design, interaction-design, ux-research, design-systems, product-design ## Courses ### 1. User Research – Methods and Best Practices Learn user research methods & best practices with this comprehensive course from the IDF Team. Master user-centered design! **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.interaction-design.org/courses/user-research-methods-and-best-practices **Tags:** user-research, ux-research, user-interviews, usability-testing, user-centered-design ### 2. User Research and Design **Author:** Loren Terveen, Haiyi Zhu, Lana Yarosh University of Minnesota course on user experience research methods, covering interviews, focus groups, contextual inquiry, surveys and log analysis, then turning findings into personas, use cases and design ideas. Learners can plan user studies and translate the results into design decisions. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/design-research **Tags:** user-research, ux-research, personas, usability, interaction-design ## Podcasts ### 1. Understanding Users: The UX Podcast **Author:** Mike Green Interview podcast hosted by UK user researcher Mike Green, who talks with UX research and design practitioners about research methods, research operations, career paths, and leading research teams. Listeners gain practical perspective on how user research works inside organisations. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://understandingusers.podbean.com **Tags:** user-research, ux-research, research-operations, ux-careers ## Books ### 1. Just Enough Research **Author:** Erika Hall Erika Hall's short, opinionated book on doing useful design research with limited time and budget: stakeholder and user interviews, competitive and evaluative research, and turning findings into decisions. Readers learn to pick the right method and run lightweight studies themselves. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937557103?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, arts-design, uiux-design ### 2. Interviewing Users **Author:** Steve Portigal Steve Portigal's practical guide to planning and running in-depth user research interviews: recruiting participants, framing questions, building rapport, probing without leading, documenting sessions, and turning what people say into insights a product or design team can act on. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/193382011X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, arts-design, uiux-design ### 3. The User Experience Team of One **Author:** Leah Buley Leah Buley's survival guide for designers and researchers working as the sole UX practitioner in an organization. Presents lightweight research and design methods, plus tactics for building stakeholder support, so one person can run user-centered projects with limited time and resources. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1933820187?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** ux-practice, user-research, ux-methods, stakeholder-management, lean-ux --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/user-research