When you put service users at the centre of every decision, you create useful and easy-to-use services.

This foundation is also essential to user research. User research involves gathering information from people first-hand to understand their behaviours, thoughts, and feelings. This ensures you are addressing the correct problem when delivering services.

You use user research to better understand:

  • who the people using your services are
  • what they need to do
  • how they behave in different types of situations

How to approach user research

User research takes account of:

  • methodologies
  • sampling
  • running research
  • analysis
  • synthesis

Start from the people using your service

They are often called service users. A user is anyone who interacts with one or more of your products and services. They can be internal or external.

Everyone should have space to share their voice. Following one voice, idea or opinion allows bias to creep in.

Conducting user research can change the perception that people in your council already know what our users want and need.

What user needs are

User needs are the requirements that a user has when interacting with your service. They help define how the user can get the right outcome when using them.

Services designed around users and their needs:

  • are easier to use
  • help people get the right outcome
  • cost less to operate by reducing time and money spent on resolving problems

To write user needs statements, use this format:

As a = which type of user has this need?

I need to = what does the user need to do?

So that = why does the user want to do this?

This is an example:

As a local resident

I need to understand the local government waste disposal system

So that I can understand what rubbish I can take to the tip

You can get to know user needs in a quick and informal way by recording insights from:

Choose an effective research method

User researchers use a combination of research methods.

The main focus is getting first-hand information through qualitative research methods. You can mix in other quantitative methods (like surveys, rating scale surveys and data) to add depth to your research.

Generative user research

Generative research helps develop a deeper understanding of users and defining the problem. The goal is to find opportunities for solutions and innovation. This is often called discovery or exploratory research.

Through this type of research, you learn about people’s environments, behaviours, attitudes, opinions and perceptions.

Interviews

Interviews allow you to gather a lot of information about user needs through discussion.

Here are some tips for note-taking during interviews:

  • write verbatim notes to help avoid bias
  • observe body language
  • use headers to divide up your notes
  • when you hear something you think is important, highlight it in your notes
  • with the participant’s permission, record the session so you can go back to the notes if you miss anything
  • make it clear where a note is your idea or comment – for example, add your initials
  • write down any questions that you want to ask at the end of the session
Workshops

Workshops are group discussions facilitated by a member of the project team using an agreed script. Unlike focus groups, workshops focus on an activity, such as giving feedback on a prototype.

Observing workshops on their own can also be a great research method, as you can gain insight on participants’ questions and their behaviour.

Some other examples of generative research include:

  • desk research
  • focus groups
  • diary studies
  • contextual inquiry, in the users’ natural environment

Evaluative user research

Evaluative user research tests your ideas for a solution to ensure you meet people’s needs and are accessible and user-friendly.

It’s a good idea to adopt this type of research throughout the service development lifecycle, from early concepts (like rough sketches or prototypes) to final launch.

A/B testing

A/B testing is when you test two different designs. This can be as a sample screen or a live site.

It allows you to observe how two groups of users interact with each of the different designs.

The main benefit of using A/B testing is that you’ll have access to a larger set of users providing feedback.

Usability testing

Usability testing is where you watch participants try to complete specific tasks. Use this type of testing when you have a ‘thing’ you want to test, such as concepts, wireframes or a live service.

You ask them to ‘think aloud’ as they move through the task. As they perform these tasks, you observe their behaviour and listen for feedback.

During unmoderated usability testing, participants complete a task using software on their own.

Some other examples of evaluative methods include:

  • card sorting
  • tree testing
  • concept testing
  • analytics and usability benchmarking

Beware of bias

With all user research techniques, it is important to be aware of your unconscious bias. These are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that we all form outside our own conscious awareness.

There are a lot of biases that can affect user research, such as:

  • confirmation bias
  • sampling bias
  • framing effect
  • anchoring bias
  • clustering illusion

Confirmation bias is one of the most common biases in user research. It refers to our tendency to look for evidence that backs up our initial opinion, which may result in overlooking information that contradicts our view.

Ask yourself:

  • why did the user take that action?
  • was it because they did not have other options?

Sampling bias happens when a research sample includes some members of a population more often than others.

Read more about common biases in user research on Medium.com.

Create a research plan

A good research plan:

  • holds all your questions, planning and activities for your research
  • clarifies what we know, what we don’t and what you’re unsure about
  • contains any ethical considerations for your research
  • becomes the key reference point for your research

Consider these steps when creating a research plan:

  • Set research objectives – think about what you want to achieve with your research and the key questions to answer.
  • Identify key users – focus on the people who experience the problem you want to solve.
  • Define testing methods – choose one of more research methodologies that will help you learn enough to understand next steps.

Make any ethical considerations around:

  • transparency and informed consent
  • privacy, confidentiality and data protection policy
  • the wellbeing and dignity of anyone involved

Read more about managing user research data and participant privacy on GOV.UK.

Who to involve

Everyone should get involved in user research, whether they take part as note takers or observers. Involve the team and any stakeholders (for example, product or service managers) in the research activity. It promotes empathy, clear communication and helps people better understand user needs.

Analyse and synthesise the findings

User research will create a lot of raw data, which you need to review and extract useful insights. Everyone involved in the activity should contribute to the analysis.

You may need to label the data as you read through the research. This will help you categorise items and trace it back to the source later on.

How to approach analysis

There are various ways to analyse the insights you collect during user research. This process can feel a bit messy. You may start with little clarity, but it will become clearer by the end of your analysis.

  1. Get all your research data into one place – for example, sticky notes or a spreadsheet.
  2. Read all the data from beginning to end – it helps to identify interesting observations.
  3. Colour code or label the notes based on what it is about. For example, ‘booking a bin collection’ or ‘recycling’.
  4. Avoid identifying solutions to meet user needs at this stage.

Do your synthesis

During synthesis, you start to look for patterns, connections and relationships between insights. You start to form an understanding of your users, their context and their needs.

Synthesis includes things like:

  • grouping the notes together by themes
  • taking these themes and creating higher level insights
  • focusing on identifying how the user research has clarified user needs

Affinity mapping

Affinity mapping is a method that groups ideas based on similarities. You can do this by placing all your themed notes on an online whiteboard like Mural, or sticking notes on a wall. You may notice that your observations will start to group into themes. Start by looking for overlaps or duplicates.

Be aware of your bias. An example of a bias to avoid in analysis and synthesis is clustering bias. We tend to find patterns among randomness when there may be none. This is why it’s important to have a diverse team with an equal voice to call this out.

Interpret findings into insights

An insight is a short statement that gives us enough shared understanding to take action. Insights can reflect a synthesis of many research findings, like quotes or observations.

An insight could be: residents prefer to rely on information that they know is limited, rather than find an official source.

Define design opportunities

At the end of your analysis and synthesis, you’ll have a long list of insights. Consider prioritising what will have the most impact to test.

Having gaps in your research knowledge is normal. Identify gaps for further research and build into future testing plans.

When ready, develop the insights into a potential action for the team. One method is the ‘how might we’ statement. This provides a framework for coming up with solution ideas. You should generate several possible solutions from each ‘how might we’ statement.

An example of ‘how might we’ for the insight above is: how might we create knowledge-sharing opportunities for residents who do not access official sources of information?

Put user research into practice

If you do not have a user research team in your team or council, there are things you can do in your day-to-day role:

  • discuss the approaches with others in your team
  • think about ways to apply some aspects of user research in your role
  • talk to other colleagues about their user research experiences and any insights they collected

It can be challenging to champion user research culture with others in your council who might not see its benefits.

Explain how user research is good for business, not just for the people using your service. It can:

  • lower the risk of developing an expensive service that is not fit for purpose
  • reduce queries to support centres
  • increase productivity
  • help internal local government teams in their day-to-day work

You could waste time and resources if you do not understand the user and business needs and how they require balance.

Other councils’ work

Creating user research resources: Essex County Council’s library

How to ask for consent from user research participants: Hackney Council’s approach