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4 levels of UX Research democratisation
The goal of UX research democratisation isn’t to make everyone a UX researcher but to make UX research happen everywhere.
User research is critical. We must know we are solving the right problem, for the right user, with the right solution based on the right assumptions. That’s a lot of things we have to get right.
To add fuel to the fire, it’s more common to have too few UX specialists on board than too many of them.
One of the solutions to get adequate research done is to engage the whole team in the process. This approach is known as UX research democratisation.
However, it’s hard to discuss such a vague and broad term. To make it more tangible, I usually distinguish four different types of user research democratisation.
The goal of this article is to present a clear framework that makes conversations about UX research democratisation easier.
Level 1: Democratising Access
The simplest and most common type of user research democratisation is making research artefacts accessible to everyone.
It allows everyone access:
- interview recordings
- survey results
- usability test results
- raw data
- and so on
But access is not everything.
It’s also about building a team culture that encourages using these artefacts to generate insights and kickstart discussions.
Just giving everyone a view access is not democratisation.
Pros
- relatively easy to implement
- doesn’t come with many risks
