Welcome to the world of user research! With PlaybookUX, you can recruit participants to test various products, prototypes, and experiences with a few simple clicks! This guide will help walk you through the different methodologies that we offer (unmoderated testing, moderated testing, card sorting, and tree testing) in greater detail.
New to the world of UX Research or looking for a good place to start? The first thing to do is to determine what type of research you are looking to conduct!
You’ll hear the terms "qualitative research" and "quantitative research" used quite a lot - but what does this mean?
Qualitative Research focuses on the individual opinion, experience, and feeling towards the product or environment you are testing. Questions in a qualitative research study are often framed as "what" and "why" to get deeper analysis from the participants and get their connection to, or adverse reaction from, the subject of the study. While it is helpful to get a lot of feedback in research, industry standards recommend about 5-10 participants total for this type of study for the best results.
An example of qualitative research:
Let's say you work for a company that sells glasses - maybe you are looking to update your online shopping experience by changing the "add to cart" button and process. If you were looking to do a qualitative research study, you may ask your participants questions like "what would you improve on this page?" "How would you describe this page, in your own words?" "what icon on this page jumps out at you the most/least?"
Quantitative Research focuses on the numerical data of the product or environment you are testing. Instead of focusing on the more individualized responses, quantitative research uses surveys, questionnaires, tests (like card sorts and tree tests) to pull together data for analysis on the success or failure of the study. For best results, industry standards recommend anywhere from 10-50 participants for this type of study.
An example of quantitative research:
Let's say your glasses company is thinking of launching a new line, but you wanna get a better idea of what your customers are looking for. If you were looking to do a quantitative research study, you may ask participants questions like "how often do you buy glasses?" "how likely are you to buy a new pair of sunglasses before summer?" "what category would you put this pair of glasses?"