What’s in a method? Succeeding in Design | UX Australia | April 26, 2022 Janani Venkataraman 

Today, I want to share my story the story of how I became a product researcher no thanks to methods! 

Software Engineer In the beginning… University Student Marketing Researcher 

The story continues… Marketing Researcher (Quantitative) Agency Researcher In-house Marketing Researcher 

Primary Research Methods Marketing Research ● Focus: user attitudes & preferences ● Frame of reference: market sizing, market opportunity (big picture!) ● Quantitative - numerical or statistical data ● Qualitative - semi structured or unstructured data 

Typical projects ● Understanding the usage and attitudes of mobile gamers ● Determine ideal price point for a fizzy drink product ● Concept testing study to evaluate market appeal for a food & wine event 

Winds of change… In-house Researcher (Marketing) In-house Researcher (Product) Excited Researcher (Product) 

Stormy seas… Bored researcher (Product) Sad researcher (Product) Excited researcher (Product) 

“But you are a marketing researcher and you do quant” - Head of Design / wonderful colleague 

Transition from Marketing to Product Research ● Marketing & Product research silos ● Adhoc project based collaboration Product (user) Research ● Focus: behaviour & interaction ● Frame of reference: individual user Marketing Research ● Focus: user attitudes & preferences ● Frame of reference: market sizing, market opportunity (big picture!) 

Product Research The world of Product Research is dominated by qualitative methods. The purpose / use of other methods is either not clear or sparsely considered. Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods 

Typical Product Development Process & Product Research Discover Define Design Develop Deploy Feedback Product Research ● Deep focus on the individual user & their behaviour ● What do users do? ● How will they interact with the product? ● How can we make the product or service more desirable? Qualitative Methods 

Typical Product Research Methods ● Interviews ● Moderated / unmoderated usability studies ● Card sorting ● Usability benchmarking Qualitative Methods 

Marketing Research in product development process? Discover Define Design Develop Deploy Feedback Product Research Marketing Research ● Adhoc use of marketing research depending on the context ● Sparsely / rarely used 

Discover Define Design Develop Deploy Feedback User Research Marketing Research Marketing Research ● Broad focus on the market ● What people say they will do ● Whether a product should be brought to market? ● Who is the right audience for a product? ● How much will people pay? ● How satisfied are people with the product or service? Quantitative Methods Mapping the opportunity using my MR toolkit 

Typical Product Research Methods + MR Methods ● Interviews ● Moderated / Unmoderated usability studies ● Card sorting ● Usability benchmarking Qualitative Methods ● Market sizing / trends ● Competitive analysis ● Pricing study ● Concept testing ● Product satisfaction tracking Quantitative Methods 

My approach: ● Intercept surveys allowed contextual feedback gathering from relevant users ● Quantitative satisfaction tracker launched to gather attitudinal feedback ● Follow up in-depth interviews for specific areas of feedback ● Triangulation with analytics + data sciences Rising tide… Organisational context: ● New website launched - everyone happy! ● Analytics showing drop in engagement with key features ● Cue frantic music! Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods 

Catching the wave… Product researcher (Any / All methods) ● Honing my skills in qualitative & quantitative methods ● Always remaining open to other approaches and methods 

Product Research Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods Any other means necessary ● Qual <> Quant ● In some instances Qual >=Quant ● In other instances Quant >= Qual ● Product Research = Qual + Quant + Any other means necessary 

Afterall, What’s in a method? 

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon,and infographics & images by Freepik Thank you! Janani Venkataraman linkedin.com/in/jananivenkataraman