User research is a key component of UX design itself, never let anyone tell you otherwise. We have already covered the topic in Chapter 2, UX Design Process, but, in this section, I will explain how to do it in practice.
There are a lot of different opinions on where and how to perform user research, for example, doing it before you start the product development phase, after you start the development of the product, or after you launch your product.
Actually, all of them are right, but the best solution would be to do it really early and as often as you can in each stage.
So, in this section, we will go more into how to prepare and conduct user research, and I will try to explain the steps that I take when I do user research.
So, the following are the eight steps that we will follow to perform user research properly:
- Setting objectives and a brief
- Defining the audience
- Selecting the research method
- Designing and validating your research
- Organizing interview
- Conducting the research
- Analyzing...