Using a generative research approach at the beginning stages of your product or service process helps ensure successful user-centred, innovative outcomes from a design sprint or project.

Whether it’s a team, leadership, or external workshop, interviews or diary studies, these approaches help your team define the problem you’re working to solve, ensuring the solution is focused on impactful user needs and organizational objectives.

Learn more about our research approach

What is generative research?

Also known as discovery research or exploratory research.

The generative research process is, at its core, focused on big-picture research and thinking to explore and confirm the problem and problem space before settling on a narrow objective for your product or service.

These processes involve open-ended explorations of needs, behaviours, and pain points with users and stakeholders to uncover the core problem that your service or product aims to solve.

Generative research typically involves direct research with users or other stakeholders, such as interviewing or different types of open-ended approaches.

The “Double Diamond” approach to design demonstrates where generative research fits into the process, at each stage of discovering and diverging on ideas for the problem and the solution.

Research methods you can leverage in generative research

There are numerous generative research methods, but below are some that you may want to consider using in your team’s research.

• User interviews
• Field research/in situ ethnographic research
• Diary studies
• Focus groups
• Workshops

And many more!

The UX Research Field Guide from User Interviews is a great in-depth introduction to each of these methods and how to implement them.

Generative research: key for your product or service’s success

Implementing a generative research phase into your design/development sprints reduces risks of investing in the wrong solutions.

Generative research can be used to:

• validate or disprove assumptions with users
• identify current user behaviour and potential future use cases or design opportunities
• validate the impact of potential solutions
• clarify the problem space you’re working in

Ultimately, leveraging generative research throughout the design process will help confirm, validate, and focus on the most impactful problem and related opportunities before investing too many resources in an ill-suited solution.

Need help getting started with user research?

We can help your team leverage research for better products and services.

Get in touch

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Good Research is a week-long program hosted by Colette Kolenda, who will be joined by 12 well-experienced research leaders. Discover how to make sure you are doing quality research that’s impactful while learning best practices you can implement in your work.

The event is jam-packed with talks that cover topics including research preparation and fundamentals, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and storytelling.

Talks we’re excited about at Good Reasearch by Colette Kolenda

• Planning Research Projects with Raz Schwartz, Monday at 2 PM
• Embracing a Digital-First Approach to Research with Razan Sadeq-Keyes, Tuesday at 2 PM
• Understanding Impact with Colette Kolenda, Thursday at 10 AM
• Building a Research Practice From the Ground Up with Cristen Torrey, Friday at 2 PM

“As researchers, we don’t create value directly – we do it indirectly by improving the decision-making capabilities of others.” ~ Colette Kolenda presents Understanding Impact, Thursday 10 AM

Full program schedule

Register today

Virtual tickets are free. In-person tickets cost $500 USD and have limited spots available.

Grab a ticket

Are you ready to bring exceptional research practices and outcomes to your organization?

We offer market and user research solutions that can accelerate decision-making and improve products and services.

Get in touch

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Whether you’re a researcher, research leader, a designer who conducts research, or just someone who is eager to learn more about user research, these two conferences you should take advantage of with opportunities to learn from research practitioners.

UXRConf 2022

The fifth annual UXRConf will be taking place from June 6-7, 2022. UXRConf is the world’s largest UX (user experience) Research event, and we are excited to be attending this year’s hybrid conference.

The discussions will cover topics from growth research to UX insights to behavioural science.

Talks we’re looking forward to hearing:

• Insights to Equity: Applying User Research to Spotify’s Dib Strategy, with Alexandra Hornsby, User Research Manager, Spotify and Ashley Graham, User Research Manager, Spotify
• The Next Step in Accessibility, with Joel Isaac, Accessibility Manager, Novaelis and Pia Zaragoza, UX Mentor and Innovation Fellow at Springboard and General Services Administration

Check out the full lineup and conference schedule

Get your tickets today

The virtual tickets are free. The in-person tickets cost $1800 USD and limited spots are available.

Grab your tickets here

ReOpsConf 2022

The ResearchOps Community will be holding its first annual ReOpsConf on June 8, 2022.

This full-day hybrid event will allow you to gain insight into the field of Research Operations (ReOps) and learn about topics such as research repositories, scaling ReOps, and knowledge management.

Talks we’d like to highlight:

• Building and Scaling ReOps at the UK Dept of Education, with Alice Kiernan, Research Operations Lead at Department for Education, England, UK and Lucy Sutton, User Research Operations Lead at Department for Education, England, UK
• Building a Research Toolbox, with Andy Garber-Browne, DesignOps Program Manager, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Carolyn Morgan, UX Researcher, Cisco
• Repositories in Practice: Using Knowledge Management to Create Research Stories, with Emily DiLeo, Sr. Design Research Specialist, SAP

Check out the full lineup and conference schedule

Get your tickets today

Remote tickets are free. In-person tickets cost $900 USD and have limited spots available.

Grab your tickets here

Our user research methodologies can help you reach organizational objectives

Learn about our approach to user research and explore our inclusive research toolkit.

Ready to evolve your research practices?

Contact us

The post UXRConf + ReOpsConf, June 6-8, 2022 appeared first on Say Yeah!.

This online event will consist of three panel discussions, each speaking to a different component of ethics across research and product design. Several experts in the user experience (UX), design, and equity industries will be part of the conversation to share their opinions, experiences, and challenges. Their insights will enable us to be more mindful of our work.

This year’s panels are:

1. Hoarding Power with Justin Threlkeld, Dr. Alina I’vette Fernandez, and Dr. Pierce Otlhogile-Gordon
2. Biased Identities with Calvin Liang, Dr. Diana Albarrán González, and Jennifer Rittner
3. Weaponizing Care with Dr. Chelsea Johnson and Iris Xie

For more information and panel schedules take a look at the event’s website.

See the details

Get your tickets or sign up to receive the recordings

Tune in live on March 4th, or watch the recordings for each panel when it’s convenient for you. No matter which you choose you’ll have the chance to explore how we can “lift the curtain on ethical theatre”. Registration closes on March 1st at 5 pm CST.

Register here

Not sure how to get started with an inclusive design process?

From our inclusive public sector work to our insurance, banking, and other private sector work, we continue to develop our inclusive design practice and bring impactful service design and product strategy outcomes to the organizations and communities we work with.

Get in touch

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Taking place February 24th to February 26th, we’re looking forward to exploring a range of cutting-edge research methods and connecting with other design and research professionals.

Some talks we’re excited about at UXRConf 2021

• Dear Designers…We Need to Talk About Race: How Colorblind User Research Produces Racist Design, with Alba Villamil
• Into the Wild! Surviving Research Where Few Go, with Evelina Deleanu
• Inclusive Research: with people who are deaf and hard of hearing, with Antoine Garcia-Suarez
• The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to UX Research That Lasts, with Vidhika Bansal

If you’re a UX researcher or designer yourself, don’t miss out on this exceptional knowledge-building and networking opportunity at UXRConf 2021. These are just a few of the many talks that are sure to be beneficial to you and your team’s user research and customer experience practice. Get your ticket and check out the schedule for all the latest information.

Full schedule of talks

Grab your ticket today

Tickets start at $99 USD, and talks are available to rewatch through March.

From conference knowledge to ongoing research

If you need support to accelerate your team’s research practices, get in touch. We can help.

Contact us

The post UXRConf Anywhere, February 24th-26th, 2021 appeared first on Say Yeah!.

With a range of industry speakers and talks, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn and network with this group of user research and CX professionals.

There’s something for everyone, from business-focused streams, to talks about research fundamentals.

Talks we’re looking forward to:

• Don’t guess, just test—even if your product sucks with Christian Idiodi
• Guiding principles for ethical research, and why you should care
  with Devin Harold
• Reimagining usability: finally making data accessible to all
  with Dave Fowler and Kevin Minnick
• How to learn about your customer when everything you know about them has changed with Tricia Wang

Check out the full talk schedule

Upgrading your user testing and research practices is critical to better understanding your users and customers, gaining valuable insights into behaviour and user goals, and building more effective products and services.

Grab your event pass today for free to expand your knowledge of best practices for user-centred research.

Register now

Need additional guidance on your team’s user testing strategy?

We can help with our comprehensive approach to user testing and usability testing.

Get in touch

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The team at UXR Collective (UXRC) has put together another great lineup of talks for their mini conference on September 24th, taking a deep dive into UX research tips and best practices.

Adding to the great roster of content from a series of online events UXRC has hosted this year, the September talks feature speakers like Rachel Kim and Tara Bassili, as well as a DJ break with ADUBZ in between the talks.

The schedule of talks includes:

• 7 pm EDT: Pair it Forward: Finding & Fostering Champions for User Research, with Katie Hill and Zachary Oman
• 7:30 pm EDT: How to Run an Alpha Program to Learn and Iterate Quickly, with Rachel Kim
• 8 pm EDT: DJ Break with ADUBZ
• 8:30 pm EDT: The A to Z of Setting Up Your Own Research Panel, with Tara Bassili

Full conference details

Don’t miss out on an opportunity for specialized research insights from these experts in user research!

Make sure to register for the UXRC platform for free access and join the event on Crowdcast at 7 PM ET on September 24th, 2020.

Register for free

The post September’s UXRConf Mini hosts some exceptional UX Research talks, September 24th, 2020 appeared first on Say Yeah!.

On June 25th and 26th, we’ll be immersing ourselves in talks on all things research and people-centred design practices.

This conference has always been an excellent opportunity to dive deep into research-specific areas, from the inaugural event in 2018 to today. We couldn’t be more excited to connect and hear from fellow practitioners in user research and customer insights.

Some talks we’re looking forward to include:

• What Design Ethnography Can Do For You, with Yoanna Dosouto, User Experience Researcher, Google
• Doing Foundational Research with an Impossibly Diverse Audience, with Leticia Ratkiewicz, UX Researcher, Nubank and Lucas Terra, Lead Product Designer, Nubank
• Personas are dead. Long live personas! With Amber Westerholm-Smyth, Sr. User Researcher, Ministry of Justice UK and Carolina Pizatto, Service Designer, Ministry of Justice UK
• Consensus through Convergence, with Mel Banyard, Design Researcher, The Canadian Digital Service and Jeana Frost, Sr. Quantitative Design Researcher, The Canadian Digital Service
• What Not To Do In Accessibility Research, with Samuel Proulx, Community Manager, Fable Tech Labs

These are just a few of the talks that have caught our eye over the packed two-day conference schedule! With so many talks and topics planned, there really is something for everyone.

Our team encourages researchers with any level of experience or interest in user research to sign up for a ticket and take advantage of all of the great learning and networking opportunities available.

Check out the schedule and get your ticket today.

Grab your ticket

Looking for support in accelerating your research practices?

We can help. Learn more about our approach to user testing here and get in touch to let us know more about your research objectives.

Get in touch

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The UXR Conference is a one-day conference hosted by UXResearchTO highlighting best practices for product and service research.

Connect with Lee to talk research, design, and system strategy during networking time at the conference, or reach out to him on his social channels to organize a chat!

Connect with Lee by LinkedIn, Twitter, or by email.

The UXR Conference is your opportunity to build and improve research practises within your organization. With a full day of speakers, workshops, and a special product leaders panel from seasoned UX researchers, design strategists, and executives in Toronto, this conference is a must-attend for the digital product community.

Speakers include:

• Aryel Cianflone, UX Researcher, LinkedIn
• Matt Gallivan, Research Manager, Airbnb
• Claire Menke, Senior Manager of UX Research, Udemy
• Sam Ladner, Adjunct Professor of Design Innovation, OCAD
• Hira Javed, Design Strategist, Scotiabank
• Lucia Hsieh, UX Researcher Lead, Ontario Cabinet Office
• Rob Hayes, Founder, Foundation PM
• Cha-nese Peterson, UX Researcher, CBC Music
• Fabian Boehm, CEO of Digital Dackel

A worthy experience

We encourage you to attend the UXR conference to interact with brilliant minds in the world of user experience research. It’s also an opportunity to discover new strategies to present to your team.

The UXR conference will take place at the Isabel Bader Theatre & Victoria College in Toronto from 8:30am to 6pm.

Get your tickets

We’re big proponents of user research, usability testing, and ongoing validation and iteration at every stage of product and service delivery. We can’t wait to connect with this audience of research professionals. Hope to see you there!

From conference knowledge to ongoing research

If you’re looking for support in accelerating your research practices, get in touch. We can help.

Contact us

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