UXR

UXR, short for user experience research, is the discipline within product development that studies how people interact with products and services to inform design decisions. Its goal is to understand user goals, behaviors, pain points, and contexts of use in order to create usable, useful, and accessible experiences across platforms. UXR is conducted throughout a product’s life cycle, from early discovery to post-launch evaluation, and its findings influence strategy, requirements, and design direction.

Researchers use a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, such as user interviews, field studies, usability testing, diary studies, card sorting, tree testing, surveys, analytics, and A/B testing. Moderated and unmoderated approaches may be used, often combining lab setups with remote or contextual research. Deliverables may include insights reports, personas, journey maps, task flows, and prioritized recommendations.

There are generative (discovery) studies to uncover user needs and opportunities, and evaluative studies to test designs and measure usability. Ethical considerations include informed consent, privacy, data protection, and inclusive recruitment to avoid bias. UXR results are typically integrated with UX design, product management, and engineering, shaping requirements, roadmaps, and iterations. Common metrics used to gauge usability include task success rate, time on task, error rate, the System Usability Scale (SUS), and sometimes Net Promoter Score (NPS).

The practice can be conducted by dedicated research teams or embedded researchers within product teams, and relies on tools for recruitment, remote testing, analytics, and collaborative synthesis. By providing evidence about how real users interact with a product, UXR helps reduce risk, guide design decisions, and improve overall user satisfaction.