research

# UX Research Skill

Guide UX research activities from planning through synthesis, leveraging both traditional methods and AI-assisted approaches.

## When to Use

- Planning user research studies (interviews, usability tests, surveys)
- Selecting appropriate research methods for a question
- Designing participant recruitment strategies
- Synthesizing qualitative or quantitative research data
- Creating research deliverables (personas, journey maps, reports)
- Setting up continuous discovery practices
- Leveraging AI for research analysis and synthesis

## When NOT to Use

- Visual/UI design decisions (use design skills)
- Frontend implementation (use development skills)
- Marketing research without UX focus
- Pure data science/analytics without user context

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## Quick Start (Happy Path)

**1. Define Research Question**
```
What do we need to learn? Why does it matter?
```

**2. Select Method** (see [Methods Reference](references/methods.md))
| Need | Method | Sample Size |
|------|--------|-------------|
| Understand "why" | User Interviews | 5-12 |
| Evaluate usability | Usability Testing | 5-8 |
| Quantify attitudes | Surveys | 100+ |
| Observe behavior | Contextual Inquiry | 6-10 |
| Test IA | Card Sorting | 15-30 |

**3. Plan & Recruit**
- Define screener criteria
- Calculate sample size
- Prepare consent forms
- Create discussion guide/test script

**4. Conduct Research**
- Follow protocol consistently
- Document observations
- Use AI transcription for interviews

**5. Synthesize**
- Affinity mapping for qualitative data
- Statistical analysis for quantitative
- Triangulate across sources

**6. Deliver Insights**
- Executive summary (1 page)
- Key findings with evidence
- Actionable recommendations

---

## Core Procedure with Checkpoints

### Phase 1: Discovery (Planning)

```mermaid
flowchart TB
    subgraph Discovery["Discovery Phase"]
        A[Define Research Questions] --> B[Select Methods]
        B --> C[Plan Study]
        C --> D[Recruit Particip