A guide to Exploratory Research methods for UX Design
Introduction to Exploratory Research
As a UX Researcher, your first job will always be to act as a user ambassador. Your understanding of their needs is paramount to your ability to represent them. One of the best ways for researchers to fully understand their users is to immerse themselves in their world. Exploratory Research is a holistic approach to user research that gives a clear understanding of user pain points and unmet needs to reduce re-working projects and lessen your organization’s UX debt.
What is Exploratory Research in UX / Product Design?
Also known as generative research, discovery research or foundational research, exploratory research is typically conducted when little or nothing is known about a particular area (but can be used at any point during the UX design cycle). The goal of exploratory research is to get a more holistic context of users’ experiences by using any combination of qualitative research methods (user interviews, diary studies, etc).
The goal of exploratory research is best summarized by these five keywords:
Uncover
Discover
Understand
Explore
Learn
The result of exploratory research in UX is a deep understanding of the unmet, unarticulated needs of your user that helps you build user empathy and design more impactful products, services and experiences.
“Exploratory research seeks to understand the broader context of users’ experience with the intention of providing the user with something they need (even if they themselves do not know it yet). Clearly communicating these discovered needs to your stakeholders is imperative for this representation.”
What Exploratory Research methods are used in UX and Product Design?
There are multiple exploratory research methods and exploratory research tools that can be used in UX Research and Experience design. Typically the go-to exploratory research method of user researchers is a User Interview or Focus Group. Both of these research methodologies are synchronous qualitative research approaches. Although quick and easy to do, they are limited to a single context, take place in a limited time window and, because you have to rely on what research participants tell you, all insights surfaced are based on claimed behaviour versus actual behaviours.
If you want to learn more about the limitation of user interviews or online focus groups, check out this post.
Although this post will focus on Mobile Ethnography (an asynchronous qualitative exploratory research method), the following are some of the various qualitative exploratory research methods that can be used in UX research and Experience Design.
Pre-tasking (as a way to augment your user interviews)
In this post, we give you a quick introduction to our Mobile Ethnography platform and how you can use it for Exploratory UX Research.
Mobile Ethnography tools for Exploratory Research
With a new age of remote work and interaction, mobile ethnography (also known as online or digital ethnography) provides a way for you to observe your users in the most “organic” way possible (aside from following them around in person). Classic field research can be efficiently replaced with its mobile counterpart by exploring the user’s world from the palm of their hand. One can uncover preconceived biases, discover user pain points, explore behavioral patterns and environmental factors, and learn about your users’ motivations and fears.
Key Features of Mobile Ethnography for Exploratory Research
Mobile Ethnography allows you to go broad and deep simultaneously by providing deeper context around behavioral clues while revealing conscious and unconscious evidence.
Observations can be framed in new ways, providing new pathways to growth
You can capture multiple points of user behavior that unfold over time.
Exploratory research done with mobile ethnography can provide insight into perceived outliers that don’t happen frequently but occur predictably.
It is a great way to uncover hidden biases and refocus on actual user needs.
“Set up a demo; you’ll be pleasantly surprised with how simple and intuitive the platform is”
Let our tools support your Exploratory Research
When considering exploratory research through mobile ethnography, make sure you follow the three “R’s” of the user ambassador:
Research behaviors & environment.
Represent your users effectively.
Real needs are the key to a successful product.
The best way you can uncover, discover, explore, and learn about your user base is to immerse yourself in their environment and let the results show themselves. You may be surprised.