Democratizing UX Research: Empowering Non-Experts
In today's world, the responsibilities and expectations within our jobs are continuously growing, particularly in product development, where research plays a critical role. The demand for research has grown significantly in the last few years. However, securing funding and approval for additional research resources can be challenging. One way to address this problem is by democratizing research and involving non-research team members.
To decide if democratizing research is for you, let's review the biggest pros and cons:
The most significant benefits of democratizing research are:
More research can be conducted that reduces the overall cost of research.
Teams talking regularly to customers develop better empathy and make better decisions that align with user needs and preferences.
However, there are some challenges that you may run into if your team is trying to democratize customer research.
Training non-UX professionals to conduct interviews, analyze and synthesize data avoiding bias requires effort. Providing sufficient knowledge and guidance to all participants is crucial to maintain research quality.
Making sure a process is in place that avoids siloed research. Data fragmentation can occur during research activities distributed among various teams, leading to multiple groups researching the same thing without visibility of the bigger picture.
Only some team members may be comfortable conducting research or have the time to do so. In this case, you may spend some time convincing them of the benefit of conducting research if it isn't supported by company culture or leadership.
To summarize, to be successful, you must provide proper training, establish transparent processes and guidelines, and have strong leadership support. Sometimes striking a balance between centralization and decentralization of research activities is crucial to ensure quality, collaboration, and effective decision-making. Overall, when executed thoughtfully, democratizing UX research can yield significant benefits for organizations seeking to create more user-centered products and services.