Hey Reader,
With the holidays coming up, things are starting to slow down in the world of UXR events, workshops, and courses. That means that this is going to be the final Research For All of 2024 🥲
I started this newsletter in May with 174 subscribers, and as of this writing it's at 718 subscribers -- way more than I expected. Thank you so much for being one of them. I've gotten a lot of joy out of this little side project and I've made some great connections with readers -- some have even joined my course, become my client, or sent me sweet compliments or helpful feedback. Thank you!
Now that I've buttered you up, here comes the money grab. If you get value from this newsletter, consider leaving an end-of-year tip. It costs me real money to send this thing out, so any tips you leave will offset the platform / email send costs for 2025 ❤️
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✨ The Nudist, The Assassin, and a few other...memorable...research participants
For those of you who are new to the newsletter, this section is where I usually share some research tips and tricks or talk about some phenomenon in the tech industry. But I figured we'd do something more lighthearted for the final issue of the year, so instead I asked a bunch of my research friends to share a stories of their most memorable research participants. Enjoy!
THE DOPPELGÄNGER "The time we got on the call and realized it was a repeat participant from a recent study with the same client, who had dressed up in a hat and wig to try to disguise themselves, was in a different part of their house, and had given a different name to the recruiter. We ended the call fairly quickly and spent some time comparing the recording from the previous interview. Definitely the same person!! We had a good laugh about it, certainly an odd one that we haven't experienced before or since."
- Linn Vizard (Newsletter: Ask A Service Designer)
THE LIAR "In 2019, I was running customer interviews for our security startup’s second product - a bot protection tool. Despite a screening that landed us 12 seemingly interested customers, we ran into a funny moment that stuck with me. We get on one of the calls and open with a basic ‘So tell us about your current issues with bots...’ only to hear ‘Oh, I don’t have any bot issues.’ I did a brief mental double-take - ‘That’s... not what you said in the screening.’ We had a brief, polite conversation and wrapped it up after about five minutes. It was one of those research moments that reminds you how people sometimes join these conversations simply out of curiosity, regardless of what they indicate in screening. Not necessarily a bad thing but can be a nuisance. Something to be mindful of and plan for."
- Patrick Morgan (Newsletter: Unknown Arts)
THE FREE SPIRIT "There was the time that we were testing a boat simulator in the lab with an enthusiastic participant who was really getting into the scenario. Putting the simulator in gear, looking back over his shoulder while in reverse, etc. Then this happened:
Me: "Now that we're 'out on the open water', what would you do next?"
Participant: "I'd take off all my clothes!"
Me: ...
Me: "I meant, with the boat."
- Kathi Kaiser (LinkedIn)
THE OVERSHARER "The participant and I were in a lab and there were probably a dozen people observing from another room. The participant’s phone rang, and she said “Oh, it’s my doctor, I have to take this. You know how hard it is to get the doctor on the phone.” So I said of course, thinking she was going to walk out of the room and answer the phone in the hallway in private, and she answered right there “Oh hi Dr, I’m out of medication, can you refill my prescription?”
- Carol Rossi (LinkedIn)
THE DRUNK "Someone once showed up to an in-person usability test very obviously intoxicated. I was torn on whether or not to include them (I suppose operating a website drunk could be a legit use case??). But the recruiter ended up kicking them out."
- Amanda Stockwell (Website)
THE NUDIST "I had a (male) participant show up to the Zoom video interview without a shirt on! Partway through the early part of the interview, he put one on. I had no idea what to do so I’m glad he figured it out eventually! Lesson learned: “no shirt, no service” needs to be part of our screening criteria."
- Rachel Kantrowitz (Website)
THE ASSASSIN "I honestly still haven't totally figured this one out. I had a client who provides loans to small businesses, and I was interviewing SBOs about their experiences. One of my participants was being super cagey about the kind of work they did, which was unusual -- business owners usually love to talk about their businesses. The conversation got progressively more unsettling as it went on...he was sprinkling in things like "I wish I could sleep at night"..."I have a very special skillset"..."It's important in my line of work to look terrifying". I was incredibly confused at first, but by the end it was clear that he was trying to tell me that he was some sort of assassin (ahem, 'private security contractor'). He even had a book recommendation for me to better understand what he does: 'Surprise, Kill, Vanish' by Annie Jacobsen. Maybe I should finally get around to reading it sometime."
- Me
🎟️ Events
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December 5:
The psychology of UX: Understanding user behavior for effective design
There's not much description on the site, but apparently you will "unlock the secrets to creating more effective, empathetic, and user-friendly designs." Sounds promising!
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December 6:
Achieve influence & stakeholder alignment for PMs and UXers
In this interactive conversation, learn how several Product and UX leaders approach stakeholder relationships to drive organizational transformations.
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December 10:
How to find unexpected AI outcomes
The consequences of AI can be profound and harmful to users and our organizations. The best thing you can do as a designer, researcher, or PM is to uncover these potential issues and mitigate them BEFORE you launch. (I'm coming to this one!)
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December 11:
AI x UXR
Ruby Pryor and Caitlin Sullivan will discuss the role of AI in UX research -- what's exciting, what's worrying, and where they think we need more attention.
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December 11:
Get hired in 2025 - A guide for product designers & UXR
Reflect on your skills for impactful positioning, translate those insights into strong application assets, and get insider info on best practices to elevate your job search approach in 2025.
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My experience with AI "insights" is very similar to Julian's. While I do use AI features in tools like Dovetail for taking a first pass at coming up with themes based on highlights and tags I've created manually, I always have to make lots of tweaks. And I still don't trust AI to try to create insights from those themes -- the times I've experimented with this have been pretty disappointing. I guess the robots aren't stealing my job just yet 💪
🎒 Tools & Resources
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Course - Designing your freelance business
Sarah's highly-rated course is back, and the freelancers or freelance-curious folks out there should check it out! Use RESEARCHFORALL for 15% off.
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Article - How to calculate ROI for UX research
This article illustrates the importance and relevance of ROI calculations in UX research practices, helping you identify and understand three specific scenarios where UX professionals should calculate ROI.
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Course - Best practices for journey mapping
Getting started with your first journey maps? Looking for ways to boost the impact of your maps? This course is for you! Boost the impact of your journey maps with principles & best practices derived from interviews with >75 journey mappers.
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Podcast episode - Navigating the evolution of UX consulting
From the challenges of today’s market to the exciting opportunities presented by AI and emerging work models, this episode dives deep into the current state of UX consulting and where it’s headed.
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Course - The power of storytelling
Storytelling is much more than a justification for technical creative decisions. When used appropriately, storytelling creates powerful and memorable digital experiences. Discover how in this course!
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Okay, that's all for now, Reader -- have a great holiday season and I'll see you in 2025!
-- Elizabeth @ Research For All
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