What Is a UX Researcher? How to Get the Job

March 18, 2025

UX researchers systematically study target users to collect and analyse data that will help inform the product design process. In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at what UX researchers do, how they do it, and what steps you can take to start or advance a career in this in-demand field.

What is UX research?

One of the first steps in designing a new product or improving the user experience of an existing product is to start thinking about your users. Who are they? Where are they from? What do they want? Why do they want it? How can your product help them get what they want?

As a UX researcher, it’s your job to answer these questions. Instead of making a best guess based on your own subjective experience, you’ll design a research strategy that will empower you to answer these questions in a data-driven way. You become an advocate for your users, in a way, giving them a voice in the product development process.

Types of research

As a UX researcher, you generally work with two types of research, qualitative and quantitative. We’ll take a brief look at each type (and when it might be useful).

Quantitative research focuses on numbers and statistics. In terms of usability, this might mean measuring how long it takes an average user to complete a task, what per cent of users successfully completed the task, and how many errors or bugs they encountered along the way. These numbers tend to be most useful when you have something to compare them to — either a previous design or a competitor’s product.

Qualitative research examines non-numerical insights, such as why users had trouble completing a task or how they felt whilst using a product. If quantitative research gives us the “what”, qualitative research gives us the “why.”

UX research methods

One aspect of your role as a UX designer will be deciding which research method is appropriate for answering which questions. You'll rely on a variety of research methods to help you glean information from your users.

Card sorting: Study participants organise topics into groups that make the most sense to them and create labels for these groups. With this information, designers can create apps and websites that are more intuitive and easy to navigate.

Usability testing: Participants try to complete a task with a product whilst you observe. This lets you measure how successful users are at completing a task, how quickly they complete it, what problems they encounter, and how satisfied they felt with the process.

A/B testing: This tests two versions of a product against each other to see which the target audience prefers. This can be done with a live product by showing different versions of a webpage to different visitors or sending two different versions of a mailing to different recipient lists.

User interviews: Interviews conducted face to face (either online or in person) offer a quick and easy way to get insight into what a user wants from a potential product or collect qualitative data regarding an existing product. When these interviews are conducted with more than one person at a time, they’re often called focus groups.

UX research surveys: You can design a survey or questionnaire to return both qualitative and quantitative data. By using the same questions and conducting multiple surveys, you can track the improvement of a product throughout its development and lifecycle.

Other roles in UI/UX

Research is just one aspect of UI/UX design. If you’re interested in the field, there are other positions to consider.

UX designers are responsible for making products usable, useful, and enjoyable for users.
UI designers create the visual elements of computer and electronic interfaces.
Information architects organise and manage information to make it intuitive, accessible, and understandable.

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