Lessening the Research Burden on Vulnerable Communities

This talk covers specific approaches to employ when working with vulnerable populations, starting with a definition of vulnerability, then discussing how to ensure that researchers remain safe, respectful, fair, and culturally appropriate. This includes: choosing the right research methods for the participants, topic, and context at hand; recruiting and compensating research participants; ensuring research participants are aware of their rights and potential risks for participating in the research; conducting research in a trauma-informed way; managing participant data by ensuring collected information doesn’t put them at risk; communicating design research findings in a respectful manner.

A Typology of Participation in Participatory Research

This talk aims to unpack the notion of participation used in participatory design research, by proposing a framework through which different levels of participation can occur at different stages of the research process. Drawing examples of work in child welfare and foster care, this framework is ultimately an invitation to challenge the notion that participation is binary (i.e., either research is participatory or isn’t) or fixed (i.e., there is only one way participation can be done). Instead, participation is a negotiation that should take into account different factors (e.g., partners, resources, timeline), and could include a combination of different levels at different stages in any given research study.

Discussing Design Education with SVA’s Allan Chochinov

Allan Chochinov, Founding Chair of the MFA in Products of Design graduate program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, joins Lou to discuss how his program approaches the education of new designers—from the belief that grades can hamper creativity and risk taking, to the need for his students to learn the art of careful listening. After eight graduating classes, Allan offers surprises and insights about different career trajectories for design students, and clear evidence that career paths are often non-traditional.

Allan Chochinov is a partner of Core77, the design network serving a global community of designers and design enthusiasts since 1995.

The Politics of Radical Research: A Manifesto

This session is intended to be messy and will leave you with more questions than you came in with. We shall start off by asking ourselves “what are you pretending not to know?” This question inspired by African-American scholar and activist Toni Cade Bambara will guide us into the conversation. How do we understand our role as researchers? In what ways are we complicit in reproducing structural inequities and systemic harm?

This manifesto is centered around 3 “big” themes:

• At what and whose cost do we engage in research?
• What right do I have to engage in this research work?
• What if I refused to participate?

This is an invitation to get intimate with ourselves and investigate the privilege(s) we hold as researchers and designers. Reflecting on the power imbalances that exist, how can we move toward a culturally thriving and sustainably empowering approach to emancipatory research that centers minoritized communities? Asking these questions and sitting with their complexities is urgent and necessary. Together, we strive for less extractive, decolonial, and anti-capitalist visions for research that are rooted in liberatory harm reduction, relationship building and community empowerment.

Democratizing Research at HoneyBook

During this interview, we’ll hear how Senior UX Researcher, Nicole Wright has helped HoneyBook–a client management software company–democratize research, build a better product that led to a recent $1B valuation. Nicole will share her best practices, lessons learned and her vision for the future.

[Demo] Stress-testing GenAI in user research synthesis

In this high-pressure scenario, the challenge was to conduct 17 user interviews in three days and synthesize a comprehensive report in just one additional day. I’ll explore how we used AI to streamline the research process, from transcription to synthesis, and how tools like ChatGPT contributed to efficient data processing and insight generation. We’ll reflect on the potential and pitfalls of using AI in accelerated user research, from practical aspects to more philosophical considerations on potential changes to the research process.

Takeaways

• Practical insights into integrating AI with traditional research methodologies to expedite the research process
• An overview of the effectiveness of AI transcription and synthesis tools in real-world research scenarios
• Critical examination of AI’s role in data processing and how it compares with human analysis
• Strategic considerations for service designers when employing AI to support rapid user research
• Reflection on the ethical implications and potential impact on the quality of insights and researcher well-being when relying on AI to speed up research processes

AfroFuturism and UX Research

What might a communal, speculative, Black-centred action research method look like? Reclaiming the discarded, the half-forgotten, the oppressed and marginalised is a key technique in AfroFuturism, whether for creating provocative fiction, exploring alternative technologies or developing radical means to thrive within white supremacist systems.

How might this perspective be incorporated into user research? What impact could it have on our artefacts and ways of working? This talk will take precedents from projects that range from introducing masquerade performativity to structure research activities, to early stage research into how service design might intersect with narrative to co-design local policy rooted in anti-racist practice. Join us as we explore both how AfroFuturism can be used as design research methodology and what it can offer user research on a broader scale.

Design Research Strategy & Strategic Design Research (Videoconference)

When scaling and democratizing research practices, how can you help ensure higher levels of value are delivered? In this interactive session, we discuss different items we can leverage to ensure design research is providing value to an organization by driving strategic decisions. Areas we cover include:

• Utilizing research repositories as strategic assets;
• Leveraging quant + quo data to track success; and
• Ensuring research can focus on the highest value work.

Expert Panel: Leading in and with Research

What does it take to become a great research leader? What are the different types of leaders in research? How do you grow a team from a solo researcher to a successful research team?

Growing research teams show a company’s commitment to user-centered and insight-driven decision-making. With growing teams, research leadership becomes a central topic. With user research often having the most comprehensive picture of the user, we will explore what this means for the collaboration with or leadership of other disciplines in the organization.

Today we have the chance to learn from three research leaders who share their personal perspectives on research leadership and various facets of it. Get to know our panelists:

• Anna Avrekh, UX Research Manager at Meta
• Dr. John Pagonis, Principal UX Researcher at Zanshin Labs
• Klara Pelcl, Senior Design Research Manager at ebay

Join us live as we have plenty of room for your questions during the panel.

Multipurpose Communication & UX Research Marketing (Videoconference)

Despite our clear value in informing product and advocating for our customers, UX Research (UXR) tends to have a lot to prove within most companies. Whether it’s our value, knowledge, or definition, there are information-holes about UXR that need to be filled. Not only that, but we have a lot to share with the rest of our company. We want to be sure that our insights are heard. With zero marketing experience, I (alongside our Centralized Research Team) took a stab at rebranding and marketing our UX Research (UXR) team with sincere intention. Collecting lessons and dodging roadblocks along the way, we tested and evolved different methods set out to evangelize UX Research insights, share findings between teams, define and demystify UX Research and prove value for UXR throughout the company. What does that even look like? Molly will tell you.