UX Camp Fall 2020
Educating User Researchers: Using UX Skills to Design a Research Training Program
Many people hoping to break into the field of user research don’t even know what skills are necessary to do the job and are missing fundamental concepts. They have to invest additional time and sometimes resources into gaining more skills, in addition to what they’ve already put into learning design skills they won’t use, and they have to rely on volunteer-mentors or companies to create apprenticeship training programs that vary wildly.
Some UX training programs for combine user research and UX design capabilities. This contributes to two problems: people aren’t appropriately trained in what they’ll truly need to do the work and to get a job in the field, and UX research isn’t respected as a discipline requiring specialized skills and knowledge. Training programs that focus on user research will give people the confidence to advocate for themselves and their expertise and, hopefully, encourage companies to recognize that not just anyone can whip out a survey or a usability test script and get back accurate, actionable insights that drive a better product.
