Recovering from UX Research
A part of being a UX Researcher that isn’t really discussed.

Have you ever cried after conducting research? Gotten so angry that you wanted to punch your steering wheel? Been so tired from traveling for research, you pulled over while driving home to take a quick nap?
I have. It’s a part of being a UX Researcher that isn’t really discussed. Or listed in the job description.
I’ll never forget crying after talking to cancer patients a few years ago. Or the mother of a child in the NICU. Or students struggling to pay their way through college. There have been a lot of beers shared with coworkers over the years to numb the feelings.
If I’m hired to be empathic, then I need time and healthy habits to emotionally process the information I just collected. I’m human, and to be empathic means sharing in one’s experience, and usually with UX research that means sharing in user’s suffering. When I first started out in UX, I thought being a researcher would be more clinical, especially like when I worked in psychology labs. Bring in participants for the study, conduct the session, give them their incentive, and show them the door. Easy peasy.
Nope, UX research was completely different. It took way more listening, compassion, and fast note-taking that I didn’t anticipate. But it also meant knowing I could find ways to make others’ lives better.
Here are some tips I put together for myself to help me through the tough moments.
- Remember I’m here to help. While I can’t cure cancer or loan a student $20,000, there are opportunities to help. That’s my job. Find those moments to make things a little easier. To bring a smile. To inspire hope. Designing for delightful experiences doesn’t mean the user’s life will be completely fixed. Sometime it means finding moments I can bring a little bit of ease, reassurance, and support.
- Know my research limit for a day. While I’d love to schedule 8 participants a day and get a study done in a week, it’s not possible. I’d break down. Plan on doing only conducting 3–4 sessions a day. If people complain about not going fast enough, find someone else to help conduct more sessions or discuss how to alter the project timeline. It’s not worth being burnt out at the end of a study.
- Take breaks! Not 15 minute breaks. 30 minute breaks between every session. This cool down period is essential. If I can’t comfortably drink a grande Starbucks latte between sessions, it’s not enough time.
- Give myself emotional recovery time. If athletes get periods of rest, physical therapy, and training, then so do I. Use Headspace or another meditation app after a long day. Exercise every morning when conducting research. (Yes, I do this. No matter the time or country.) Sometimes, I just need a Friday afternoon off after a particularly long week. It’s tough to justify the PTO, but it’s absolutely necessary. Talk to my manager if I can’t take the time off to see if someone can cover the next session, so I can focus on another project for a couple of hours.
- Find others to confide in, and actually confide in them. Find a research buddy. Seriously — go to that coworker who will listen when I’m crying, mad, or just need a hug. (This is why we need good UX cultures. The work can take such a toll on a team, especially in social impact fields.)
- Know that even if my client doesn’t hear the need for things to change or my plea to help users, at least I listened. Sometimes there isn’t a business opportunity to help the users. This can be devastating after spending so many hours with people’s suffering. It’s so hard to hear that while I’ve brought “interesting” data, there’s nothing that can be done. Take time to process this. I can’t fix everything.
- Start analysis when I feel rested and have digested the data. Analysis cannot be energized by emotion and irrationality. That’s when research will fail. Keep anecdotes in the back of my pocket and tie them to big insights. (Note: Schedule sessions and research with at least a weekend in between. That’s a great way to build in recovery time.)
- Snacks. Food. Water. Don’t rely on others to bring them. Bring my own, and bring lots. I may want those Little Debbies, but go for something more filling and nutritious. (After all, I probably have a week of interviews. Don’t need to get sick on sweets.) Hangry doesn’t help anyone.
- When all else fails, look at some memes online. Seriously, I love doing this. I have a Tumblr dedicated to goofy internet gifs and videos. It works wonders 10 minutes before a session.
The biggest qualification I would have for hiring anyone doing qualitative research is emotional intelligence. It’s a job that requires me to separate myself from the user. I’m still not always as strong as I’d like to be, and accept what cannot be changed, but I’m grateful to work at a job where I can make a positive impact.
For those who hire UX researchers, ask candidates how they’d support a user crying in a contextual inquiry, how they’d react when a user yells at them, or how to handle a group of users gang up on them in a workshop. (Yep, that’s all happened to me.) It’s a good indication of how they process emotion and empathize, but also how they maintain their own sanity.
So to others doing research out there, and know what this feels like, I’m there with you. It’s a hard job to have sometimes, and it feels like no one is listening some days, but we’re here to do good. And that’s awesome.

