This blog post from Notably, authored by Allison Grayce Marshall and published on September 22, 2022, offers a comprehensive guide to selecting appropriate qualitative research methods tailored to specific project needs. The article emphasizes the importance of aligning research depth and rigor with project constraints, such as time and resources. It outlines a step-by-step approach:
- Align on Depth and Rigor of Research: Assess the scope of research needed by considering factors like available time, potential risks of not conducting research, and clarity of the problem statement.
- Define Your Research Statement: Craft a concise statement that clearly articulates the objective of the research.
- Determine Your Research Goals: Set specific objectives, such as understanding user behavior, uncovering user needs, generating new ideas, validating assumptions, or comparing designs.
- Decide Between Generative or Evaluative Research: Choose generative research to explore new ideas and opportunities, or evaluative research to assess the effectiveness of existing solutions.
- Choose Your Method or Methodologies: Select appropriate research methods based on the previous steps. The article provides a UX methods cheat sheet to assist in this selection.
By following this structured approach, researchers can effectively choose qualitative methods that align with their project’s goals and constraints.
