What UX research maturity looks like and how we get there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series] (Videoconference)

Three of your research colleagues discussed and defended their respective positions on what UX research “maturity” looks like. Participants then engaged with them in a discussion and Q&A, facilitated by Lada Gorlenko.

“Absent a strong baseline level of data fluency, product teams struggle to harness the power of insight in their work. As UX and UXR leaders, we are uniquely positioned to define what fluency looks like for our organizations and help teams transform to achieve it.”

  – Megan Blocker

“Research has come a long way, but we have a long way to go. Our future success rests on two pivotal aspects of maturity: our leadership’s proximity to power and the use of ‘Strategic Research Programs’ to deliver value beyond Design and Product.“

 – Fatimah Richmond

“Does UX maturity matter in the age of Generative AI? Is your ability to do well as a team going to depend on your UX skills? Or your tech or people skills?”

 – Molly Stevens

Communities of Practice for Civic Design (Videoconference)

At the April Civic Design Community call, hear from new community curator Kara Kane. She shares her experience scaling and leading the UK government’s user-centered design (UCD) communities and International Design in Government community while working at the Government Digital Service.

Kara talks about how communities of practice are central to the transformation of public services. The communities she developed built design capability, aimed to create a culture of equity and inclusion and were core to developing and delivering standards and guidance for government.

From Academia to UX with Katie Hansen

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What happens when an academic researcher trades a university lab for the fast-paced world of tech? Katie Hansen, Senior UX Research Manager at Thumbtack, shares her journey from studying unconscious bias at Princeton to leading research at companies like Etsy, Instagram, and Facebook. She breaks down the challenges of transitioning from academia—where studies take years—to industry, where research needs to drive business decisions quickly.

Katie dives into the power of survey experiments, explaining how they can uncover deep psychological insights and help teams prioritize what to A/B test. She also discusses the value of meta-analysis and literature reviews, showing how researchers can tap into existing knowledge to save time and uncover patterns.

With two talks lined up at Advancing Research 2025, Katie will explore experimental research techniques and the impact of meta-analysis in UX. She also shares her favorite research tools, the importance of repositories, and why Hidden Brain is a must-listen for anyone fascinated by human behavior.

If you’re looking to level up your research game and future-proof your career, don’t miss this conversation!

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

• What to expect when transitioning from academic research to the business sector
• How to Use Survey Experiments for Deep Insights
• The power of existing research – both internal and external
• Katie’s favorite tools for UX researchers
• A strategy for future-proofing your research career

Quick Reference Guide:
0:00 – Katie’s journey into research
3:53 – The challenges of transitioning from an academic to a business setting, and how research is conducted in an academic setting versus a large business
8:25 – Designing with AI 2025 – June 10 & 11
9:44 – About Advancing Research 2025
11:03 – An overview of Experimental Research TEchniques for Deep Psychology-Driven Insights
13:02 – Research and experiments in business
16:46 – AB testing and Qualtrics
17:39 – An overview of Finding the Unknown in the Known: Harnessing Meta-Analysis and Literature Review
20:01 – What is meta-analysis, anyway?
22:47 – Katie’s gift for listeners

When UX Research and Institutional Racism Collide: A Case Study

Our recent UX engagement on a federal grant focused on a challenge in Alzheimer’s research: Black, Hispanic, and/or Latinx people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease more frequently than their white counterparts, yet participate in clinical trials, particularly prevention trials, at a lower rate. We were tasked with solving “usability issues” that prevented underrepresented populations from participating in research. Predictably, we surfaced more about inequality than usability. In this talk, we will share some of the mistakes we made and lessons we learned about broadening the definition of usability. Additionally, we will discuss how we articulated systemic inequality as part of our usability findings, and how this experience continues to influence our thinking about usability, inclusivity and anti-racism in our present research endeavours.

The Real Point of Research: a Chat with Erika Hall, author of Just Enough Research

Erika Hall wants us to get one thing straight: getting research right isn’t about the method you choose. It’s about gathering research to make the right design decisions for your business. Hear Erika’s ideas for how to bake research into the product design process. And why every organization needs a “team philosopher.”

Radical Participatory Research: Decolonizing Participatory Processes

Have you ever been a part of a participatory research process or the use of a participatory method only to find that it fell short of any real shift of power dynamics? Have you ever compared notes with another participatory design researcher only to find out their definition of participatory research and design is different than your own? Have you faced opposition from your organization in practicing research in a more participatory way? What does research even mean, what is its purpose, and how does research change from community to community, context to context? Based on that, what are the future possibilities of research?

Come, join the conversation, and see what Victor Udoewa has to say about such experiences, the different definitions of participatory research and how participatory research can actually be used to reinforce hierarchies. One way he has found to dismantle that system is to practice radical participatory research. He will share what that means, how it looks, and how you can begin moving in that direction along with a direct challenge to our community of researchers in regards to our own power.

Complex Problem? Add Clarity by Combining Research and Systems Thinking

Enterprises are increasingly complex. Workers are faced with more information, more tools, more demands, and research needs to keep up. The field of Systems Thinking can help researchers uncover the models behind this complexity. This talk covers practical techniques for illuminating how models are interconnected, where feedback loops exist, and how we might transform these complex systems to drive innovation. It highlights how we can understand these systems without losing sight of the workers themselves… their ideas, concerns, motivations, and needs. Marrying systems clarity with this human perspective is critical, and is something researchers are uniquely positioned to do.

Making a Classic Even Better with Leah Buley and Joe Natoli

Leah Buley and Joe Natoli have teamed up to make something great (check out the reviews on Amazon!) even greater. How? Well, considering that The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide was written more than a decade ago, it was time to revisit the content and make it even more relevant for today’s UX teams. After all, times have changed.

But the fundamental principles of the original book haven’t changed. They are as solid today as they were 11 years ago. What has changed is that the methods have been adapted for the speed of change in today’s businesses.

Joe says it best: “These methods are shorter. They’re simpler. They’re more direct in a lot of ways, and they cut to the chase in a way that longer processes don’t. I’ve met plenty of senior people who are throwing up their hands and going, ‘We’re doing all the things. Why isn’t this working?’ And the truth is, they’re kind of overworking and overthinking. Everything in this book is practical and direct and gets you from point A to B. I just don’t think there’s any better way to get there.”

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

• About Leah’s experience as a solo UX practitioner and the inspiration behind the first edition of UX Team of One
• How the UX field has changed over the past decade
• How the second edition aims to provide comprehensive yet practical UX methods that can be applied in various organizational settings
• About the shortcomings of UX boot camps and educational programs
• A perspective that balances UX advocacy with business objectives and the reality of corporate politics
• How to navigate and thrive in a UX career despite industry challenges, focusing on practical, adaptable methods and tools.

Quick Reference Guide:
0:46 – Introduction of Leah and Joe
1:33 – The User Experience Team of One, second edition
6:46 – Large or small team, Leah and Joe’s book is comprehensive without being overwhelming
8:58 – Righting wrongs
12:14 – What’s new in the second edition – striving to do more with less
15:58 – Break – plug for the Rosenverse
18:20 – The current shitstorm
21:39 – On speed
24:40 – On toolkits. Tools and methods are two different things.
28:16 – Who needs The User Experience Team of One?
30:45 – Leah and Joe’s gifts for the audience

The Roots of Inclusion with Victor Udoewa

We hear a lot about diversity, equity, and inclusion, but you probably haven’t heard it like this. Nigerian-born Victor Udoewa, service design lead at the Centers for Disease Control’s Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology, brings a beautiful perspective that challenges current research methodologies.

Victor introduces the notion of the pluriverse, emphasizing that people inhabit different worlds with unique ways of being and knowing. He draws attention to the diverse perspectives that shape people’s beliefs and understanding, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging and bridging these gaps.

He also uses a tree as a metaphor, in which the roots are ways of being, the trunk ways of knowing, and the branches and leaves are methodologies and methods. The metaphor suggests that inclusive research should not just focus on the green parts of the tree but what’s underneath the surface, getting to the very roots of being.

Recognizing the limitations of mainstream research toolkits and critiquing methodologies grounded in Western ways of being, Victor proposes that truly inclusive research goes far beyond having diverse teams study diverse audiences.

This episode is just a taste of Victor’s talk at the upcoming in-person Advancing Research Conference, “Beyond Methods and Diversity: The Roots of Inclusion.”

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
– The Pluriverse Concept: The idea that the world comprises multiple realities, ways of being, and existences
– Standpoint Theory: The idea that individuals at the bottom of a social hierarchy possess a knowledge that is inaccessible to those at higher levels
– Victor’s Tree Metaphor: Roots symbolize ways of being, the trunk represents ways of knowing, and branches and leaves denote methodologies and methods
– Radical Participatory Research: Allowing research to emerge organically from the ways of being of the community involved

Quick Reference Guide:
[00:10] Meet Victor Udoewa
[02:16] About Victor’s talk at Advancing Research
[04:26] The pluriverse and asymmetry of knowledge
[11:20] Social hierarchy, ways of being, and methodology
[12:52] The tree metaphor – getting to the roots
[22:20] Research starting with a way of being
[26:47] Cultural individualism on research
[33:02] Victor’s gift for listeners

Why Pharmaceutical’s Research Model Should Replace Design Thinking

In many organizations, design thinking dominates the research process with expansive research processes upfront during discovery. Pharmaceutical research gives us an alternative model that we can adapt based on a fail early and fail often (tech mantra) that should make discovery research an easier sell in any organization.

Takeaways:

• An alternative model to discovery research with reduced upfront costs
• Starting discovery research when buy-in is difficult
• Maintaining discovery research when funds tighten up
• An alternative model to measuring the value of research that takes into account savings