- Ethnographic Field Studies: researchers meet with and study participants in their natural environment, where they would most likely encounter the product or service in question.

- Participatory Design: participants are given design elements or creative materials to construct their ideal experience in a concrete way that expresses what matters to them most and why.

- Concept Testing: a researcher shares an approximation of a product or service that captures the key essence (the value proposition) of a new concept or product to determine if it meets the needs of the target audience; it can be done one-on-one or with larger numbers of participants, and either in person or online.

- Diary/Camera Studies: participants are given a mechanism (diary or camera) to record and describe aspects of their lives that are relevant to a product or service, or simply core to the target audience; diary studies are typically longitudinal and can only be done for data that is easily recorded by participants.

- Unmoderated UX Studies: a quantitative or qualitative and automated method that uses a specialized research tool to captures participant behaviors (through software installed on participant computers/browsers) and attitudes (through embedded survey questions), usually by giving participants goals or scenarios to accomplish with a site or prototype.

- True-Intent Studies: a method that asks random site visitors what their goal or intention is upon entering the site, measures their subsequent behavior, and asks whether they were successful in achieving their goal upon exiting the site.


Hybrid

The foundational difference between these two methodological approaches is that qualitative research observes the behaviors and attitudes of users directly while quantitative tools measure those variables indirectly using surveys or an analytics tools.  Analysis of quanitative data is usually mathematical while qualitative is not. As such, quantitative methods are better for answering “how many/much” questions, while qualitative methods help answer “why” questions.

State University of New York at Stony Brook

Augustana College (IL)

User Research employs a variety of methods to assess, test, and evaluate users and products.  Most studies would benefit from using a variety of methods but most people don't know what to use when. This article aims to help with this.

Dimensions of User-Experience (UX) Research Methods

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/

When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods

Summed up as what people say vs what people do.  Attitudinal measures (surveys, focus groups) capture stated beliefs of users, while behavioral measures (card sorting, usability tests, eye tracking) captures how users engage with a system while they are using it.  Field studies are the middle ground between these two approaches as they use both self-reported and usability data, where the researcher can take on an almost ethnographic role as observer and interviewer.  

Attitudinal vs Behavioral Dimension

Qualitative vs Quantitative Dimension

Covers circumstances of how and whether users in a study are using the product/service that is being tested

- Natural or near-natural use of the product: in order to study behavior as closely to reality as possible
- Scripted use of the product: in order to study specific aspects usages of the product
- Not using the product during the study: in order to study broader aspects like brand or cultural behaviors
- A hybrid of the above


Context of Products Use

Picking the ideal research method is contingent upon what phase or timeline the project is at:

- Strategize:  Beginning phase where a great variety of ideas and opportunities can be entertained; this phase can be both quantitative or qualitative in approach (diary studies, surveys, etc.) 

- Execute: At this point, a decision has been made to go into a specific design direction. This stage is also used to improve design and decreas risk. This stage is usually qualitative (field study, card sorting, etc.)

- Assess:  Users are starting to engage with the product at this phase, so you can measure how well you're doing and compare with past data or against competitors. This step is quantitative (surveys, A/B testing, etc.)


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