Generative user research is a term that has been around for a while, but it’s become more mainstream in recent times, with good reason! That being said, terms in the design research and UX research umbrellas tend to intersect and take on different definitions and connotations over time. Our aim with this blog is to address any confusion about the term, provide examples of generative user research, and make sure that everyone’s up to speed on the best uses and project stages for conducting truly generative research.
In the sections below, we’ll answer:
- What is generative user research? (And why are there so many definitions?)
- What are examples of generative user research?
- When and why should you conduct generative user research?
Scroll down for our take!
What is generative user research?
Generative user research is qualitative research conducted with real users that helps with generating new solutions to user challenges and pain points. User participants play an active/cooperative role in some part(s) of this process to create actionable outcomes that can inform a new design or design improvement.
Of course, when it comes to how generative research plays out in practice, there are some overlapping interpretations. We’ll get into that next.
What is the aim of generative research?
The broader aim of generative research in UX and service design is to uncover user needs, challenges and motivations that will inform the design (or re-design) of a product or service. More specifically, generative user research is a means for users to participate in actually conducting research by creating deliverables that represent their perspectives or otherwise participating in early stages of design solution ideation (usually in a workshop setting). These deliverables become their own form of raw data for professional researchers to analyze, synthesize and translate into thoroughly vetted final deliverables, insights reports and action plans. (A little “meta,” right?)
BUT, some emerging definitions of generative user research encompass any form of exploratory user research that informs design outcomes, whether directly or indirectly (including in-depth interviews, observations, contextual inquiry, etc.). They see “generative” as a term for any actionable research that takes user insights and applies them to a design. (This is a central tenet of human-centered design, aka HCD!)
We Outwitlians frame generative research through the more specific participatory lens mentioned at the top of this section. Why? Because the broader definition would be a little redundant for us. We see the entire umbrella of design research as “research with the purpose of design.” In other words, we already apply an actionable HCD approach to our end-to-end research process.
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Why are there different definitions of generative user research?
Here are some possible reasons for confusion around generative user research:
- The inevitable intersection of research terms: Semantics, semantics! A lot of words we use to describe research methodologies will overlap and intersect. It’s inevitable and natural, and it will continue to be a thing. For example, in-depth interviews can be described as primary, exploratory, self-reporting and qualitative. Still, we’re research die-hards who live for this stuff, so we were very intrigued to look into more reasons why/how these terms have evolved!
- Terms merging with the rise of lean UX: It’s possible that the definition of generative user research has become broader and more blurred because of the continued rise of lean UX and Agile design. Tasked with the survival of UX and making great projects happen amongst layoffs, some project teams have de-emphasized traditional research deliverables in favour of highly streamlined insights reports and action plans that are “more rooted in generating design solutions.”
(Side note: That last bit isn’t really true! In reality, those traditional research deliverables are TOTALLY underestimated and COMPLETELY actionable if done right! We highly recommend you check out our blogs on applying and communicating user personas and making journey maps actionable.)
- The overlap of participatory design and generative user research: Both participatory design and generative user research involve users in some form of co-creation or co-design. But, in “true” participatory design for UX, users would have some level of ownership and direct influence in the decisions made in the project. With generative user research, users might not have this influence — they might only engage in co-creation at one stage of the project.
Is generative research qualitative or quantitative?
Generative research is qualitative — it helps us understand an area of study in nuanced ways, and the focus is on the content of the insights rather than statistics. It’s usually conducted with smaller but carefully chosen and representative samples of participant groups/user groups.
In UX, the real value of your generative user research is going to be in the substance of the insights and ideas that are uncovered. With qualitative methods, you’re letting the input from participants lead you to the truth about an experience rather than putting some rigid hypotheses out there and having participants vote on them. (Check out our blog on why customer surveys often fail.) You’ve probably heard the expression, “Numbers don’t tell the whole story,” and it’s true. Otherwise, everyone would be rich from the stock market, and election nights would be predictable and boring.
What’s the difference between generative and evaluative research?
Generative research is conducted to inform the creation of something (like a product or service design), while evaluative research is conducted to assess the performance of something that already exists. In UX and service design, you’ll typically conduct generative user research as you get more clarity on the design problem that you need to tackle; evaluative user research will come along later as you start to prototype, implement and release design solutions.
To help with visualizing this, you can reference the Stanford d.school’s five-stage design thinking process, which starts with discovery and moves through the phases into defining design problems and the actual design process (starting with “ideate”):
When should you conduct generative user research?
Generative user research methods are most effective in defining problems that need to be tackled (“define” phase), coming up with possible solutions (“ideate” phase), and figuring out how to refine designs (“prototype & test” phase).
You’ll see in the diagram above that we’ve mapped exploratory, generative and evaluative research roughly across the traditional five-stage design process.
A couple more quick things to note on timing:
- “Discover”/empathize phase: As discussed in earlier sections of this blog, some definitions of generative research have become synonymous with exploratory/discovery research, meaning that generative research would actually be starting in the “discover” phase.
- Research ramp-up: In some cases, you might want to do a small bit of generative user research in the project initiation phase before any formal research has been conducted. For example, if you don’t know much about a user group, you might send out a short cultural probe assignment to them, which can help you get ideas for interview questions.
What’s the difference between generative and formative research?
Formative research is a facet of evaluative research that’s used to assess a design in order to form new iterations. Generative research is typically conducted to explore opportunities for the initial design much earlier in a project. Some examples of formative user research are usability testing with early prototypes and card sorting. (Examples of generative user research are coming up in the next section!)
Generative User Research Method Examples
Here’s a list of recommended generative user research methods where user participants can have a cooperative or co-creative role in the research:
- Co-design workshops where participants are co-creating designs and solutions together with researchers and/or stakeholders
- Design charettes where participants workshop designs in sprints with interdisciplinary project team members and/or stakeholders
- Bodystorming, a form of brainstorming design solutions through the physical reenactment of an experience
- Participatory prototyping which usually involves participants creating very rough, low-fidelity prototypes for a product or service improvement and discussing them
- Journey mapping workshops where participants are involved in mapping out the steps they go through in an experience
As we mentioned earlier in this blog, some see generative user research as equivalent to “exploratory research for the purpose of design,” and they include these methods under the same category:
- Observations (Shadowing, fly-on-the-wall, contextual inquiry, etc.)
- In-depth interviews (Semi-structured ones where researchers can do some improvisational probing based on user responses)
- Diary studies (Digital or analog formats)
At Outwitly, we see exploratory user research and generative user research as two separate categories. The methods directly above (observations, etc.) would actually fall under the “exploratory” category. Of course, in design research, all of the research methods above should ultimately be conducted for the purpose of design in order to create real impact.
(Psst… Want to conduct research that gets stakeholders to take notice, take action, and use your insights to inform incredible design transformations? Register for Outwitly Academy’s design research course, created by our very own CEO!)
9 Reasons Why You Should Conduct Generative User Research
Generative user research is hugely beneficial to researchers, stakeholders and users because it fuels a deeper understanding of user needs and challenges. It positions researchers to create actionable insights that will make a real and positive impact on a product or service.
Generative user research:
1. Helps you get at the “why” behind user behaviour: This is true of both exploratory research and generative research! Keeping the formation of a better design in mind will allow you to align your research activities with your research goals and uncover truths that you couldn’t have guessed at. However, generative research specifically helps you go beyond direct user feedback and access information about deeper user needs. (More on this in the next point!)
2. Helps with envisioning new possibilities: Users with strong emotions about a product or service (whether positive or negative) can get stuck thinking about the current state. Generating a deliverable can help them get out of their heads and imagine possible improvements. You might have heard the quote attributed to Henry Ford: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” The idea here is that users can’t necessarily articulate solutions beyond their current frame of reference. That’s why activities that get users “unstuck” from the current state can sometimes be more productive and informative than straight-up interviews when you’re trying to innovate.
3. Reveals unspoken thoughts: Users sometimes struggle to articulate or recall what they did or how they felt during an experience. Pictures and diagrams, as we know, are worth a thousand words. Exercises like building rough journey maps can also jog the memory and encourage intuitive sharing.
4. Makes for less risky product launches: When truly effective user research informs the creation of a design, the performance of the resulting product or service is going to be more successful. (This could include getting to market faster, reducing churn, gaining an edge over competitors, etc.)
5. Can be tied to ROI: Empowered with the knowledge of the possible business benefits (like the ones mentioned in point #3 above), it will be easier for organizations at any level of UX maturity to justify investments in user research and defy any false assumptions about research being a waste of time/not worth it. Practitioners can champion this process by advocating for research/HCD.
6. Inspires deeper reflection: When users are given a creative assignment, they’re required to think about their experience with a product or service on a deeper level because they’re essentially synthesizing their own thoughts and feelings into a creative idea!
7. Reduces bias: You might sometimes get users who are afraid to offer criticism or who don’t have a lot of interest in the topic of study. Users who are given a task as part of the research activity are more likely to feel engaged, more likely to be honest, and less likely to just agree with what other potentially stronger voices are saying.
8. Engages users in problem-solving: In generative user research methods like co-design workshops, you can ask users to actually ideate design solutions for you or with you. Their ideas might not always be feasible or representative of everyone’s needs, but they can be great jumping-off points. (Besides, there are more possibilities every day. What inspired the idea for VR robot avatars? Maybe someone’s dreams of teleportation?)
9. Reduces unease with sensitive topics: In cases where users are being asked personal and sensitive questions, choosing a lighter co-creation activity can help them navigate their vulnerability. (Example: Using collages to express healthcare concerns.)
Whatever method or design phase you choose to start with, truly effective generative user research should always be hyper-focused on project goals. It should reveal actionable insights and design improvement suggestions that can inform a ground-breaking design or re-design of a product or service. Inviting your users to participate in generative research activities is a great way to understand user challenges better and inspire innovative ideation.
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