User Research – Methods and Best Practices
How this course will help your career
What you will learn
- What qualitative user research is and why you should do it.
- How to fit user research into your own design process.
- How to plan user research projects that are valid and ethically sound.
- How to run a usability test, conduct a user interview, perform a contextual inquiry and make user observations.
- How to deal with the results of your research and apply qualitative analysis.
- How to make your research matter by communicating effectively about your research results—to clients, bosses, and other stakeholders
How are you planning to design a product or service that your users will love, if you don't know what they want in the first place? As a user experience designer, you shouldn't be relying on chance to design something outstanding, you should make the effort to understand your users and build on that knowledge from the outset. User research is the way in which do this and it can therefore be thought of as the largest part of user experience design.
In fact, user research is often the first step of a UX design process—after all, you cannot begin designing a product or service without first understanding what your users want. By gaining the skills required, and learning about the best practices in user research, you will be able to get first-hand knowledge of your users and design the optimal product—one that is truly relevant for your users and, subsequently, outperforms your competitors’.
This course will give you insights into the most essential qualitative research methods and teaches you how to put them into practice on your projects. We will also go into detail with how to plan user research and fit it into your own work processes in a way that maximizes the impact your research can have on your designs. On top of that, you will also learn how to analyze the results of your research and communicate your findings to your clients and stakeholders through workshops, user journeys, and personas.
We believe that you should learn from the best, so we have gathered a team of experts to help teach this course alongside our own course instructors. That means that in each of the lessons on research methods you will meet a new instructor who is an expert in his or her field.
Gain an industry-trusted UX Course Certificate
You earn a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you complete the course. You can highlight them on your resume, CV, LinkedIn profile or your website.
Our courses and Course Certificates are trusted by these industry leaders, who have taken up company memberships with the IDF:
Who should take this course
This is an intermediate-level course recommended for anyone involved or interested in product design and development:
- UX designers looking to broaden their UX careers with additional research techniques
- Project managers who are interested in techniques that will enable their design team to develop a greater understanding of users
- Entrepreneurs interested in building a user-centered product that users will want and purchase
- Marketers looking to gain a holistic view of customers’ needs and motivations
- Newcomers who are considering making the switch to UX design
Courses in the Interaction Design Foundation are designed to contain comprehensive, evidence-based content, while ensuring that the learning curve is never too steep. As a participant, you will have the opportunity to share ideas, seek help with tests, and enjoy the social aspects afforded by our open and friendly forum.
Learn and work with a global team of designers
When you take part in this course, you will join a global multidisciplinary team who are working on it and the exercises it contains at the same time as you are. You will work together to improve your skills and understanding. Your course group will be made up of an incredibly diverse group of professionals, all of whom have the same objective—to become successful designers. It’s your chance to learn, grow, and network with your peers across the planet. Given that, we urge you to take advantage of the resources available to you; become involved in group discussions and reach out to these like-minded people. We know that what you learn here may last a lifetime, but we also know that enjoying the experience while you are progressing through the course is just as important!
Lessons in this course
- Lessons become available at a schedule of one lesson per week.
- Lessons remain open for you forever and have no deadlines.
- There is no time limit to finish a course.
- You have permanent access to your course material, answers, and classmates for the entire duration of your membership.
- Estimated time to complete: 13 hours 22 mins spread over 7 weeks.
Lesson 0: Welcome and Introduction
Available once you start the course. Estimated time to complete: 50 mins.
Lesson 1: Why do User Research and How to Fit User Research into Your Everyday Work
Available once you start the course. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 55 mins.
Lesson 2: The Basics of Qualitative User Research
Available anytime after Mar 05, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 16 mins.
Lesson 3: Usability Testing
Available anytime after Mar 12, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 14 mins.
Lesson 4: Semi-Structured Qualitative Interviews
Available anytime after Mar 19, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 31 mins.
Lesson 5: Contextual Inquiry
Available anytime after Mar 26, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 3 hours 3 mins.
Lesson 6: User Observations
Available anytime after Apr 02, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 2 hours 37 mins.
Lesson 7: How to Make Your Research Matter
Available anytime after Apr 09, 2019. Estimated time to complete: 56 mins.
Lesson 8: Course Certificate, Final Networking, and Course Wrap-up
Available anytime after Apr 16, 2019.
Learning paths
This course is part of 4 learning paths:
How others have benefited
Ulrike Bruckenberger, Austria
“I enjoyed the mix between video and text very much and I am sure that it improved my learning experience. In general the content of the course was very interesting to me and I consider it very useful for improving in doing user research. I really like the possibility to download templates about different methods because they enable me to easily look up the most important information.”
Laura Gieco, Australia
“A strength of the course was the instructors' knowledge and examples from their own experience. I find it very useful when someone tells you stories, in this case about situations when they did research. The lessons where very easy to follow and understand.”
Juan Esteban Arango Florez, Colombia
“The course instructor has a lot of knowledge and experience, and can explain the topics without a problem.”
How to advance your career with IDF courses
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Attend lessons at your own pace
Each week throughout the course, you get access to a new lesson, but you can move through the lessons at your own pace. This means you can learn before you leave for work, or in between breaks — in as little as 15 minutes per day.
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Network online and offline
Network with your fellow course-takers online, through discussion forums inside lessons. You can also connect with your peers offline via IDF’s Local Groups. Local Groups connect you with other designers around your city who share the same passion in UX design as you.
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Advance your career
Get a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you’ve scored at least 70% on a course. Highlight your Course Certificates on your résumé, your LinkedIn profile, or your website to showcase your newly mastered skills.
Start advancing your career now
Become a member to take “User Research – Methods and Best Practices”. Take any other IDF UX courses at no additional cost. Take a concrete step forward in your career path today.