Weekly Challenge 1: Research in the design process | Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate | Week 1

Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate (Week-1)

Weekly Challenge 1: Research in the design process

Introduction to Course 2, Understand the role of research in design, Explore UX research methods, Identify biases in UX research

Question 1

What is the goal of UX research?

Prioritizing the user (Correct answer)

Projecting the success of a product

Understanding what the business wants

Defining the outcome for the design solution

 

 

Why this answer?

The goal of user experience research is to prioritize the user. In order to do so, researchers must focus on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations.

 

Question 2

A design team is developing a new product and they want to understand how to build it. Which type of research can best help the team answer their question?

Foundational

Design (Correct answer)

Post-launch

.

Question 3

There are three key qualities that UX researchers usually possess. Which of these qualities helps UX researchers practically solve problems?

Pragmatism (Correct answer)

Collaboration

Empathy

Why this answer?

Pragmatism is a practical approach to problem solving and is one of the key qualities of a good UX researcher. Typically, pragmatic people are focused on reaching goals.

 

Question 4

Which of the following is a primary UX research method?

Interviews (Correct answer)

Journals

Books

Articles

Why this answer?

Interviews are an example of a primary research method.

 

Question 5

A design team has finished developing a cat-sitter application for mobile users and they’ve launched the app. After multiple iterations of testings and prototypes, the team wants to see how real users have interacted with their product. At this stage, what kind of research in the product development life cycle should they employ?

Post-launch research (Correct answer)

Foundational research

Design research

Why this answer?

The team needs to understand how users experienced the product, whether it was a strong or weak user experience, and assess their successes and goals reached. In this case, the team needs to conduct post-launch research.

 

Question 6

Which type of bias is an overestimation of the number of people who will agree with an idea or design?

Sunk cost fallacy

Primacy bias

Confirmation bias

False consensus bias (Correct answer)

Why this answer?

The assumption that others will think the same way we do creates false consensus.

 

Question 7

Sunk cost fallacy bias refers to the idea that the deeper a designer invests their time into a project, the harder it is to change course without feeling like the project failed. Identify a method that can help overcome the sunk cost fallacy bias.

Practice active listening and ask open-ended questions

Identify and articulate assumptions before interviews or conversations

Segment your project into smaller, more manageable phases (Correct answer)

Take detailed notes or recordings and interview each participant the same way

Why this answer?

Segmenting your project into smaller, more manageable phases allows a designer to designate points where they can decide to continue or stop.

 

Question 8

Consider the following scenario:

 

A: After launching their mobile app, a design team learns that users are experiencing glitches with the product. To solve the problem, the design and engineering teams collaborate to release a software update. Now, they want to understand if this changed user engagement with the app. They collect data on the monthly install rate, uninstall rate, and download count. They compare the data.

Secondary research

Quantitative research (Correct answer)

Survey research

Qualitative research

Why this answer?

This is quantitative research, which focuses on measurable results shared as numerical answers. Quantitative research gives you the “what,” and qualitative research gives you the “why.”

 

Question 9

Imagine that a design team needs to evaluate a mobile app prototype before the next design iteration. They want to learn about user pain points and fix any problems before the product launches. What is the most appropriate research method?

Interviews

Usability study (Correct answer)

Key performance indicator

Surveys

Why this answer?

Usability studies help designers evaluate a product by testing it on users. Though testing, designers identify pain points, and prioritize key issues to fix before the product launches.

 

Question 10

In a usability study, how does the user interact with a product?

In an independent setting, without other users present

In a varied, real-world environment

In a controlled, lab setting

 

In an open, public environment with guests and real-world distractions (Correct answer)

11.

Question 11

When developing a product, what benefits does interview research provide for design teams? Select all that apply.

Observe how users interact with a product

Ask follow-up questions about the user’s experience (Correct answer)

Uncover the preferences of a large group of users

Understand what users think and why (Correct answer)

Question 12

Consider the following scenario:

 

Imagine that a UX designer creates an app for saving, organizing, and streaming podcasts. To learn about user experiences with their product, the designer conducts interviews with a select group of target users: podcast enthusiasts. The researcher interviews 10 respondents and remembers the end of the last interview most clearly. The researcher uses this final interview to guide their thinking.

 

What are some methods the researcher can use to avoid the impact of their recency bias? Select all that apply.

Record each interview that they conduct (Correct answer)

Take detailed notes during interviews (Correct answer)

 

Hire an outside research team to conduct the interviews

Survey large groups of people to supplement the interviews