Module 3: Problem
Discovery
Product Management Career Accelerator
Program
Agenda
User Research
Types of User Research
Landscape of User Research
Popular Generative Research Techniques
Problem Discovery Framework
What is User Research
● What is user research?
○ The practice of studying users to generate
insights about their needs, behaviors, pain
points
○ Market research focuses on defining the
broad contours of the market and measuring
its viability while user research helps with
deeply understanding the user
● Why is user research important?
○ We build products to be used by other
customers and not by us
○ Without user research, our understanding of
users is highly likely to be shaped by our
biases
More reading: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/user-research
Types of User Research
Generative vs Evaluative Research Primary vs Secondary Research
● User research is a continuous exercise meant to be ● Primary research involves directly talking to
carried out throughout the product lifecycle customers to gather information about
● Generative research focuses on understanding them; It is very useful when you are going
user needs and discovering problems; It is done after latent needs
early in the design process before solutions have ● Secondary research involves leveraging
been defined somebody elses research or secondary
● Evaluative research focuses on assessing the resources; Secondary research is better
usability and effectiveness of a solution; It is done suited for conducting market research or to
using a prototype or full solution quickly get up to speed on well established
user needs
Qualitative vs Quantitative Research
● Qualitative research uses qualitative means of Attitudinal vs Behavioral Research
gathering information about the user; It is better ● Attitudinal research is conducted to
suited for generative research since it is subjective understand what a user thinks, feels,
or open ended believes, etc.
● Quantitative research gathers data about the user ● Behavioral research is focused on
through a measurement; It is better suited for understanding what people actually do
evaluative research since it is quantified
Landscape of User Research
Behavior
al
Attitudin
al
Qualitati Quantitati
ve ve
More reading: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/
Popular Generative Research Techniques
User Interviews Ethnographic Studies
● A conversation with a single participant at a time ● A research method rooted in
aimed at getting a deeper understanding of the anthropology where one immerses
user’s needs, beliefs, experiences, etc. themselves in the field or the real
● Most common form of user research and the go to life environment of a user or a
method to conduct both generative and evaluative community
research ● It is highly recommended to do this
● They are usually semi structured when researching a user segment
that is extremely different from you
Focus Group Discussions and your team
● A moderated conversation with a group of
participants aimed at getting a deeper Diary Studies
understanding of the user’s needs, beliefs, ● A research method where
experiences, etc. participants keep a log of their
● They are useful over interviews if you want to test a thoughts, experiences, activities
social dynamic, make participants comfortable, get over a period of time
diverse viewpoints, or conduct a broad strokes ● It is an inexpensive proxy for an
research ethnographic study
● However, group think can make focus group ● It is a great way to generate a user
discussions unreliable and participants may not feel
More reading: https://www.userinterviews.com/ux-research-field-guide-module/discovery-methods; More journey
watching: map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Problem Discovery Framework
Primary &
Market
Secondary
viability
research
Segmentatio Generative Attitudinal &
Market Behavioral
n& User
Targeting research research
research
Qualitative &
Positioning Quantitative
research
Viable Opportunity
- A deep understanding of user needs,
behaviours, pain points
- A measure of the viability of the opportunity
