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User research: methods and best practices

This course will give you insights into the most essential qualitative research methods around and will teach you how to put them into practice in your design work.

Short course Intermediate User research

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What you’ll 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.

User research is often the first step of a UX design process—after all, you cannot begin to design a product or service without first understanding what your users want! As you gain the skills required, and learn about the best practices in user research, you’ll get first-hand knowledge of your users and be able to design the optimal product—one that’s truly relevant for your users and, subsequently, outperforms your competitors’.

This course will give you insights into the most essential qualitative research methods around and will teach you how to put them into practice in your design work. You’ll also have the opportunity to embark on three practical projects where you can apply what you’ve learned to carry out user research in the real world. You’ll learn details about how to plan user research projects and fit them into your own work processes in a way that maximizes the impact your research can have on your designs. On top of that, you’ll gain practice with different methods that will help you analyze the results of your research and communicate your findings to your clients and stakeholders—workshops, user journeys and personas, just to name a few!

By the end of the course, you’ll have not only a Course Certificate but also three case studies to add to your portfolio. And remember, a portfolio with engaging case studies is invaluable if you are looking to break into a career in UX design or user research!

We believe you should learn from the best, so we’ve gathered a team of experts to help teach this course alongside our own course instructors. That means you’ll meet a new instructor in each of the lessons on research methods who is an expert in their field—we hope you enjoy what they have in store for you!

Course details

Institution

Course type
Short course

Level
Intermediate

Qualification
Certificate of completion

Length
14 hours over seven weeks

Cost
£144/yr or £30/month


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